Thomas Merton says...

If only they could all see themselves
as they really are.
If only we could see each other that way
all the time.

There would be no more war, no more hatred,
no more cruelty, no more greed. . . .

I suppose the big problem would be that
we would fall down and worship each other.

But this cannot be seen,
only believed and “understood” by a peculiar gift. [5]

This is the gift of a contemplative mind that has learned to
“shed its thoughts about itself”
(how the Desert Fathers and Mothers put it)
and which enjoys a much broader, deeper,
and more compassionate
set of eyes.