I can only become perfectly free by serving the will of God.
Interpretation
True freedom comes from adhering to one's spiritual purpose and serving a higher power.
In this quote, Thomas Merton suggests that the essence of true freedom is not found in pursuing personal desires or worldly achievements but rather in aligning oneself with the divine will. By serving God, individuals find a deeper sense of liberation that transcends mere autonomy, leading to fulfillment and peace that comes from a higher calling.
In practice
In a sermon about faith and purpose, this quote can inspire congregants to seek God's will in their lives.
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.
In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.
We are all regionalists in our origins, however 'universal' our themes and characters, and without our cherished hometowns and childhood landscapes to nourish us, we would be like plants set in shallow soil. Our souls must take root - almost literally.
I am not questioning your honor, I am denying its existence.
I think that ideas exist outside of ourselves. I think somewhere, we're all connected off in some very abstract land. But somewhere between there and here ideas exist.
The consequences of our actions take hold of us, quite indifferent to our claim that meanwhile we have 'improved.
Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination.
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