The geographical pilgrimage is the symbolic acting out an inner journey. The inner journey is the interpolation of the meanings and signs of the outer pilgrimage. One can have one without the other. It is best to have both.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that our physical travels reflect our inner spiritual growth, and both journeys are interconnected.
Thomas Merton emphasizes the relationship between our external experiences, such as travel, and our internal spiritual exploration. The geographical pilgrimage symbolizes our quest for meaning, while the inner journey involves understanding the symbols and experiences we encounter. Both journeys can exist independently, but they are most fulfilling when experienced together, highlighting the importance of balancing external exploration with internal reflection.
In practice
During a discussion on spirituality and personal growth, one might quote Merton to illustrate the connection between life experiences and internal development.
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.
I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.
Like almost everyone else in America, I grew up believing the myth of the objective scientist. Fortunately I was raised on the edges of two very distinct cultures, western European and American Indian.
A craving for freedom and independence is generated only in a man still living on hope.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
I love to move like a mouse inside this puzzle for the body, balancing the wish to be lost with the need to be found.
If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.
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