"I live in the woods out of necessity. I get out of bed
in the middle of the night because it is imperative
that I hear that silence of the night, alone, and, with
my face on the floor, say psalms, alone, in the
silence of the night.
...the silence of the forest is my bride and the sweet
dark warmth of the whole world is my love and out
of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that
is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all the
secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their
beds all over the world.
-Thomas Merton, Dancing in the Water of Life, 240.
