Thomas Merton Quotes

In spirituality, when we say growth, we are talking about becoming smaller; not just smaller - non-existent.

The ego is not a thing but a subtle effort, and you cannot use effort to get rid of effort - you end up with two efforts instead of one. The ego itself is a perfect manifestation of the Divine, and it is best handled by resting in Freedom, not by trying to get rid of it, which simply increases the effort of the ego itself

To study the Way is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things of the universe. To be enlightened by all things of the universe is to cast off the body and mind of the self as well as those of others. Even the traces of enlightenment are wiped out, and life with traceless enlightenment goes on forever and ever

Anyone who seeks success or greatness should first forget about both and seek only the truth. The rest will follow.

The biggest ego trip is getting rid of your ego, and of course the joke of it all is that your ego does not exist.

It's only when you become love - in other words, when you have dropped your illusions and attachments - that you will "know." As you identify less and less with the "me," you will be more at ease with everybody and with everything.

As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.

If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won't see the Buddha.

Enlightenment is the key to everything, and it is the key to intimacy, because it is the goal of true authenticity.

Being enlightened is just being aware. It's just being aware of something that you weren't aware before.

This ego - the less there is of it, the nearer I am to that which I really am: the universal body.

I've been on a quest for spiritual answers for a long time. The things I've learned about interconnectedness and non-duality and the feeling of tapping into your soul that goes beyond the edge of your skin is important to me. Once I learned that, I'm far less often trapped in my own little man problems. Me against the universe problems.

For many people, the first indication of a spiritual awakening is that they suddenly become aware of their thoughts. They become a witness to their thoughts, so to speak. They are not completely identified with their mind anymore and so they begin to sense that there is a depth to them that they had never known before.

By constantly keep one's attention on the Source, the ego is dissolved in that Source like a salt-doll in the sea.

To be conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.

Life is not accomplishing some special work but attaining to a degree of consciousness and inner freedom which is beyond all works and attainments.

If you set out to meditate, it will not be meditation. If you set out to be good, goodness will never flower.

The objective of spiritual advancement is not so much 'works' but the quality of life free from ego-consciousness.

To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves.

How can one become enlightened? One can, because one is enlightened - one just has to recognize the fact.

When we cultivate mystical awareness or transcendent identity--which is a natural outgrowth of meditation and other practices--what happens is that we begin to take a witness position on our own lives, and that includes our minds. We break the illusion that we think our own thoughts, which is not always the case. Some ideas just arrive in our heads.

Books simply help you to see what is already within your self. That's what enlightenment is all about.

Work done for the Self gives no bondage. Neither desire pleasure nor fear pain from work. It is the mind and body that work, not I. Tell yourself this unceasingly and realise it. Try not to know that you work.

So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind. Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your consciousness grows stronger. One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it.