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The Inner Experience: Thomas Merton's Unfinished Masterpiece on Contemplation, Bridging Catholic Monasticism and Eastern Meditation Traditions
Now in paperback, revised and redesigned: This is Thomas Merton's last book, in which he draws on both Eastern and Western traditions to explore the hot topic of contemplation/meditation in depth and to show how we can practice true contemplation in everyday life. Never before published except as a series of articles (one per chapter) in an academic journal, this book on contemplation was revised by Merton shortly before his untimely death. The material bridges Merton's early work on Catholic monasticism, mysticism, and contemplation with his later writing on Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality. This book thus provides a comprehensive understanding of contemplation that draws on the best of Western and Eastern traditions. Merton was still tinkering with this book when he died; it was the book he struggled with most during his career as a writer. But now the Merton Legacy Trust and experts have determined that the book makes such a valuable contribution as his major comprehensive presentation of contemplation that they have allowed its publication.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Thomas Merton
554 books1,901 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 49 reviews
July 20, 2015
If you are interested in the contemplative life this book will inspire you and may even intimidate you.
Merton, as always, gives great insights and observations. There are times when he seems to be at the limits of acceptable church theology and I think he would do better to ignore those restrictions. Whether he is restrained by the censors or honoring his own church vows, I'm not sure, but I think one can live a fully contemplative life outside the church and Merton knew that although he certainly did not make it obvious.
I like how he made the idea of "unknowing" seem reasonable and even desirable. Too often the response that we just can't know the mind of God seems like a cop out but Merton deals with it as a paradox and actually makes sense of it. He talks about becoming one with God, "Man in God and God in Man", by letting go, unknowing, of all the secular baggage we have spent a life time pursuing. And this includes our intellectual pursuits that we may even consider so altruistic. He talks about each of us being Christ, or having Christ within us if you are not ready for the idea of "being Christ", but I think Merton means that a person becomes Christ and is hence one with Christ and with no demeaning of deity since we're all divine anyway.
He talks of sin as not so much violating laws and naughtiness but as a failure to recognize one's true inner self, "the sense of having been deeply and deliberately false to my own inmost reality, my likeness to God."
Too bad he died before he could put the finishing touches on this book but it is still a profound read.
Merton, as always, gives great insights and observations. There are times when he seems to be at the limits of acceptable church theology and I think he would do better to ignore those restrictions. Whether he is restrained by the censors or honoring his own church vows, I'm not sure, but I think one can live a fully contemplative life outside the church and Merton knew that although he certainly did not make it obvious.
I like how he made the idea of "unknowing" seem reasonable and even desirable. Too often the response that we just can't know the mind of God seems like a cop out but Merton deals with it as a paradox and actually makes sense of it. He talks about becoming one with God, "Man in God and God in Man", by letting go, unknowing, of all the secular baggage we have spent a life time pursuing. And this includes our intellectual pursuits that we may even consider so altruistic. He talks about each of us being Christ, or having Christ within us if you are not ready for the idea of "being Christ", but I think Merton means that a person becomes Christ and is hence one with Christ and with no demeaning of deity since we're all divine anyway.
He talks of sin as not so much violating laws and naughtiness but as a failure to recognize one's true inner self, "the sense of having been deeply and deliberately false to my own inmost reality, my likeness to God."
Too bad he died before he could put the finishing touches on this book but it is still a profound read.
June 6, 2013
Until recently, I knew almost nothing of Thomas Merton other than that he'd been a Christian monk with a strong interest in Buddhism and "Eastern religions," and that he'd died as the result of an accidental electrocution in Thailand. Now I know a little more, and I'm developing a great deal of respect for the man's mind, his learnedness, and his openness to other cultures and non-Christian ways of approaching spirituality, even as he lived in relative seclusion in a monastery in Kentucky.
I won't say too much about the book (and the other book of his I've been reading--Zen and the Birds of Appetite), because I don't really feel qualified. At first, I found much of his writing too cerebral and too theological for subjects that, as far as I'm concerned, are not suited to those approaches (my own approach is intuitive and decidedly anti-theological). Apparently, so did Merton; the book was written and revised over many years, and Merton made a comment to someone about the earlier parts of it (which were heavy on Catholic theology and felt, to me--as such things usually do--like wading through a swamp in oppressive heat and darkness) that it was "much too superficial and too cerebral at the same time," and that he'd written it when he was still a "rip-roaring Trappist."
But it the later parts Merton seems to find his voice and the beginnings of a kind of freedom; he seems to be starting to look for something more (and, apparently, starting to find it in his studies of Buddhism). He allows himself a sense of humor, and writes movingly about his frustration with the material obsessions and casual cruelty of modern society, and its thirst for war. (These trends in his thinking and writing apparently angered his more conservative and dogmatic associates. I read a review today by someone who was living in another monastery when Merton passed away, and who heard some of the nuns and monks saying, "Good riddance." That actually made me cry.)
I have to believe that Merton's death came at a pivotal moment in his life, and it's very difficult not to wonder what direction his life would have taken had he lived and returned from Asia to the States. In any case, his discussion of what it means to be a "contemplative," once he stopped quoting St. John of the Cross, etc., and began speaking from his own heart and experience, was fascinating. Unfortunately--as with his life--just as he really "got going" on it, it ended. But I'm still reading Zen and the Birds of Appetite, and it's not as if Merton never wrote anything else, if I want to continue.
I won't say too much about the book (and the other book of his I've been reading--Zen and the Birds of Appetite), because I don't really feel qualified. At first, I found much of his writing too cerebral and too theological for subjects that, as far as I'm concerned, are not suited to those approaches (my own approach is intuitive and decidedly anti-theological). Apparently, so did Merton; the book was written and revised over many years, and Merton made a comment to someone about the earlier parts of it (which were heavy on Catholic theology and felt, to me--as such things usually do--like wading through a swamp in oppressive heat and darkness) that it was "much too superficial and too cerebral at the same time," and that he'd written it when he was still a "rip-roaring Trappist."
But it the later parts Merton seems to find his voice and the beginnings of a kind of freedom; he seems to be starting to look for something more (and, apparently, starting to find it in his studies of Buddhism). He allows himself a sense of humor, and writes movingly about his frustration with the material obsessions and casual cruelty of modern society, and its thirst for war. (These trends in his thinking and writing apparently angered his more conservative and dogmatic associates. I read a review today by someone who was living in another monastery when Merton passed away, and who heard some of the nuns and monks saying, "Good riddance." That actually made me cry.)
I have to believe that Merton's death came at a pivotal moment in his life, and it's very difficult not to wonder what direction his life would have taken had he lived and returned from Asia to the States. In any case, his discussion of what it means to be a "contemplative," once he stopped quoting St. John of the Cross, etc., and began speaking from his own heart and experience, was fascinating. Unfortunately--as with his life--just as he really "got going" on it, it ended. But I'm still reading Zen and the Birds of Appetite, and it's not as if Merton never wrote anything else, if I want to continue.
December 27, 2020
I am a fan of Merton, but this book felt like a mixture of solid theoretical explanations and the superfluous. It felt more like it should have stayed a series of notes instead of it being compiled into a book.
August 2, 2024
Some beautiful insights, especially in the first 2/3 or so of the book. Later on it gets dense and a bit too explicitly Christian for me. For the most part I really enjoyed reading my first Merton book and finding so many commonalities with other spirituality: yoga and Ayahuasca experiences in particular.
I took notes on many points in the earlier chapters -- maybe I will come back to add some favorite quotes.
I took notes on many points in the earlier chapters -- maybe I will come back to add some favorite quotes.
February 21, 2017
Ieri sono andata a un incontro interreligioso in cui si parlava di Thomas Merton e di Swami Vivekananda. Il dialogo è iniziato dalla lettura di alcuni brani tratti dai libri di questi due monaci per conoscere le loro vite e il loro credo; si è discusso anche dei punti in comune che hanno i ricercatori della Verità indipendentemente dalla religione di appartenenza e della vita monastica che non deve essere soltanto fine a se stessa, ma deve aiutare il prossimo a trovare Dio.
Uno dei libri presentati ieri è La contemplazione cristiana che ho comprato e sono riuscita a leggere oggi pomeriggio. Sono poche pagine, ma molto intense, e la bellezza delle parole è un puro giovamento per lo spirito.
La prima parte è filosofica e ci sono paragoni con lo zen e si nota l'influenza che le filosofie orientali hanno avuto su Merton. Sembrava di leggere parti della Bhagavad Gita o della Srimad-Bhagavatam e mi ritrovavo in tutto ciò che c'era scritto. Mi è piaciuta molto questa visione orientale del Cristianesimo.
La seconda parte, invece, è molto più teologica e improntata sul cattolicesimo e mi sono persa un po' non riuscendo a capire alcuni concetti (quello della carità cristiana e dello Spirito Santo) e non condividendone altri. Si tratta di pochissime frasi che non hanno influito minimamente sul piacere complessivo del libro. Anche nella seconda parte ci sono alcuni riferimenti alle filosofie orientali, ma ci sono soprattutto estratti del Nuovo Testamento.
Mi sono positivamente stupita dell'apertura mentale di questo monaco trappista e fa piacere vedere che i veri ricercatori della Verità puntano sui punti in comune con le altre religioni e non sulle differenze.
Uno dei libri presentati ieri è La contemplazione cristiana che ho comprato e sono riuscita a leggere oggi pomeriggio. Sono poche pagine, ma molto intense, e la bellezza delle parole è un puro giovamento per lo spirito.
La prima parte è filosofica e ci sono paragoni con lo zen e si nota l'influenza che le filosofie orientali hanno avuto su Merton. Sembrava di leggere parti della Bhagavad Gita o della Srimad-Bhagavatam e mi ritrovavo in tutto ciò che c'era scritto. Mi è piaciuta molto questa visione orientale del Cristianesimo.
La seconda parte, invece, è molto più teologica e improntata sul cattolicesimo e mi sono persa un po' non riuscendo a capire alcuni concetti (quello della carità cristiana e dello Spirito Santo) e non condividendone altri. Si tratta di pochissime frasi che non hanno influito minimamente sul piacere complessivo del libro. Anche nella seconda parte ci sono alcuni riferimenti alle filosofie orientali, ma ci sono soprattutto estratti del Nuovo Testamento.
Mi sono positivamente stupita dell'apertura mentale di questo monaco trappista e fa piacere vedere che i veri ricercatori della Verità puntano sui punti in comune con le altre religioni e non sulle differenze.
July 28, 2021
This is the first work that I've read of Merton. I knew going in that he is well respected and rather unique in his spirituality and his understanding of prayer and contemplation. So, as usual, when I saw the book on sale, I grabbed it and decided to give it a try. Knowing that this is not Merton's most popular work - I have not yet read the Seven Storey Mountain - I was interested in his perspective.
I really enjoyed certain parts of this book, especially early on. While Merton is clearly very educated in Catholic spirituality, he is also very clearly a man of his age. He is capable of using traditional language, but what was refreshing to me was his ability to translate that language into modern-day spirituality, including Eastern spirituality.
Merton's Eastern spirituality was extremely useful and helpful for me. Most people tend to either equate Eastern and Christian spirituality as two sides of the same coin or completely divorce the two. Merton was clear to distinguish what makes Christian spirituality unique while also highlighting the positive points of Eastern spirituality and how it can help deepen and enrich Christian spirituality.
The most useful chapter for me was early in the book. It can be tempting to equate spirituality with finding success with techniques and having spiritual experiences. But being close to God is often not something that can be noticed first-hand. I never thought I had a very profound prayer life or much of a relationship with God, even though I am a priest and I spend a lot of time in prayer. But Merton made more clear for me what I should be looking to get out of my time at prayer. Even just for this, the read was very well worth it and helped me immensely.
I really enjoyed certain parts of this book, especially early on. While Merton is clearly very educated in Catholic spirituality, he is also very clearly a man of his age. He is capable of using traditional language, but what was refreshing to me was his ability to translate that language into modern-day spirituality, including Eastern spirituality.
Merton's Eastern spirituality was extremely useful and helpful for me. Most people tend to either equate Eastern and Christian spirituality as two sides of the same coin or completely divorce the two. Merton was clear to distinguish what makes Christian spirituality unique while also highlighting the positive points of Eastern spirituality and how it can help deepen and enrich Christian spirituality.
The most useful chapter for me was early in the book. It can be tempting to equate spirituality with finding success with techniques and having spiritual experiences. But being close to God is often not something that can be noticed first-hand. I never thought I had a very profound prayer life or much of a relationship with God, even though I am a priest and I spend a lot of time in prayer. But Merton made more clear for me what I should be looking to get out of my time at prayer. Even just for this, the read was very well worth it and helped me immensely.
August 3, 2016
A very insightful book about Christian spirituality. Interesting, challenging. Unlike some of his other books on meditation, this one is a little more practical.
March 30, 2018
The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation by Thomas Merton.
Some of the pearls found in this work of Merton written just before he left for Asia where he died. The best estimation of when that was seems to be sometime in September 1959.
One of the strange laws of the contemplative life is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves. Pg.2 The contemplative life is primarily a life of unity. A contemplative is one who has transcended divisions to teach a unity beyond division. Pg. 147 The contemplative is not one who directs a magic spiritual intuition upon other objects, but one who, being perfectly unified in himself and recollected in the center of his own humility, enters into contact with reality by an immediacy that forgets the division between subject and object. Pg. 151.
It seem fitting that I finished it around 3:15, this Good Friday afternoon. Thank you Thomas
Some of the pearls found in this work of Merton written just before he left for Asia where he died. The best estimation of when that was seems to be sometime in September 1959.
One of the strange laws of the contemplative life is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves. Pg.2 The contemplative life is primarily a life of unity. A contemplative is one who has transcended divisions to teach a unity beyond division. Pg. 147 The contemplative is not one who directs a magic spiritual intuition upon other objects, but one who, being perfectly unified in himself and recollected in the center of his own humility, enters into contact with reality by an immediacy that forgets the division between subject and object. Pg. 151.
It seem fitting that I finished it around 3:15, this Good Friday afternoon. Thank you Thomas
June 5, 2023
En la Experiencia Interior se recopilan los escritos de Thomas Merton más relacionados con el proceso reflexivo que lleva a una persona a abrazar el Cristianismo y a vivir de acuerdo a su dogma gracias a la contemplación. Sin embargo, en este libro apenas se analizan las religiones orientales. Tan solo se abordan algunos aspectos de la meditación y de manera muy tangencial en su relación con la contemplación cristiana. Así, los que esperen que este libro sea un punto de encuentro entre la teología cristiana y la budista quedarán decepcionados.
Dicho esto, La Experiencia Interior es un ensayo profundo en el que Merton nos invita a reflexionar y a aplicar algunos preceptos cristianos como la contemplación a nuestra vida diaria. Aunque los últimos capítulos sobre los aspectos prácticos de la vida monacal me parecieron poco interesantes, en general es un libro que merece la pena leer y releer.
Dicho esto, La Experiencia Interior es un ensayo profundo en el que Merton nos invita a reflexionar y a aplicar algunos preceptos cristianos como la contemplación a nuestra vida diaria. Aunque los últimos capítulos sobre los aspectos prácticos de la vida monacal me parecieron poco interesantes, en general es un libro que merece la pena leer y releer.
January 15, 2019
This book was a challenge for me - my only Merton book. At the end though, among the things which I will take with me is this: "The contemplative does not set out to achieve a kind of intuitive mastery of history, or of man's spirit, or of the things of God. He seeks the center of his own living truth, and there all these other mysteries is granted to him at the moment when he needs it. If he needs nothing, nothing is granted. ... All that he needs comes to him from God, even before he begins to need it." ... "freedom is a spiritual thing. It is a sacred and religious reality. Its roots are not in man but in God." Ultimately, freedom is to be free from ourselves, to be God's expression of love for others, as expressed so often in the words of Jesus, the Christ.
August 18, 2019
It is maddening to think these words of wisdom couldn't have been around 40 years ago! Although it is obvious Thomas Merton was disappointed in this "not as yet a book" but every nugget has relevance for all people aware of the spiritual presence and its sustaining quality whether you are Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, or even an Agnostic. We need assurance that our exterior lives are not the answer for complete peace and comfort, once we explore that inner side and allow meditation to take its root, our lives can then truly have meaning.
Thank goodness this little book is appropriate for young and old alike. It has been hanging about in my library for a good little while and has been a joy to pick up on a regular basis.
Thank goodness this little book is appropriate for young and old alike. It has been hanging about in my library for a good little while and has been a joy to pick up on a regular basis.
February 9, 2020
Merton is brilliant and clear here, citing 5 different historical figures on the subject of the contemplation of God. Herein, he gives "mysticism" a good name, that being the contemplation of good through meditation, while condemning "illuminism" which is meditation for its own sake. He is at pains several times in the book to balance some of his comments. For example: the revelation of God through force of will in contemplation is a red herring. He strives to point out that any exercise of the will in contemplation likely obscures the presence of God, and if one pines for a spectacular revelation of God, then he has already pushed away any chance of any kind of revelation.
January 13, 2025
Simple, thoughtful and important. This is a book for every Christian and even with it being written mid-century in the midst of referencing The Cold War and atomic paranoia in culture, it still shows modern day application and shows the signs of being slow thoughtful ponderings with scripture being applied to life. It interacts with other religions in a respectful and authentic way. Making Christianity a distinct difference but using it to talk about how different forms of contemplations show our need for God's presence in our lives.
February 28, 2022
Like William, I just don't think this worked as a book, but notes or a study or a collection of thoughts. I'm a huge fan of Merton, and a struggling contemplative, so this book was totally relevant to me. Yet there were only a few gems i could really glean. Those that did 'land' with me were excellent, as I've come to expect from Merton's work.
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March 16, 2022After years of wanting to understand contemplation, I think I get it now in its simplicity and grace. Thomas Merton just makes everything so accessible, understandable and demystifies something that is as simple as breathing but often thought to be as arcane as the most secret of mysteries. It is not - it is being present and losing ego…
May 20, 2023
I view the contemplative life as being one of simplicity that should be taught in easy prose and simple metaphors. I am appreciative of Merton's willingness to delve into Eastern thought from his viewpoint of a Catholic monk, but I found the dense nature of the editing style and sentence structure to be too distracting from the underlying message.
June 6, 2018
Good start but seemed to be speaking beyond his authority
The foreword says this gives a glimpse of Merton’s evolving thought in the middle of his life. Interesting for scholars perhaps.
The foreword says this gives a glimpse of Merton’s evolving thought in the middle of his life. Interesting for scholars perhaps.
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March 5, 2021The main thing I learned is that I am not cut out to be Merton's kind of contemplative. I'm sure finding a way to passivity and nothingness would be better for me spiritually, but I'm afraid the neuroses have already found me.
June 29, 2021
One of Merton's last intended books, "The Inner Experience" gives beautiful contemplation and guidance on meditation toward the aim of nurturing our interior life to be in the presence of God even in the midst of a technocratic society.
September 28, 2021
Particularly difficult to read. Merton writes to present contemplation and its experience, despite the admission that words are woefully inadequate and the God knowable only through unknowing. That said, I found it valuable.
March 28, 2022
I read Merton and Rohr despite the fact that I'm not in the least bit religiously Catholic. Or maybe I am in the small c sense of the word. Anyway, these "notes" were many times profound, but almost as often too dense for me to feel like I fully grasped his intent. But that's on me, not Merton.
January 26, 2023
This book is packed full of insight. I have a few minor complaints about the editor, but otherwise quite an excellent and insightful read. I will be applying some of the things I read and will probably return to this book for another time through, a bit more slowly.
August 11, 2018
I lost this book in a move and then found it. I'm glad I did because it's brilliant. At times his insight is startling and precise.
March 10, 2019
Seems real good. Still working on it.
August 12, 2019
Mature Merton—my lifetime mentor. Important reflection of his growth and insight. The last chapter is essential Merton.
July 5, 2021
Not bad, as he did make a number of observations I found helpful.
October 19, 2010
Disappointing. Maybe I found the latinate jargon of academia off-putting (ontological this, epistemological that), and had hoped for something more avuncula, but reading this was more like wading through a very rough draft of a Master's thesis.
There were gems though. For example, the following passage on how sin can be an obstacle to spiritual liberation:
"It is not merely a sense of guilt referred to the authority of God. It is a sense of evil in myself. Not because I have violated a law outside myself, but beacuse I have violated the inmost laws of my own being, which are, at the same time, the laws of God WHo dwells within me. The sense of sin [as opposed to the sense of guilt] is the sense of having been deeply and deliberately false to my own inmost reality, mylikeness to God. . . . but spiritual death is the sense of having separated myself from truth by complete inner falsity, from love by selfishness . . . The sense of sin . . . springs directly from the evil that is present in me: it ells me not merely that have done wrong, but that I AM wrong, through and through. That I am a false being. That I have destroyed myself. For sin is spiritual self-destruction." (p. 119)
There were gems though. For example, the following passage on how sin can be an obstacle to spiritual liberation:
"It is not merely a sense of guilt referred to the authority of God. It is a sense of evil in myself. Not because I have violated a law outside myself, but beacuse I have violated the inmost laws of my own being, which are, at the same time, the laws of God WHo dwells within me. The sense of sin [as opposed to the sense of guilt] is the sense of having been deeply and deliberately false to my own inmost reality, mylikeness to God. . . . but spiritual death is the sense of having separated myself from truth by complete inner falsity, from love by selfishness . . . The sense of sin . . . springs directly from the evil that is present in me: it ells me not merely that have done wrong, but that I AM wrong, through and through. That I am a false being. That I have destroyed myself. For sin is spiritual self-destruction." (p. 119)
December 13, 2014
It is a standing joke in monastic circles that Thomas Merton has written many more books since he died than during his life. That speaks volumes (literally) for the papers and letters left behind. In 1959, Thomas Merton began a thorough revision of a much earlier work on contemplative prayer. Towards the end of his life he tinkered with it a little more. Not having arrived at a final form with this book before his sudden death. it was punished many years later. Merton wrote much about contemplative prayer, but this book, along with "New Seeds of Contemplation" has some of his deepest insights. The distinction between the "true self" & the "false self" preoccupied Merton much of his monastic life & this treatise has some of his best explorations of this theme. There is much wisdom and practical sense in the way Merton explores contemplative experience with much attention to its pitfalls. At one point he waxes satirical over modern humanity and our shallowness in a way to reminds me of the lampoons of Bernard of Clairvaux. At times, the exasperation Merton was known to have experienced at Gethsemane where contemplation theoretically should have been nurtured much more comes through. Some of Merton's books are better than others. This is one of the best.
October 30, 2008
I enjoyed this book but I found it also to be very challenging. Since I was not raised in the church and have not yet read the Bible, I had a hard time understanding some of the esoteric language and ideas regarding Christian faith. What I found interesting, however, is how similar Christian contemplation is to Eastern, specifically Buddhist, meditation and study. I like reading authors like Merton because they go beyond a common or mainstream understanding of Christianity and into more mystical, personal aspects.
Merton writes at length about the importance of a contemplative life, and since he himself lived a life of monasticism, appears to believe that such a life is the ideal. The implication here is that the kind of life lived in monastic solitude is the best and quickest path to knowing God. Yet, Merton failed to convince me of this.
I believe that regular periods of solitude are valuable and that contemplation/meditation is incredibly important, but I don't believe that one has to retreat from the world permanently to "know" God. On the other hand, the kind of life that Merton lived has many valuable lessons for the layperson.
Merton writes at length about the importance of a contemplative life, and since he himself lived a life of monasticism, appears to believe that such a life is the ideal. The implication here is that the kind of life lived in monastic solitude is the best and quickest path to knowing God. Yet, Merton failed to convince me of this.
I believe that regular periods of solitude are valuable and that contemplation/meditation is incredibly important, but I don't believe that one has to retreat from the world permanently to "know" God. On the other hand, the kind of life that Merton lived has many valuable lessons for the layperson.
December 26, 2009
This is the first full comprehensive book I've read on contemplation by Thomas Merton. He ties the Christian contemplative experience with other traditions especially within in Zen Buddhism, but lays out the differences also. I especially enjoy his section about the problems of contemplative life for monastics and lay people. I'll let his own words speak for themselves with a quote:
Before there can be any external freedom, man[woman:] must learn to find the way to freedom within himself [herself:]. for only then can he[she:] afford to relax his [her:] grif on others, and let them get away from [her:], because then [she:] does not need their dependence. it is the contemplative who keeps this liberty alive in the world, and who shows others, obscurely and without realizing it, what real freedom means. [154:]
Before there can be any external freedom, man[woman:] must learn to find the way to freedom within himself [herself:]. for only then can he[she:] afford to relax his [her:] grif on others, and let them get away from [her:], because then [she:] does not need their dependence. it is the contemplative who keeps this liberty alive in the world, and who shows others, obscurely and without realizing it, what real freedom means. [154:]
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews