A prophet is not a fortuneteller. But they do often seem prescient or years ahead of their time. This has little to do with being able to see down the road and much to do with being prayerfully self-reflective and with seeing things from a divine perspective. It wasn’t merely that Thomas Merton was so bright, but that his contemplative practice gave him insight into the human condition. The quote below by Merton was penned some fifty years ago. Sadly, it could have been written yesterday. 
He who attempts to act and do things for others and for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity, and capacity to love, will not have anything to give to others. He will communicate to them only the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centered ambitions, his delusions about ends and means, and his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas. There is nothing more tragic in the modern world than the misuse of power and action to which men are driven by their own Faustian misunderstandings and misapprehensions. We have more power at our disposal today than we have ever had, and yet we are more alienated and estranged from the inner ground of meaning and of love than we have ever been.
~ Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action
NB! Merton wrote before the sensitization to inclusive language. If he were alive today, I strongly suspect he would use inclusive language. In this case, however, I consciously chose to leave the male pronouns as they are. I suspect you can guess why?
ARTWORK: Photograph from Father Louie: Photographs of Thomas Merton, by Ralph Eugene Meatyard
COMMENTS: SEE below.
Amazing how this applies to our country’s leader , but also to myself and everyone who has a position where one can “lead” others. I need to think of this as I attempt to unselfishly lead my family to love like God loves us.
Yes, it applies to each and all of us. No one escapes Merton’s assessment. In any relationship, the lack of know-how, inability, resistance, or refusal to do one’s inner work is detrimental and dangerous. The more responsibility one has, the more important it is to be self-aware and to have others who can challenge us and support us with love.
Amen, both of you! It is so easy to point the finger to others, but then to point it back to self is the real work. Thank you, Dan!
Amen. As true today as 50 years ago.🙏