Your solitude will bear immense fruit in the souls of men and women you will never see on earth.
~ from THE SEVEN STORY MOUNTAIN by Thomas Merton
Inwardness and true quietness appear to be but two aspects of the same thing -- of a "truly centered" life. In the innermost religion of life there is a perpetual calm; perturbations and excitements belong to the comparatively superficial part of our own nature. In cleaving to the Center we cannot but be still; to be inwardly still is to be aware of the Center.