Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.
Interpretation
Compassion involves recognizing how all beings are connected and rely on one another.
This quote by Thomas Merton highlights the essence of compassion as an understanding that all things in life are intricately connected. By being aware of this interdependence, we can cultivate compassion for others, realizing that our well-being is linked to the well-being of those around us. It suggests that nurturing empathy towards others leads to a deeper fulfillment in our shared existence.
In practice
In a speech about community service, one might say, 'As Thomas Merton wisely remarked, 'Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.'
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
You are made in the image of what you desire.
But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.
If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.
There is only one basic human right: the right to do as you please, without causing others harm. With it comes our only basic human duty: the duty to accept the consequences of our actions.
Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person "the world today" or "life" or "reality" he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever.
Poverty in itself does not make men into a rabble; a rabble is created only when there is joined to poverty a disposition of mind, an inner indignation against the rich, against society, against the government.
The question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.