Sounds like old Thomas was indulging in (or succumbing to , or cooperating with??) a little hyperbole.

All best for the new year, Witold.

This doesn't sound like an indulgence in hyperbole to me. It seems like a remarkably truthful realization. It questions the choice of conscious action in everyday life. It guides mind and action toward personal and social alignment without diluting effort.

Do enjoy the new year. Bring peace to life.

Yes, well...he lost me at "succumb to violence".

I've been reading it over and over for the past few days to understand it better. Here's a somewhat silly simile. If peace is delicious espresso, then our lives are like americanos and lattes. Peace in our lives is diluted. Th ingredients that dilute peace are the rush and pressure of modern life. And peace is what Merton is helping us to see more clearly in order to work towards manifesting it in our lives, the lives of others, and as a sentient beings on a living planet.

Thank you, Witold Reidel, for posting this inspiring quote. It is helping my perspective in a time of need.

Stress is palpable. It gnaws, it creeps and throbs, clutches, stiffens and makes one feel ill and grim.
A lifestyle that makes room for stress is a lifestyle marked by self-betrayal. I cannot think of a person who would choose to work among walls that shed clouds of asbestos on a daily basis. Work that entails ingesting large amounts of stress and anxiety into one's system seems a similar thing to me.
It's a lovely quotation for a multi-tasking, over-reaching age.

~~~

Except, maybe, for doing the dishes and thinking at the same time. That seems a civilized, sensible example of multi-tasking to me. Anything more is Russian Roulette. Roughly.

s