New Seeds of Contemplation

Mere living in the midst of other men does not guarantee that we live in communion with them or even in communication with them. Who has less to communicate than the mass-man? ...Each individual in the mass is insulated by thick layers of insensibility. He doesn't care, he doesn't hear, he doesn't think. He does not act, he is pushed. He does not talk, he produces conventional sounds when stimulated by the appropriate noises. He does not think, he secretes cliches....Mere living alone does not isolate a man, mere living together does not bring men into communion....to live in the midst of others, sharing nothing with them but common noise and the general distraction, isolates a man in the worst way, separates him from reality in a way that is almost painless. Here the sin is not in the conviction that one is not like other men, but in the belief that being like them is sufficient to cover every other sin. -Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Thomas Merton's writings strike me. They move me to wait for, and listen to, God. It is good to be kicked in the face by some deeper spirituality when things seem to be alright. The more I read, the further I realize my misunderstood acceptance of a "mass-man" reality.