"The function of real discipline is not to provide us with maps, but to sharpen our own sense of direction so that when we really get going we can travel without maps."

-- Thomas Merton

"... if a person is led by the Holy spirit he no longer has any kind of self that he defends."

-- Thomas Merton

"He who grasps the central pivot of the Tao, is able to watch 'yes' and 'no' pursue their alternating course around the circumference."

-- Thomas Merton

"All deliberate, systematic, and reflexive 'self-cultivation, whether active or contemplative, personalistic or politically committed, cuts one off from the mysterious but indispensible contact with Tao..."

-- Thomas Merton

"Not to deny subject and object but to realize them as void."

-- Thomas Merton

"The function of real discipline is not to provide us with maps, but to sharpen our own sense of direction so that when we really get going we can travel without maps."

-- Thomas Merton

"Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things."

-- Thomas Merton