When We Have Found Our Vocation

"A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live. Thus if one is called to be a solitary, he will stop wondering how he is to live and start living peacefully only when he is in solitude. But, if one is not called to a solitary life, the more he is alone the more he will worry about living and forget to live. When we are not living up to our true vocation, thought deadens our life, or gives in to life so that our life drowns out our thinking and stifles the voice of conscience. When we find our vocation - thought and life are one. "

--Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude