Thomas Merton experienced an inner realization of love when he was standing

on an ordinary street corner: “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and

Walnut, in the centre of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed

with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and

I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were

total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness …. I

almost laughed out loud …. And if only everybody could realize this! But it

cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all

walking around shining like the sun.”