We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the truth is ours. We may wear now one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face. But we cannot make these choices with impunity. Causes have effects, and if we lie to ourselves and to others, then we cannot expect to find truth and reality whenever we happen to want them. If we have chosen the way of falsity, we must not be surprised that truth eludes us when we come to need it!
— Thomas Merton, Seeds by Thomas Merton, Robert Inchausti, editor