I don’t necessarily agree with all of Thomas Merton’s ideas (he was more buddhist than Christian near the end of his life, I think), but here are a couple good quotes from “Contemplative Prayer”

‘Unless a man leave father and mother… ‘ These words of Christ give some indication of the deep conflict which underlies all [coming to Christ] the turning to a freedom based no longer on social approval and relative alienation, but on direct dependence on an invisible and inscrutable God, in pure faith.

For if to pray means to [be open to] change [from God], it is no wonder that men, even devoted men, hurry to fashion protective clothing, lead aprons that resist all radiation, even beam-proof shelters within corporate religious exercises in order to elude the “beams of love” and to stay as they are.

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