I was amazed at how quickly my newsletter readers responded to my question about the source for this quote from Thomas Merton. (which I want to quote in a book I’m working on). Although, I did offer a free book to the first person to respond. they all responded so quickly, I decided to send books to the first three respondents. So I’ll be sending books to Mary, Mary Lynn and Lisa. Thanks!

“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his work for peace. It destroys his own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”

— Thomas Merton, “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”