Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Contemplative Side

"Contemplation is the highest expression of man's intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, an awareness of the reality of that Source."

Thomas Merton
New Seeds of Contemplation

The Merton Institute For Contemplative Living
The Thomas Merton Center and International Thomas Merton Society

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Why should we be thankful for this life if all we are is a bag of rotting bones, organs and pus, with nothing to look forward to but suffering, old age, disease and death?