MODERN LIFE IS GEARED FOR A FLIGHT FROM GOD

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In order to spiritualize our lives and

make them pleasing to God, we must become quiet.

The peace of a soul that is detached from all things and

from itself is the sign that our sacrifice is

truly acceptable to God.

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Bodily agitation agitates the soul.

But we cannot tranquilize our spirit by forcing

a violent immobility upon the flesh and its five senses.

The body must be governed in such a way that it works peacefully, so that its action does not disturb the soul.
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Peace of soul does not, therefore, depend on physical

inactivity.  On the contrary, there are some people

who are perfectly capable of tasting true spiritual

peace in an active life but who would go crazy

if they had to keep themselves still in absolute

solitude and silence for any length of time.
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It is for each one to find out for himself the
kind of work and environment in which he can
best lead a spiritual life.  If it is possible to find such
conditions, and if he is able to take advantage of them,
he should do so.  But what a hopeless thing the
spiritual life would be if it could only be lived under
ideal conditions! 
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Such conditions have never been within the
reach of most men, and were never more inaccessible
than in our modern world.  Everything in modern
city life is calculated to keep man from entering
into himself and thinking about spiritual things.
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Even with the best of intentions a spiritual man finds
himself exhausted and deadened and debased by
the constant noise of machines and loudspeakers,
the dead air and the glaring lights of offices and
shops, the everlasting suggestions of advertising
 and propaganda.
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The whole mechanism of modern life
is geared for a flight from God and from the spirit
into the wilderness of neurosis.  Even our monasteries
are not free from the smell and clatter of our world.
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From NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
by Thomas Merton
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