Contemplation in a World of Action

"This discipline of listening and of attention is a very high form of ascetic discipline, a rather difficult one to maintain. In fact, there are lots of people who do not have the strength nor the grace to maintain this kind of discipline for very long. Doubtless when a person is clearly not able to do this, maybe he shouldn't try. Our asceticism will consist in discovering to what extent each one of us can simply remain quiet in passive attention to God and to what extent we do need some activity, some work that does not completely interfere with this but which relaxes us and takes us away from mere concentration. We all need a certain amount of activity that enables us to participate healthily in the life of our community. We need work that keeps us in tune physically and psychologically so that we are able to listen fruitfully instead of just going stale and turning off completely. There is such a thing as overdoing interior prayer and overdoing concentration and overdoing recollection. This can be harmful. It only deadens our capacity to listen and to attend to God."

Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, University of Notre Dame Press [reprint, 1998], 246-247.