... is that there is no
puzzle, no problem, and really no "mystery."
All problems are resolved and everything is
clear; simply because what matters is clear
...everything is emptiness and everything is
compassion. I don't know when in my life I
have ever had such a sense of beauty and spiri-
tual validity running together in one aesthetic
tual validity running together in one aesthetic
illumination ... I know and have seen what
I was obscurely looking for. I don't know
what else remains but I have now seen and
have pierced through the surface and have
got beyond the shadow and the disguise.
Thomas Merton
Asian Journal
Photo: Thomas Merton