Thomas Merton: Spiritual Master, The Essential Writings

by Thomas Merton, Patrick Hart (Foreword), Lawrence S. Cunningham (Editor)

A one-volume anthology of the spiritual writings of the greatest spiritual master the American Catholic church has produced in this century. The selections, which are substantial in length, provide a generous sampling of Merton's vast output. †

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Theology, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1992

About the author

Thomas 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.

Reviews

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of Merton's writings, representative of his central passions and selected from various periods in his too-short life.

[Linards Jansons · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most significant thing about this book, given my current religious stance, is that I read it at all. Not only that, I absorbed it, and felt absorbed by it. This must be due, I figure, not only to Merton’s literary skill, but also his gift of translating the religious into the human. As a committed Catholic and Cistercian/Trappist monk, Merton drew deeply from his faith. But what comes out is not a demand to believe as he does, not even a demand to believe, but an invitation to be human. Perhaps his faith had penetrated so deeply into his own humanity, that any line between the specifically religious and the universally human no longer held any meaning. In psychological terms, he had become an integrated person. Hence his emphasis on the development of a person’s ‘true self’, which of course sounds trite by itself, but is nothing of the sort in his writings.

It’s worth repeating: Merton’s great gift is in getting at life, and doing so via the Christian faith. Not just describing Christian life, but authentic human life. It is for this that he deserves to be recognised as a spiritual master, regardless of one’s beliefs. Nowhere does Merton take issue with Catholic dogma or belief. And yet, as a Christian contemplative, it seems that those teachings only serve as a resource for taking him deeper into the basic experience of an ineffable Reality that we share with all humans, something that other religious traditions approach in their own way. As is well known, Merton was deeply immersed in interreligious dialogue, particularly with Zen Buddhism, at the time of his untimely death (hence D.T Suzuki is on my want to read list). 'Trajectory’ is a word that comes to mind when pondering Merton’s path at that time: where might have things led had he lived another 20 years?

What has stayed with me is how key contemplative themes – God as Darkness, Silence, Emptiness and most of all, God as Nothing – have a kind of affinity with a sincere and open atheism. The true contemplative discovers personally that when all illusions and idols and certainties are stripped away, what remains is an abyss and an emptiness in which God, who is also no 'thing', is met. Merton acknowledges that this reductive experience, known biblically as the “the paths of the desert” is not without affinities with “the temptation to atheism”. This is what makes it possible to be “penetrated through and through with the sense and reality of God even though we may be utterly unable to believe or experience this in philosophic or even religious terms”.

Just a brief description of the book itself: the first part is excepts from his biographical writings, from his best-selling The Seven Storey Mountain to his Asian Journal. The second part comprises short pieces or excerpts from his spiritual writings. I can’t select any of these as my ‘favourite’, but I can say that there is hardly anything shallow or parochial or dull in any of them.

Curiously, I bought the volume in 2008, at the University of Notre Dame bookstore. I didn’t read it until now, 2024, years after leaving the church and its brand of beliefs. Yet I feel certain that I can understand Merton better now than I ever would have when immersed in the world of theology and God-talk.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Thomas Merton's books is not expected to be quick or a normal reading session. This is a book that I didn't want to rush and I took several weeks reading it along with my Bible in the mornings. At times I had to re-read sections just to understand what he was really saying. Not for the faint of heart and well worth the effort in understanding the concepts and thoughts presented. I am finding that I am becoming a fan of Thomas Merton's works.

[John Winston Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Merton---this contains more extensive excerpts of his writings that the Pocket Merton that I finished a few months ago (I actually starting reading this at the beginning of the year and Pocket Merton then got read in the middle). The book is split into the "autobiographical" writings and the "spiritual" writings. As far as this collection, I preferred the first set as Merton can be hard to read in terms of the second set, depending on what you are reading. But I just love him talking about his life, his observations at the hermitage or the monastery, his sense of being present in the moment. I hope to read all of his stuff eventually. I did really like "Is the World a Problem?" "A Christian looks at Zen, "Rain and the Rhinoceros," and "A Letter on the Contemplative Life" from the "spiritual" writings.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

It should come as no surprise that reading the essential writings of Thomas Merton would take almost 2 months. I am a speed reader, except when each essay ponders philosophy, metaphysics, contemplation, and theology. Merton was a prolific author and this is great introduction to some of his works.

So much to say about his life and writing, but he says it all so eloquently:

"The 'many' are complacently willing to be deluded by 'polymathy' the 'learning of many things'-the constant succession of novel truths, new opinions, new doctrines and....tabulations of phenomena. This multiplicity beguiles the popular mind with a vain appearance of wisdom. But in reality it is nothing but intellectual and spiritual 'sleep' which deadens all capacity for the flash of mighty intuition....."


I am hungry to read more from this true American spiritual master.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to the various styles and genres of Merton's writings. I hadn't read anything by him before, and I appreciated the sampling of journals, more "mystical" styles, and essays on various topics.

Particularly enjoyed "The Inner Experience," "Rain and the Rhinoceros," and "Contemplation in a World of Action." "A Christian Looks at Zen" was also good and makes me curious to learn more about the practices of Zen today.

Merton is both political and apolitical, sensitive, literary, and very well read. Since he died in the late 60s, I find myself wishing he were around today so I could hear his thoughts on more modern political problems and world issues.

Regardless, I will definitely be reading some of his works in entirety in the future.

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are beautiful moments to this book:

"La espera rueda de la tierra
Su llanto húmedo de olvido
Hace rodar, cortando el tiempo
En mitades inaccesibles." (Neruda)

Its wet complaint of forgetting
Is what makes turn the world's thick wheel.
Cutting time
Into inaccessible halves."

-Thomas Merton: Spiritual Master, A Vow of Conversation, January 9, 1965

This translation is beautiful to the point of in-approachability to me.

[Nikki Jones Scheidecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read love merton