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Thoughts In Solitude (text only) 19th(nineteenth) edition by T. Merton
Thoughts In Solitude [Paperback]Thomas Merton (Author)
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First published January 1, 1956
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About the author
Thomas Merton
552 books1,890 followersThomas Merton, religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. In December 1941 he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani and in May 1949 he was ordained to priesthood. He was a member of the convent of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
May 8, 2018
Thomas Merton, a trappist monk, has written the most sublime book on his relationship with God and his life in solitude as a monk. I found the book to be quite inspiring and such a pleasure to read. Each page was a delight and one can literally browse any page at a later stage and immediately connect with Merton's thoughts.
July 6, 2017
"The solitary life is above all a life of prayer."
A nice exploration of/exposition on the need for reflection, silence, seeking God in quiet spaces, and the vocation of solitude. Merton's thoughtful tract, originally written from 1953 to 1954, seems more important now than ever. We live in a world that seems textured with bytes, bits, information, noise, distractions, and trivialities. Merton reminds us to seek. He implores us to find, like the Desert Fathers did years ago, our wildernesses and our wastelands. These deserts (both literal and within) are the perfect places to read, reflect, and purify our hearts. He reminds the reader of the need for gratitude, prayer, meditation, and simplicity. Not everyone needs to become a monk, a hermit, a Christian solitary. But even those who live among, need space to swim occasionally alone.
While I'm not a Catholic and have no plans of leaving my books and my family behind, I AM drawn to writers like Merton. They blossomed during the post-WWII spiritual awakening. Some became Buddhists. Some found peace and comfort in Catholocism, etc., or among various Eastern sects. I am drawn to their messages and washed by their words. Their voices are ultimately voices for me of peace and transcendence. And that isn't a bad thing -- in the end.
A nice exploration of/exposition on the need for reflection, silence, seeking God in quiet spaces, and the vocation of solitude. Merton's thoughtful tract, originally written from 1953 to 1954, seems more important now than ever. We live in a world that seems textured with bytes, bits, information, noise, distractions, and trivialities. Merton reminds us to seek. He implores us to find, like the Desert Fathers did years ago, our wildernesses and our wastelands. These deserts (both literal and within) are the perfect places to read, reflect, and purify our hearts. He reminds the reader of the need for gratitude, prayer, meditation, and simplicity. Not everyone needs to become a monk, a hermit, a Christian solitary. But even those who live among, need space to swim occasionally alone.
While I'm not a Catholic and have no plans of leaving my books and my family behind, I AM drawn to writers like Merton. They blossomed during the post-WWII spiritual awakening. Some became Buddhists. Some found peace and comfort in Catholocism, etc., or among various Eastern sects. I am drawn to their messages and washed by their words. Their voices are ultimately voices for me of peace and transcendence. And that isn't a bad thing -- in the end.
February 28, 2015
We live in a society that does not value solitude. Being alone is a frightening thought for most. If we cannot be with our friends, we turn on our TVs or our music stations. We text our friends or browse the internet. We quite literally cannot bear to be alone. This is a world that no longer understands silence. We have phones that are constantly buzzing and ringing. Music blares from our radios, from our computers, from our cars. We live in bustling cities filled with constant noise. Being constantly busy with work and family is the norm, not the exception. How many of us can even find a half hour each day to sit quietly with ourselves, and with God? Not many, I would guess. Thomas Merton is here to remind us all of the beautiful value of solitude and silence. Merton challenges us (all of us) to reevaluate our priorities, question our materialism, and seek Truth. As he is far more eloquent than I, I will include some of my favorite quotes form the book in order to illustrate some of his most thought-provoking points. A beautiful, poignant meditation on humanity's relationship with God and more generally, on humankind's deep need for silence, stillness, and solitude.
"In an age when totalitarianism has striven, in every way, to devalue and degrade the human person, we hope it is right to demand a hearing for any and very sane reaction in favor of man's inalienable solitude and his interior freedom. The murderous din of our materialism cannot be allowed to silence the independent voices which will never cease to speak: whether they be the voices of Christian Saints, or the voices of Oriental sages like Lao-Tse or the Zen Masters, or the voices of men like Thoreau or Martin Buber, or Max Picard. It is all very well to insist that man is a 'social animal' - the fact is obvious enough. But that is no justification for making him a mere cog in a totalitarian machine - or in a religious one either, for that matter" (xi).
"The desert is the home of despair. And despair, now, is everywhere [...] This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent" (8).
"The things that we love tell us what we are" (10).
"Everybody has an instinctive desire to do good things and avoid evil. But that desire is sterile as long as we have no experience of what it means to be good" (19).
"Laziness and cowardice put our own present comfort before the love of God. They fear the uncertainty of the future because they place no trust in God" (23).
"Without courage, we can never attain to true simplicity. Cowardice keep us 'double-minded' - hesitating between the world and God. In this hesitation, there is no true faith - faith remains an opinion. [...] This hesitation is the death of hope" (24).
"We do not really know what it is to forgive until we know what it is to be forgiven" (26).
"Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire (46).
"The solution of the problem is life itself. Life is not attained by reasoning and analysis, but first of all by living. For until we have begun to live our prudence has no material to work on. And until we have begun to fail we have no way of working out our success" (74).
"A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live" (84).
"In solitude I have at last discovered that You have desired the love of my heart, O my God, the love of my heart as it is - the love of a man's heart" (127).
"In an age when totalitarianism has striven, in every way, to devalue and degrade the human person, we hope it is right to demand a hearing for any and very sane reaction in favor of man's inalienable solitude and his interior freedom. The murderous din of our materialism cannot be allowed to silence the independent voices which will never cease to speak: whether they be the voices of Christian Saints, or the voices of Oriental sages like Lao-Tse or the Zen Masters, or the voices of men like Thoreau or Martin Buber, or Max Picard. It is all very well to insist that man is a 'social animal' - the fact is obvious enough. But that is no justification for making him a mere cog in a totalitarian machine - or in a religious one either, for that matter" (xi).
"The desert is the home of despair. And despair, now, is everywhere [...] This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent" (8).
"The things that we love tell us what we are" (10).
"Everybody has an instinctive desire to do good things and avoid evil. But that desire is sterile as long as we have no experience of what it means to be good" (19).
"Laziness and cowardice put our own present comfort before the love of God. They fear the uncertainty of the future because they place no trust in God" (23).
"Without courage, we can never attain to true simplicity. Cowardice keep us 'double-minded' - hesitating between the world and God. In this hesitation, there is no true faith - faith remains an opinion. [...] This hesitation is the death of hope" (24).
"We do not really know what it is to forgive until we know what it is to be forgiven" (26).
"Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire (46).
"The solution of the problem is life itself. Life is not attained by reasoning and analysis, but first of all by living. For until we have begun to live our prudence has no material to work on. And until we have begun to fail we have no way of working out our success" (74).
"A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live" (84).
"In solitude I have at last discovered that You have desired the love of my heart, O my God, the love of my heart as it is - the love of a man's heart" (127).
June 20, 2016
There is much to learn from in this short book and I know I've only scratched the surface. In a world of smartphones, Netflix, social media and everything else, I'm grateful for any clear headed thoughts that point me towards silence and contentment, rather than endless cycle of consuming.
Read
November 17, 2019I've read this short book countless times and find great comfort in it. I believe solitude is a need all humans have, to varying degrees, and yet most of us don't take or make time for quiet contemplation.
February 1, 2015
Great thoughts on spiritual formation and deepening our love in Christ through prayer and meditation. Lots of highlighting involved in reading this book... there is a lot to chew on and many pages dogeared for future reference.
August 31, 2019
‘In an age when totalitarianism has striven, in every way, to devaluate and degrade the human person, we hope it is right to demand a hearing for any and every sane reaction in the favor of man’s inalienable solitude and his interior freedom. The murderous din of our materialism cannot be allowed to silence the independent voices which will never cease to speak: whether they be the voices of Christian Saints, or the voices of Oriental sages like Lao-Tse or the Zen Masters, or the voices of men like Thoreau or Martin Buber, or Max Picard. It is all very well to insist that man is a “social animal”—the fact is obvious enough. But that is no justification for making him a mere cog in a totalitarian machine—or in a religious one either,for that matter.
In actual fact, society depends for its existence on the inviolable personal solitude of its members. Society, to merit its name, must be made up not of numbers, or mechanical units, but of persons. To be a person implies responsibility and freedom, and both these imply a certain interior solitude, a sense of personal integrity, a sense of one’s own reality and of one’s ability to give himself to society—or to refuse that gift.
When men are merely submerged in a mass of impersonal human beings pushed around by automatic forces, they lose their true humanity, their integrity, their ability to love, their capacity for self-determination. When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, the society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate.‘
In actual fact, society depends for its existence on the inviolable personal solitude of its members. Society, to merit its name, must be made up not of numbers, or mechanical units, but of persons. To be a person implies responsibility and freedom, and both these imply a certain interior solitude, a sense of personal integrity, a sense of one’s own reality and of one’s ability to give himself to society—or to refuse that gift.
When men are merely submerged in a mass of impersonal human beings pushed around by automatic forces, they lose their true humanity, their integrity, their ability to love, their capacity for self-determination. When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, the society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate.‘
January 17, 2013
As a fan of writers such a Augustine, Aquinas, and Thomas a Kempis, I'm very familiar with the writings of monks. I've benefited from the timeless wisdom and though provoking writings of all these authors. However, this was the first book I've read by Merton.
I really enjoyed this short book. Merton writes beautifully and from a philosophical as well as practical perspective. He defines solitude (which can be found either amid groups of people or when we're alone), the benefits of it, and explains how to seek it. As a natural introvert, reading this book was a little like preaching to the choir, which may be why I didn't rate it higher. It impressed me enough that I will be reading more of Merton's work on other subjects within the next year.
I really enjoyed this short book. Merton writes beautifully and from a philosophical as well as practical perspective. He defines solitude (which can be found either amid groups of people or when we're alone), the benefits of it, and explains how to seek it. As a natural introvert, reading this book was a little like preaching to the choir, which may be why I didn't rate it higher. It impressed me enough that I will be reading more of Merton's work on other subjects within the next year.
August 24, 2023
Incredible. Merton is able to put into words...things that I didn't know had words.
But at the same time…I'm not a Catholic monk:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. For no one can give up what he does not possess." p.29
"Why should I want to be rich, when You were poor? Why should I desire to be famous and powerful in the eyes of men, when the sons of those who exalted the false prophets and stones the true - rejected You and Nailed You to the Cross? Why should I cherish in my heart a hope that devours me-the hope for perfect happiness in this life- when such hope, doomed to frustration, is nothing but despair? My hope in in what the eye has never seen." p.39
"To love our nothingness we must love ourselves." p.44
"If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere." p.47
"Great though books may be, friends though they may be to us, they are no substitute for persons, they are only means of contact with great persons, with men who had more than their own share of humanity, men who were persons for the whole world and not for themselves alone." p.63
"Magic insults His silence by making it the mask of an intruder, of a malign power that usurps the throne of God and substitutes itself for His presence. But what can substitute itself for Him Who is? Only that which is not can pretend to usurp His place. In doing so, it only affirms Him all the more clearly for if you suppress that which is not form the phrase 'is not' you are left with nothing but 'IS'.
“In the silence of God we have overcome magic by seeing through what is not there, and realizing that He Who IS, is closer to us than the 'is not' that tries at all times to place itself between ourselves and Him." p.70
~~~~~~~~~~~
(Magic as a substitute for God. Reading this book while on our family trip to Disneyworld. ahem.)
~~~~~~~~~~~
"I come to You like Jacob in the garments of Esau, that is in the merits and the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. And You, Father, Who have willed to be as though blind in the darkness of this great mystery which is the revelation of Your love, pass Your hands over my head, and bless me as Your only Son. You have willed to see me only in Him, but in willing this You have willed to see me more really as I am. For the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self You have wanted for me, only the self that I have wanted for myself. And I no longer want this false self. But now Father, I come to you in your own Son's self, for it is His Sacred Heart that has taken possession of me and destroyed my sins and it is He Who presents me to You." p.72
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always thought I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." p.83
"It is not speaking that breaks our silence, but the anxiety to be heard. The words of the proud man impose silence on all others, so that he alone may be heard. The humble man speaks only in order to be spoken to." p.91
"As soon as a man is fully disposed to be alone with God, he is alone with God no matter where he may be-in the country, the monastery, the woods or the city. The lightning flashes from east to west, illuminating the whole horizon and striking where it pleases and at the same instant the infinite liberty of God flashes in the depths of that man's soul, and he is illumined. At that moment he sees that though he seems to be in the middle of his journey, he has already arrived at the end. For the life of grace on earth is the beginning of the life of glory. Although he is a traveler in time, he has opened his eyes, for a moment, in eternity." p.96
"The Christian solitary does not seek solitude merely as an atmosphere or as a setting for a special and exalted spirituality. Nor does he seek solitude as a favorable means for obtaining something he wants - contemplation. He seeks solitude as an expression of his total gift of himself. As such, it may imply renouncement and contempt of 'the world' in its bad sense. It is never a renunciation of the Christian community. Indeed it may express the solitary's conviction that he is not good enough for most of the visible exercises of the community, that his own part is to carry out some hidden function, in the community's spiritual cellar." p.103
"I should be able to return to solitude each time as to the place I have never described to anybody, as the place which I have never brought anyone to see, as the place whose silence has mothered an interior life known to no one but God alone." p.109
"Do not flee to solitude from the community. Find God first in the community, then He will lead you to solitude." p.114
"It is necessary that I be human and remain human in order that the Cross of Christ be not made void. Jesus died not for the angels but for men." p.123
But at the same time…I'm not a Catholic monk:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. For no one can give up what he does not possess." p.29
"Why should I want to be rich, when You were poor? Why should I desire to be famous and powerful in the eyes of men, when the sons of those who exalted the false prophets and stones the true - rejected You and Nailed You to the Cross? Why should I cherish in my heart a hope that devours me-the hope for perfect happiness in this life- when such hope, doomed to frustration, is nothing but despair? My hope in in what the eye has never seen." p.39
"To love our nothingness we must love ourselves." p.44
"If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere." p.47
"Great though books may be, friends though they may be to us, they are no substitute for persons, they are only means of contact with great persons, with men who had more than their own share of humanity, men who were persons for the whole world and not for themselves alone." p.63
"Magic insults His silence by making it the mask of an intruder, of a malign power that usurps the throne of God and substitutes itself for His presence. But what can substitute itself for Him Who is? Only that which is not can pretend to usurp His place. In doing so, it only affirms Him all the more clearly for if you suppress that which is not form the phrase 'is not' you are left with nothing but 'IS'.
“In the silence of God we have overcome magic by seeing through what is not there, and realizing that He Who IS, is closer to us than the 'is not' that tries at all times to place itself between ourselves and Him." p.70
~~~~~~~~~~~
(Magic as a substitute for God. Reading this book while on our family trip to Disneyworld. ahem.)
~~~~~~~~~~~
"I come to You like Jacob in the garments of Esau, that is in the merits and the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. And You, Father, Who have willed to be as though blind in the darkness of this great mystery which is the revelation of Your love, pass Your hands over my head, and bless me as Your only Son. You have willed to see me only in Him, but in willing this You have willed to see me more really as I am. For the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self You have wanted for me, only the self that I have wanted for myself. And I no longer want this false self. But now Father, I come to you in your own Son's self, for it is His Sacred Heart that has taken possession of me and destroyed my sins and it is He Who presents me to You." p.72
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always thought I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." p.83
"It is not speaking that breaks our silence, but the anxiety to be heard. The words of the proud man impose silence on all others, so that he alone may be heard. The humble man speaks only in order to be spoken to." p.91
"As soon as a man is fully disposed to be alone with God, he is alone with God no matter where he may be-in the country, the monastery, the woods or the city. The lightning flashes from east to west, illuminating the whole horizon and striking where it pleases and at the same instant the infinite liberty of God flashes in the depths of that man's soul, and he is illumined. At that moment he sees that though he seems to be in the middle of his journey, he has already arrived at the end. For the life of grace on earth is the beginning of the life of glory. Although he is a traveler in time, he has opened his eyes, for a moment, in eternity." p.96
"The Christian solitary does not seek solitude merely as an atmosphere or as a setting for a special and exalted spirituality. Nor does he seek solitude as a favorable means for obtaining something he wants - contemplation. He seeks solitude as an expression of his total gift of himself. As such, it may imply renouncement and contempt of 'the world' in its bad sense. It is never a renunciation of the Christian community. Indeed it may express the solitary's conviction that he is not good enough for most of the visible exercises of the community, that his own part is to carry out some hidden function, in the community's spiritual cellar." p.103
"I should be able to return to solitude each time as to the place I have never described to anybody, as the place which I have never brought anyone to see, as the place whose silence has mothered an interior life known to no one but God alone." p.109
"Do not flee to solitude from the community. Find God first in the community, then He will lead you to solitude." p.114
"It is necessary that I be human and remain human in order that the Cross of Christ be not made void. Jesus died not for the angels but for men." p.123
November 24, 2025
Solid morning and evening meditations on encountering God in prayer.
July 30, 2019
LOVE Thomas Merton. I wanted to read this book on solitude first (after Seven Story Mountain) because it contains one of my favorite prayers: “Oh Lord God, I have no idea where I am going...”
Small book with deep thoughts...recommend highly.
Small book with deep thoughts...recommend highly.
September 25, 2015
Quite good. I've not read nearly enough Merton, and this was excellent. Worth the price of admission for the famous "Merton Prayer" alone. Reminiscent of Henri Nouwen.
April 24, 2018
I feel like going on a christposting spree now.
January 31, 2022
Vienkārši par pārdomām vienatnē. Pa nodaļai, lappusei dienā un tiešām vienatnē un pārdomās. Manuprāt, ir vērtīgi pārlasīt cita pārdomas un tajās iegremdēties, jo mana dzīve ir mana dzīve; bet tā es iegūstu plašāku skatījumu.
Zinu, ka reiz atkal paņemšu pārskatīt, jo bez vienatnes nevar. Mana dzīve nav dzīve klosterī vai pilnīgā vienatnē, bet Mērtons pamudina to vienatni tomēr meklēt. Tā kā nu tas ir iespējams.
Atstāšu dažus, vien dažus citātus, jo to ir daudz un domu divtik.
“Būt personai nozīmē atbildību un brīvību, un abos gadījumos nepieciešama zināma iekšēja vienatne..”
“Nav jēgas runāt ar cilvēkiem par Dievu, ja viņi nav spējīgi klausīties.” Tā par jebko…
“Ja barojamies no nerealitātes, mūsu dzīvība cieš badu, tādēļ tā mirst.”
“Cilvēkam tieksme dusmoties vienkārši ir rakstura spēks, kuru var virzīt uz labu vai ļaunu atkarībā no viņa vēlmēm.”
“Ja saprotam, cik liela ir Jēzus mīlestība uz mums, nekad nebaidīsimies iet pie viņa arī savā nabadzībā, vājumā, garīgajā izmisumā un nedrošībā.”
“Lai patiešām iepazītu savu “niecību”, mums tā jāiemīl.”
“Vientuļnieka dzīve pirmām kārtām ir lūgšanu dzīve.”
“Nebēdz no kopienas uz vienatni! Vispirms atrodi Dievu kopienā, tad viņš tevi aizvedīs uz vienatni!”
“Man ir jābūt cilvēkam un tādam arī jāpaliek, lai Kristus nāve pie krusta nebūtu veltīga. Jēzus mira par cilvēkiem, nevis par eņģeļiem.”
Zinu, ka reiz atkal paņemšu pārskatīt, jo bez vienatnes nevar. Mana dzīve nav dzīve klosterī vai pilnīgā vienatnē, bet Mērtons pamudina to vienatni tomēr meklēt. Tā kā nu tas ir iespējams.
Atstāšu dažus, vien dažus citātus, jo to ir daudz un domu divtik.
“Būt personai nozīmē atbildību un brīvību, un abos gadījumos nepieciešama zināma iekšēja vienatne..”
“Nav jēgas runāt ar cilvēkiem par Dievu, ja viņi nav spējīgi klausīties.” Tā par jebko…
“Ja barojamies no nerealitātes, mūsu dzīvība cieš badu, tādēļ tā mirst.”
“Cilvēkam tieksme dusmoties vienkārši ir rakstura spēks, kuru var virzīt uz labu vai ļaunu atkarībā no viņa vēlmēm.”
“Ja saprotam, cik liela ir Jēzus mīlestība uz mums, nekad nebaidīsimies iet pie viņa arī savā nabadzībā, vājumā, garīgajā izmisumā un nedrošībā.”
“Lai patiešām iepazītu savu “niecību”, mums tā jāiemīl.”
“Vientuļnieka dzīve pirmām kārtām ir lūgšanu dzīve.”
“Nebēdz no kopienas uz vienatni! Vispirms atrodi Dievu kopienā, tad viņš tevi aizvedīs uz vienatni!”
“Man ir jābūt cilvēkam un tādam arī jāpaliek, lai Kristus nāve pie krusta nebūtu veltīga. Jēzus mira par cilvēkiem, nevis par eņģeļiem.”
May 3, 2020
I picked up this book because I had been introduced to a prayer of Merton's which I found extremely moving. I think I would have liked this book more if it were all prayers.
Merton spends mostly of this book musing about how we connect with God, particularly in solitude and silence. Using a style that reminds me of philosophy, he meanders about how existing in silence with God allows us to know him and makes a whole bunch more points that kind of hinge on that. I wanted a little bit more Biblical backing and a little more answering of the question, "Well, doesn't God want us to be in community with others too?"
If you're a person who likes to muse and want to read about silence, I'd recommend. For the average Christian, it's a bit of a slog and requires more mental work than I was looking for.
Merton spends mostly of this book musing about how we connect with God, particularly in solitude and silence. Using a style that reminds me of philosophy, he meanders about how existing in silence with God allows us to know him and makes a whole bunch more points that kind of hinge on that. I wanted a little bit more Biblical backing and a little more answering of the question, "Well, doesn't God want us to be in community with others too?"
If you're a person who likes to muse and want to read about silence, I'd recommend. For the average Christian, it's a bit of a slog and requires more mental work than I was looking for.
August 24, 2022
Thomas Merton's Thoughts in Solitude is pretty straight Catholic dogma circa 1956. It bears the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur of the religious authorities who oversaw Merton in his early days as a Trappist monk in Kentucky. It was only later that his world view widened to the extent that his work interested me more. Every once in a while, however, I will read his more doctrinaire work -- as I myself had a Catholic upbringing and like to remind myself where I was back then.
February 24, 2022
I love this old, yellowed book I bought years ago - where is now forgotten - and believe I could dwell in its pages daily for wisdom and insight. Timing is everything; I started this book in another life, possibly before I had children, but was unable to connect with its pace. But now each short chapter has stars, underlines, and highlights I found compelling and memorable. This is already a Favorite.
August 14, 2024
The need for solitude, sitting alone with God, is as important now as it was when this little book of meditations came out in 1956. Maybe if more people sat in silence before God, listening for God instead of one’s own ego, we might be more inclined to do God’s will—love God and love our neighbor.
March 11, 2016
http://mrlshelflife.wordpress.com/201...
Merton’s writing is for people who want to think about life and their position in it. It is for people who want to encounter God on a deeper level, deeper being deeper than what they have encountered so far, whatever that may be for them. His work is full of God and Jesus and The Holy Spirit. Personally, I find that a good thing. I like that Merton doesn’t attempt to give us the answers to all our questions. He knows that the answers will be different for the different people walking the path. He makes no bones about being Catholic but he doesn’t slam people upside the head with the Catechism and adherence to the Magisterium. He is all about finding God and walking with Christ in obedience and humility, but he allows room for The Holy Spirit to do its work where that is concerned.
Reading Merton I feel as if I have a friend, a compatriot I can turn to when I’m feeling at sea in my spiritual walk. And while the times I enjoy him most are times when I am looking for answers, I paradoxically am comforted by the fact that he gives me very few of them. He recognizes that he and his readers are on the same path and that we are both looking for answers at the same time. His experiences and his wisdom help point to way and turn over the occasional stone under which an answer may lie hidden. But most of all he is a traveling companion and there are times when I, and other readers, need that most of all.
Merton’s writing is for people who want to think about life and their position in it. It is for people who want to encounter God on a deeper level, deeper being deeper than what they have encountered so far, whatever that may be for them. His work is full of God and Jesus and The Holy Spirit. Personally, I find that a good thing. I like that Merton doesn’t attempt to give us the answers to all our questions. He knows that the answers will be different for the different people walking the path. He makes no bones about being Catholic but he doesn’t slam people upside the head with the Catechism and adherence to the Magisterium. He is all about finding God and walking with Christ in obedience and humility, but he allows room for The Holy Spirit to do its work where that is concerned.
Reading Merton I feel as if I have a friend, a compatriot I can turn to when I’m feeling at sea in my spiritual walk. And while the times I enjoy him most are times when I am looking for answers, I paradoxically am comforted by the fact that he gives me very few of them. He recognizes that he and his readers are on the same path and that we are both looking for answers at the same time. His experiences and his wisdom help point to way and turn over the occasional stone under which an answer may lie hidden. But most of all he is a traveling companion and there are times when I, and other readers, need that most of all.
April 9, 2018
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
Yes.
Yes.
July 21, 2018
★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
A selection of my favourite passages from the book
• Before we can see that created things (especially material) are unreal, we must see clearly that they are real.
• Temperament does not predestine one man to sanctity and another to reprobation. All temperaments can serve as the material for ruin or for salvation.
• If we make good use of what we have, if we make it serve our good desires, we can do better than another who merely serves his temperament instead of making it serve him.
• But human freedom does not act in a moral vacuum. Nor is it necessary to produce such a vacuum in order to guarantee the freedom of our activity. Coercion from outside, strong temperamental inclinations and passions within ourselves, do nothing to affect the essence of our freedom. They simply define its action by imposing certain limits on it. They give it a peculiar character of its own.
• If we really deny ourselves, our self-denial will sometimes even deprive us of things we really need. Therefore we will feel the need of them.
• Nor does the spiritual life exclude thought and feeling. It needs both. It is not just a life concentrated at the “high point” of the soul, a life from which the mind and the imagination and the body are excluded. If it were so, few people could lead it. And again, if that were the spiritual life, it would not be a life at all. If man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit.
• A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions.
• The activity proper to man is not purely mental because man is not just a disembodied mind. Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. It is only by making our knowledge part of ourselves, through action, that we enter into the reality that is signified by our concepts.
• Self-conquest is really self-surrender. Yet before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. For no one can give up what he does not possess.
• Discretion warns us against wasted effort: but for the coward all effort is wasted effort.
• Without courage we can never attain to true simplicity. Cowardice keeps us “double minded” —hesitating between the world and God. In this hesitation, there is no true faith—faith remains an opinion.
• The proud man claims honor for having what no one else has. The humble man begs for a share in what everybody else has received.
• Meditative prayer is a stern discipline, and one which cannot be learned by violence. It requires unending courage and perseverance, and those who are not willing to work at it patiently will finally end in compromise. Here, as elsewhere, compromise is only another name for failure.
• In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with his mind and lips, but in a certain sense with his whole being. Prayer is then not just a formula of words, or a series of desires springing up in the heart—it is the orientation of our whole body, mind and spirit to God in silence, attention, and adoration.
• you want to have a spiritual life you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for.
• And yet we, who can have many things we don’t need and many more which are scandalous for us to have—we are poor, because we have them with permission!
• Great though books may be, friends though they may be to us, they are no substitute for persons, they are only means of contact with great persons, with men who had more than their own share of humanity, men who were persons for the whole world and not for themselves alone.
• A humility that freezes our being and frustrates all healthy activity is not humility at all, but a disguised form of pride.
• In our age everything has to be a “problem.” Ours is a time of anxiety because we have willed it to be so. Our anxiety is not imposed on us by force from outside. We impose it on our world and upon one another from within ourselves.
• A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live. Thus, if one is called to be a solitary, he will stop wondering how he is to live and start living peacefully only when he is in solitude.
• It is not speaking that breaks our silence, but the anxiety to be heard. The words of the proud man impose silence on all others, so that he alone may be heard. The humble man speaks only in order to be spoken to. The humble man asks nothing but an alms, then waits and listens.
• When we receive our solitude by intervals, we taste its value by contrast with another value. When we really live alone, there is no contrast.
• Landscape is a good liberator from all such images, for it calms and pacifies the imagination and the emotions
• Do not flee to solitude from the community. Find God first in the community, then He will lead you to solitude.
• A man cannot understand the true value of silence unless he has a real respect for the validity of language: for the reality which is expressible in language is found, face to face and without medium, in silence. Nor would we find this reality in itself, that is to say in its own silence, unless we were first brought there by language.
• God does not tell His purest secrets to one who is prepared to reveal them. He has secrets which He tells to those who will communicate some idea of them to others. But these secrets are the common property of many. He has other secrets, which cannot be told. The mere desire to tell them makes us incapable of receiving them.
A selection of my favourite passages from the book
• Before we can see that created things (especially material) are unreal, we must see clearly that they are real.
• Temperament does not predestine one man to sanctity and another to reprobation. All temperaments can serve as the material for ruin or for salvation.
• If we make good use of what we have, if we make it serve our good desires, we can do better than another who merely serves his temperament instead of making it serve him.
• But human freedom does not act in a moral vacuum. Nor is it necessary to produce such a vacuum in order to guarantee the freedom of our activity. Coercion from outside, strong temperamental inclinations and passions within ourselves, do nothing to affect the essence of our freedom. They simply define its action by imposing certain limits on it. They give it a peculiar character of its own.
• If we really deny ourselves, our self-denial will sometimes even deprive us of things we really need. Therefore we will feel the need of them.
• Nor does the spiritual life exclude thought and feeling. It needs both. It is not just a life concentrated at the “high point” of the soul, a life from which the mind and the imagination and the body are excluded. If it were so, few people could lead it. And again, if that were the spiritual life, it would not be a life at all. If man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit.
• A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions.
• The activity proper to man is not purely mental because man is not just a disembodied mind. Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. It is only by making our knowledge part of ourselves, through action, that we enter into the reality that is signified by our concepts.
• Self-conquest is really self-surrender. Yet before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. For no one can give up what he does not possess.
• Discretion warns us against wasted effort: but for the coward all effort is wasted effort.
• Without courage we can never attain to true simplicity. Cowardice keeps us “double minded” —hesitating between the world and God. In this hesitation, there is no true faith—faith remains an opinion.
• The proud man claims honor for having what no one else has. The humble man begs for a share in what everybody else has received.
• Meditative prayer is a stern discipline, and one which cannot be learned by violence. It requires unending courage and perseverance, and those who are not willing to work at it patiently will finally end in compromise. Here, as elsewhere, compromise is only another name for failure.
• In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with his mind and lips, but in a certain sense with his whole being. Prayer is then not just a formula of words, or a series of desires springing up in the heart—it is the orientation of our whole body, mind and spirit to God in silence, attention, and adoration.
• you want to have a spiritual life you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for.
• And yet we, who can have many things we don’t need and many more which are scandalous for us to have—we are poor, because we have them with permission!
• Great though books may be, friends though they may be to us, they are no substitute for persons, they are only means of contact with great persons, with men who had more than their own share of humanity, men who were persons for the whole world and not for themselves alone.
• A humility that freezes our being and frustrates all healthy activity is not humility at all, but a disguised form of pride.
• In our age everything has to be a “problem.” Ours is a time of anxiety because we have willed it to be so. Our anxiety is not imposed on us by force from outside. We impose it on our world and upon one another from within ourselves.
• A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live. Thus, if one is called to be a solitary, he will stop wondering how he is to live and start living peacefully only when he is in solitude.
• It is not speaking that breaks our silence, but the anxiety to be heard. The words of the proud man impose silence on all others, so that he alone may be heard. The humble man speaks only in order to be spoken to. The humble man asks nothing but an alms, then waits and listens.
• When we receive our solitude by intervals, we taste its value by contrast with another value. When we really live alone, there is no contrast.
• Landscape is a good liberator from all such images, for it calms and pacifies the imagination and the emotions
• Do not flee to solitude from the community. Find God first in the community, then He will lead you to solitude.
• A man cannot understand the true value of silence unless he has a real respect for the validity of language: for the reality which is expressible in language is found, face to face and without medium, in silence. Nor would we find this reality in itself, that is to say in its own silence, unless we were first brought there by language.
• God does not tell His purest secrets to one who is prepared to reveal them. He has secrets which He tells to those who will communicate some idea of them to others. But these secrets are the common property of many. He has other secrets, which cannot be told. The mere desire to tell them makes us incapable of receiving them.
April 10, 2009
wow. This completely exceeded my expectations. There were a few sections that I found difficult to relate to, but the vast majority of the book blew me away. I will doubtlessly be returning to Thoughts In Solitude again and again.
A word in season. I greatly look forward to checking out some of Merton's other works!
A word in season. I greatly look forward to checking out some of Merton's other works!
January 14, 2018
I think I would have loved this book 10 years ago, but when I read it this week, it seemed not to be what I needed at the moment. The book is not exactly what it says it is. It really isn't thoughts on solitude, but thoughts on how to be a humble Christian. This is useful, but I guess not what I was looking for at the moment.
February 17, 2022
Good book of short meditations. I read it largely while holding my baby early in the mornings before my wife woke up so it was hard to commune with the "solitude" aspects of this but a lot of the thoughts were pretty interesting and meaningful, others had meaning but mostly to the author. Still, it was a good insight into the mind of a significant religious thinker of the 20th century.
December 31, 2019
I really enjoyed this book because it felt very personal. It reminded me of my own disjointed prayer life. Some days, I know exactly what God wants from me; others I am completely clueless and perhaps that’s OK.
December 28, 2011
A great book, though a bit preachy at times. I found that even as a non-christian, I could understand most of Merton's message in the first half. The second half was a bit too preachy, though.
November 11, 2017
Fortunately Kim told me to savour it slowly. Incredible wisdom if you read it slowly and ponder what Merton is saying.
March 7, 2021
I can’t review this book until I’ve read it again. It’s too rich, too essential to be casual about. Man oh man is Merton something.
November 20, 2025
I first read Merton's 'Wisdom of the Desert' many years back and learnt a lot about how the early Christians saw and thought about God. I found it both intriguing and concise. Since then I have always had a form of respect for Thomas Merton and my intention to read any other works he had produced lingered in the recesses of my mind. Reading 'Thoughts in Solitude' was a fulfilment of that desire.
'Thoughts in Solitude' is a work written in the mid 50s when Thomas Merton was able to spend deep time alone with only himself and his thoughts to keep him company. If you know anything about Merton, it goes without saying that this is a very Christian book. Christian ideas and beliefs are scattered throughout. As a Muslim, I don't believe in much of the specifics of theology discussed, but others resonated with me. I was still able to resonate with the original message and benefit from the overall idea.
One of my favourite ideas from the book is the notion that for the one who spends time in solitude, words become unnecessary because there is no one there to audibly hear you (of course). This means that you are able to interact with the world around you without referring to things by their given names.
As Merton writes:
"...Silence teaches us to know reality by respecting it where words have defiled it."
In other words, since speech is not required, objects are no longer bound within the limits of their literal names, you can freely experience objects as they are in reality without any intermediary. I found this to be quite insightful and made me think about the connection we all experience with the world and how often we can feel things more intimately without any words being said. Think about relationships with loved ones or even pets, words are quite often entirely unnecessary, so why should this not extend to 'things' too?
Other points I found interesting were regarding Merton's views on poverty, he saw it as the ultimate expression of freedom where a man realises that no one can truly provide for him except God. The natural result of this is to bear his poverty with contentment, for is the one who completely relies on God ever left disappointed? Perhaps an obvious point, but I found the inverting of poverty from a bad situation into an opportunity to love God more an interesting one. Poverty after all implies needing something, and if a man if free from all excessive wants, is he really poor?
Aside from these, other scattered points on the timelessness of nature attracting those men who seek to remain stable and solid in the world in their own write struck a chord with me. Other ideas surprised me such as Merton's insistence that a purely mental life (one encouraged by the solitary life no doubt) may lead one to destruction. The destiny of man is to act upon what he knows and who he is. He clearly wasn't biased and saw even the dangers of that which he was doing.
Overall, 'Thoughts in Solitude' is a short read, but one that contains many useful ideas which you can feel came from a man deep in thought, spurred on by his own journey living in solitude. Merton wasn't writing passively, he was living the ideals he called to.
I recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the journey of solitude undertaken and written about by anyone. Being alone with oneself is a way for deep truths to come to light and the endeavour is almost always respectable. While this is less of a book and more of the collected thoughts of a man on his own journey, I still found much to relate to and much more to think about.
To conclude, I enjoyed this book and Merton has solidified himself as someone who acts upon what he writes and who respects knowledge and seeks to attain wisdom. My firm disagreements with his specific religious beliefs do not prevent me from acknowledging some of the universal truths on solitude he so very well described.
'Thoughts in Solitude' is a work written in the mid 50s when Thomas Merton was able to spend deep time alone with only himself and his thoughts to keep him company. If you know anything about Merton, it goes without saying that this is a very Christian book. Christian ideas and beliefs are scattered throughout. As a Muslim, I don't believe in much of the specifics of theology discussed, but others resonated with me. I was still able to resonate with the original message and benefit from the overall idea.
One of my favourite ideas from the book is the notion that for the one who spends time in solitude, words become unnecessary because there is no one there to audibly hear you (of course). This means that you are able to interact with the world around you without referring to things by their given names.
As Merton writes:
"...Silence teaches us to know reality by respecting it where words have defiled it."
In other words, since speech is not required, objects are no longer bound within the limits of their literal names, you can freely experience objects as they are in reality without any intermediary. I found this to be quite insightful and made me think about the connection we all experience with the world and how often we can feel things more intimately without any words being said. Think about relationships with loved ones or even pets, words are quite often entirely unnecessary, so why should this not extend to 'things' too?
Other points I found interesting were regarding Merton's views on poverty, he saw it as the ultimate expression of freedom where a man realises that no one can truly provide for him except God. The natural result of this is to bear his poverty with contentment, for is the one who completely relies on God ever left disappointed? Perhaps an obvious point, but I found the inverting of poverty from a bad situation into an opportunity to love God more an interesting one. Poverty after all implies needing something, and if a man if free from all excessive wants, is he really poor?
Aside from these, other scattered points on the timelessness of nature attracting those men who seek to remain stable and solid in the world in their own write struck a chord with me. Other ideas surprised me such as Merton's insistence that a purely mental life (one encouraged by the solitary life no doubt) may lead one to destruction. The destiny of man is to act upon what he knows and who he is. He clearly wasn't biased and saw even the dangers of that which he was doing.
Overall, 'Thoughts in Solitude' is a short read, but one that contains many useful ideas which you can feel came from a man deep in thought, spurred on by his own journey living in solitude. Merton wasn't writing passively, he was living the ideals he called to.
I recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the journey of solitude undertaken and written about by anyone. Being alone with oneself is a way for deep truths to come to light and the endeavour is almost always respectable. While this is less of a book and more of the collected thoughts of a man on his own journey, I still found much to relate to and much more to think about.
To conclude, I enjoyed this book and Merton has solidified himself as someone who acts upon what he writes and who respects knowledge and seeks to attain wisdom. My firm disagreements with his specific religious beliefs do not prevent me from acknowledging some of the universal truths on solitude he so very well described.
July 26, 2023
Merton was gifted with the ability of communicating his ideas with beautiful language, and the pure experience of reading this book was very enjoyable. However, the more that I read, the less I was impressed with Merton's actual insights. Merton reflects on finding God in silence and isolation, and it seems that his ultimate goal is to convince others of the value of the monastic lifestyle. There are certainly good insights Merton makes that are probably only stumbled upon through the solitude of this lifestyle - however, his portrayal of monasticism as the ultimate vocation for knowing and living for God is, in my opinion, misguided. Perhaps this is more of a personal disagreement with the Christian-ness of monastic living than it is a book review, but it is clear that the Christian life is not meant to be lived in solitude (or within the confines of Christian community) without meaningful contribution to society. Jesus himself was a carpenter by vocation (Mark 6:3), and frequently taught, dined with and cared for those society deemed to be sinful (Mark 2:15 as one example).
Merton speaks to the personal spiritual experience to great extent, but fails to address at any length the Christian's outward response to the world around him/her. I realize that Merton did not really intend to define the Christian's role in society, but my distaste for monasticism did heavily influence my enjoyment of this book. I will say, however, that Merton's flowery vocabulary makes for an aesthetically-pleasing read, and I would be willing to give this book another chance in the future for the writing alone. somewhere between 3-3.5
...
"The greater our capacity to receive His mercy, the greater is our power to give Him glory, for He is glorified only by His own gifts, and He is most glorified by those in whom His mercy has produced the greatest love."
"Poverty means need. To make a vow of poverty and never go without anything, never have to need something without getting it, is to try to mock the Living God."
"A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live."
"It is necessary that I be human [in nature and brokenness] and remain human in order that the Cross of Christ be not made void. Jesus died not for angels but for men."
Merton speaks to the personal spiritual experience to great extent, but fails to address at any length the Christian's outward response to the world around him/her. I realize that Merton did not really intend to define the Christian's role in society, but my distaste for monasticism did heavily influence my enjoyment of this book. I will say, however, that Merton's flowery vocabulary makes for an aesthetically-pleasing read, and I would be willing to give this book another chance in the future for the writing alone. somewhere between 3-3.5
...
"The greater our capacity to receive His mercy, the greater is our power to give Him glory, for He is glorified only by His own gifts, and He is most glorified by those in whom His mercy has produced the greatest love."
"Poverty means need. To make a vow of poverty and never go without anything, never have to need something without getting it, is to try to mock the Living God."
"A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live."
"It is necessary that I be human [in nature and brokenness] and remain human in order that the Cross of Christ be not made void. Jesus died not for angels but for men."
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