“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness
which is untouched by sin and by illusion,
a point of pure truth,
a point or spark
which belongs entirely to God,
which is never at our disposal,
from which God disposes of our lives,
which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind
or the brutalities of our own will.
This little point of nothingness
and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.
It is so to speak His name written in us,
as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship.
It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven.
It is in everybody,
and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light
coming together in the face and blaze of a sun
that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely …
I have no program for this seeing.
It is only given. But the gate of heaven is every- where.”
― Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
