The measure of our being is not to be sought in the violence of our experiences. Turbulence of spirit is a sign of spiritual weakness. When delights spring out of our depths like leopards, we have nothing to be proud of: our soul’s life is in danger. For when we are strong, we are always much greater than the things that happen to seem to be sweating or itching. Maybe he is no longer human enough to itch. (Or else he pays a psychiatrist to scratch him.)
Thomas Merton
The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton, p. 381
