A ‘Seven Story Mountain’
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the brilliant golden sun splashed, azure sky led, calm, balmy island of Nantucket! Great to be with you and yours on this beautiful Friday morning; broadcasting LIVE once again from ‘down on the docks’ of ye ‘ole Hyannis Harbor…
‘Arrgghh matey!’
(credit: “News Corporation’s” CEO Rupert Murdoch; that crusty old news dog from ‘down under’…).
It is The Twenty-Fifth Day of February, 2017, about to sail out into the open atmosphere and the waters of Nantucket Sound and beyond, but before that, before that my dear friends who find the ‘time’ to read this drivel, Sea Cape Cod wishes to send out another ‘message in a bottle’ that is inspired today by one of America’s greatest authors; Thomas Merton.
A Catholic writer, theologian and mystic, Merton spent most of his life as a Trappist Monk deep in the woods of Kentucky; The Abbey of Gethsemani. A poet and powerful social activist who wrote over 70 books, including his most enduring work, “The Seven Story Mountain”. A best selling autobiography published in 1948; “National Review” putting it near or at the top of the list of the 100 best non-fictions in the 20th Century. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama, the Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki, the Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa, and the Vietnamese monk Thieh Nhat Hanh; authoring books on Zen Buddhism and Taoism.
A “One world religion” embodied in one man’s work…
Below deck are a few words from that great man; a simple monk who changed many a life with the stroke of his pen, his heart, and most of all, his ever binding Love for God…
Have a nice day folks!
“Love is our destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone–we find it with another.”
“We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have–for their usefulness.”
“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.”
“Yet is is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.”
“Life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image you desire.”
“Perhaps I am stronger than I think.”
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”
“What can we gain from sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest not only useless, but disastrous.”
“Art enables us to find ourselves, and lose ourselves at the same time…”
“Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it…”
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony…”
“Just remaining in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how.”
“Peace demands the most heroic of labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.”
“We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.”
In conclusion…
“Be good, keep your feet dry, your eyes open, your heart at peace, and your soul in the joy of Christ.”
PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
