In light of the disastrous nature of discourse in the headlines, I am struck with the poignancy of Thomas Merton’s words in this excerpt from No Man Is an Island written in 1955
“I cannot make good choices unless I develop a mature and prudent conscience that gives me an accurate account of my motives, my intentions, and my moral acts. The word to be stressed here is mature. An infant, not having a conscience, is guided in its “decisions” by the attitude of somebody else. The immature conscience is one that bases its judgments partly, or even entirely, on the way other people seem to be disposed toward its decisions. The good is what is admired or accepted by the people it lives with. The evil is what irritates or upsets them. Even when the immature conscience is not entirely dominated by people outside itself, it nevertheless acts only as a representative of some other conscience. The immature conscience is not its own master. It is merely the delegate of the conscience of another person, or of a group, or of a party, or of a social class, or of a nation, or of a race. Therefore, it does not make real moral decisions of its own, it simply parrots the decisions of others. It does not make judgments of its own, it merely “conforms” to the party line. It does not really have motives or intentions of its own. Or if it does, it wrecks them by twisting and rationalizing them to fit the intentions of another. That is not moral freedom. It makes true love impossible. For if I am to love truly and freely, I must be able to give something that is truly my own to another. If my heart does not first belong to me, how can I give it to another? It is not mine to give.”
Woah, just woah! Have I some growing up to do. Just a bit of nutrition I am consuming.
What a beautiful piece of writing and wisdom. Thanks for sharing it.
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Thank you, I love His writing
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I love that last part. Nice photos. Have a wonderful Sunday 😀💛🌼
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🙏🏼💐
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I going to look for this book and put it on my summer to read list 😊
Reallifeofanmsw.com
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there can never be enough written about the goodness of wisdom through maturity 🙂
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The title is from a John Donne piece in which I think that famous phrase “…for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee” comes from. “No man is an island because I am involved in mankind” I think.
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Ah, I’ve been kind of stuck on Thomas Merton’s writing. He fascinates me being a classically educated monk. It’s relevant to where I am now.
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Awesome, I will look him up! I just get excited when I see the classics referenced. 🙂
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Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death’s Duel-just ordered from the big A
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Sweet! Also–reading through your blog some and a book I think you might love is called Cracked by Drew Pinsky. I’ve never read a book so fast in my life. Very insightful about life and finding peace in general as well as what it’s like for a doctor of addiction treatment. https://www.amazon.com/Cracked-Life-Edge-Rehab-Clinic/dp/0060096551
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Oh I like Dr. Drew
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ok then! perfect! i listen to his podcast. gotten a lot of healthy perspectives from him
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