The most painful experience which man can undergo is to strip off veil after veil of obscuring matter and finally encounter what Yeats called "the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart." But to achieve the "wholeness" of which Brother Antoninus speaks, this experience is essential. This is why he writes poetry; it forces him to probe the nature of his heart: "It is painful, but there will be a catharsis, a healing, and an appeasement."
But Brother Antoninus' emphasis on man's self-understanding does not diminish the importance of God's role in his life:
O soul!
O vast potentiality unprobed!
Be touched! Be opened!
Be moved! Be crushed!
God, witholding being
Just out of grasp,
Do something!
Kiss or kill
But move me!...
I place my hand out.
Lead me!
I stop, thus.
Lead me!
Lead me!