For Thomas Merton, the Fourth & Walnut experience was about “seeing” the ‘Kingdom of God.’ The realization that the ‘kingdom of God is all about “seeing.” The See-Judge-Act methodology allows us to see the goodness in humans naturally.

Kingdom = Consciousness, the understanding of the greater good, think, eudaimonia. The Kingdom of God is not a place we go to after we die. The Kingdom on Earth, as it is in heaven, is the Fulfillment on Earth of God’s Consciousness, or some may say God’s will. The universal Christ working in us as humans on this tiny planet.

In the Gospel of Luke, the author refers to the “kingdom of God” thirty-two times!! More often than in the other three Gospels. Driving home to the reader, the “kingdom” is in you, and it is all about how you See-Judge-Act.

In God’s ‘Kingdom,‘ we should learn and employ the methodology of “See-Judge-Act” to have our own “Fourth & Walnut” experience in life. Remember here that “Judge” means “Discernment,” and without action, the people of God remain strangers, aliens, to us, and we cannot achieve the greater good. 

“I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs.” ~ Merton

For Merton, our job here on earth is to let people know they are the shining light in a world often with too much darkness. We come to see when we employ the “See-Judge-Act” methodology in our daily lives; the Right action is straightforward and spontaneous. When the “kingdom” is within us, the “Consciousness” of God and employing discernment becomes a natural way of life to see the greater good.

What Thomas Merton teaches us, the wisdom he shares with us, is all about “The kingdom of God,” We need to fully understand and learn how to see, discern, and act on what Merton saw that day on the corner of Fourth and Walnut.