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Available
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Publication
New York : Harcourt, Brace and Company
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Religion & Spirituality. Nonfiction. HTML:One of the most famous books ever written about a man's search for faith and peace. The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders�??the Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. Translated into more than twenty languages, it has touched millions of lives.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Joycepa
Thomas Merton was one of the most influential spiritual figures of the 20th century. In his own time, he became a legend; since his death, there have sprung up various foundations and centers devoted to promulgating his ideas. His many books are widely read.
However, as in all things, there is a
layered book. As William Shannon points out in the excellent Introduction to the 1998 edition, it’s really 3 books in one.
First, it’s a record of his life: his birth in 1915 in France, his early life and schooling, his education at Cambridge and Columbia and so on. But as Shannon points out with great insight, it’s also a memory of his life; while the memories and his interpretations of them lift the book up from a dry accounting, memory is also selective. The third and most useful of Shannon’s explanations is that it’s also a monk’s judgment of his early life, and Merton was harsh indeed on his younger self; Merton is remorseless in documenting his flaws, his sins.
But for most people, what is important is really a 4th book—Merton’s spiritual journey which took him finally to the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1941 at age 26. While it is true that the monk Father Louis was very hard on the young Thomas Merton, it is within this context that Merton struggled with his desperate need to find a meaningful direction to his life, one that led to conversion to Catholicism and eventually to a life as a contemplative. That struggle and the insights and religious/spiritual experiences he had on his way are what make the book a powerful read and an inspiration to so many. As Giroux, an editor, says in his essay, 50 years later, the book is still selling steadily.
Another reason for its popularity is that Merton makes those experiences so accessible. He was a poet as well, and that’s obvious, not just in the ease and smoothness of this prose in his description of his life. It is especially evident in his lyricism in portraying his exaltation, his love for God, Mary and the saints, and his joy, his gratitude for all the mercies and grace bestowed upon him. Because I feel it is nearly impossible to do justice to this aspect by description, I tried to find one of the many passages like that in the book in order to quote them here—but in fact, they really can not be taken out of context. That is the best indication of how integrally Merton’s faith is woven into his story. I suspect that that is one major reason why the book is so popular and why so many people of all faiths have found it so inspirational.
However, this is the early monk, not the later one. Even in the latter part of the book, one can still see the religious intolerance, flashes of smugness, arrogance, and sexism, as well as the judgmental way in which he views “the world”. The Catholic church of 1948 was pre-Vatican II, and Merton definitely shows that in his dismissal of all religious expression except Roman Catholicism. But what is truly ironic about the young monk is that in dismissing what he calls oriental religion and practices, even in this earliest of his works one can see that his insistence on staying with the present moment, his belief in meditation, and many of his observations can be taken right out of Zen Buddhism; it’s the clearest sign pointer to the fact that in his last years, he was indeed drawn to that way of expression—integrated, of course, with his Catholic faith.
Also, there is humor in the book—gentle, sometimes a little difficult to see, but definitely there.
Despite all the flaws, the reason why the book is so powerful is that Merton, like all mystics, penetrates to the heart of the dissatisfaction, unhappiness and longings of everyday people. He is able to express, in terms Westerners can understand, how those yearnings for direction and our fears and denials lead us to lives that are empty and filled with self-loathing. He has also shown, in an accessible and extremely powerful way, how he, a most imperfect person, worked his terribly painful way up the seven storey mountain of this struggle and his gratitude and exaltation to have reached the summit.. Few thoughtful people, especially in today's world, can fail to be affected by his story.
However, as in all things, there is a
Show More
beginning. The Seven Storey Mountain, formally an autobiography until his 33rd year, was published in 1948; it’s multi- layered book. As William Shannon points out in the excellent Introduction to the 1998 edition, it’s really 3 books in one.
First, it’s a record of his life: his birth in 1915 in France, his early life and schooling, his education at Cambridge and Columbia and so on. But as Shannon points out with great insight, it’s also a memory of his life; while the memories and his interpretations of them lift the book up from a dry accounting, memory is also selective. The third and most useful of Shannon’s explanations is that it’s also a monk’s judgment of his early life, and Merton was harsh indeed on his younger self; Merton is remorseless in documenting his flaws, his sins.
But for most people, what is important is really a 4th book—Merton’s spiritual journey which took him finally to the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1941 at age 26. While it is true that the monk Father Louis was very hard on the young Thomas Merton, it is within this context that Merton struggled with his desperate need to find a meaningful direction to his life, one that led to conversion to Catholicism and eventually to a life as a contemplative. That struggle and the insights and religious/spiritual experiences he had on his way are what make the book a powerful read and an inspiration to so many. As Giroux, an editor, says in his essay, 50 years later, the book is still selling steadily.
Another reason for its popularity is that Merton makes those experiences so accessible. He was a poet as well, and that’s obvious, not just in the ease and smoothness of this prose in his description of his life. It is especially evident in his lyricism in portraying his exaltation, his love for God, Mary and the saints, and his joy, his gratitude for all the mercies and grace bestowed upon him. Because I feel it is nearly impossible to do justice to this aspect by description, I tried to find one of the many passages like that in the book in order to quote them here—but in fact, they really can not be taken out of context. That is the best indication of how integrally Merton’s faith is woven into his story. I suspect that that is one major reason why the book is so popular and why so many people of all faiths have found it so inspirational.
However, this is the early monk, not the later one. Even in the latter part of the book, one can still see the religious intolerance, flashes of smugness, arrogance, and sexism, as well as the judgmental way in which he views “the world”. The Catholic church of 1948 was pre-Vatican II, and Merton definitely shows that in his dismissal of all religious expression except Roman Catholicism. But what is truly ironic about the young monk is that in dismissing what he calls oriental religion and practices, even in this earliest of his works one can see that his insistence on staying with the present moment, his belief in meditation, and many of his observations can be taken right out of Zen Buddhism; it’s the clearest sign pointer to the fact that in his last years, he was indeed drawn to that way of expression—integrated, of course, with his Catholic faith.
Also, there is humor in the book—gentle, sometimes a little difficult to see, but definitely there.
Despite all the flaws, the reason why the book is so powerful is that Merton, like all mystics, penetrates to the heart of the dissatisfaction, unhappiness and longings of everyday people. He is able to express, in terms Westerners can understand, how those yearnings for direction and our fears and denials lead us to lives that are empty and filled with self-loathing. He has also shown, in an accessible and extremely powerful way, how he, a most imperfect person, worked his terribly painful way up the seven storey mountain of this struggle and his gratitude and exaltation to have reached the summit.. Few thoughtful people, especially in today's world, can fail to be affected by his story.
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LibraryThing member steller0707
Merton is most eloquent in describing his soul- searching and the contemplation of his faith. The writing of the events of his life, though very interesting, is choppier. In his Epilogue he is very eloquent. He doesn't call for following his choice of vocation in becoming a monk - he's not a
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"recruiter" and he is not doctrinaire. His message calls for everyone to seek his or her own relationship to God through both action and contemplation, thereby spreading the word of faith. Show Less
LibraryThing member mmillet
I couldn't bring myself to finish this autobiography of a young man raised by very liberal parents who eventually became a trappist monk. Merton never did anything by halves and I think this book is a great representation of that -- everything he explains he goes into GREAT DETAIL about. That's the
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reason I didn't finish it, but my book club's discussion was interesting enough that I'll probably go back to it in the future when I am in the mood. Show Less
LibraryThing member bsanner
An autobiography of faith, Merton’s story traces his own pilgrimage from childhood to adulthood, from atheism to faith, from conversion to his monastic vocation. Representing traditional, pre-Vatican II Catholic theology, Merton explains the world through the eyes of Catholicism addressing
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subjects as diverse as the Eucharist, devotion to Mary, war, and social service. Sometimes meandering, Merton’s story is nonetheless well written and provocative – especially if interested in the monastic life. A- Show Less
LibraryThing member txorig
Deep; had to read it several times; thought provoking account of Merton's spiritual journey
LibraryThing member universehall
An amazing book. This it's an autobiography, a conversion story, and chock-full of amazingly deep spiritual insight.
This isn't a book, however, that you're going to sit down and read all at one go. It's four hundred and twenty pages long, so that pretty much precludes speeding through the thing.
Is it ever hard to read? Well, yes. But I'd temper that with the thought that I haven't read a spiritual book that was ever completely easy. And there are times when switching back and forth between philosophical/religious insight and autobiographical stories isn't as smooth as it could be.
However - keep this fact in mind. When Merton wrote this book, he was ONLY THIRTY-THREE YEARS OLD!! I was astounded and a little befuddled by that when I got to the end and discovered it. I thought, as I was reading, that this book was written by a wise old man. Imagine my discomfiture when I found that he was only five years older than me.
And yet - inspite of some minor awkwardness in the sheer writing mechanics - this is an amazing book. As a Catholic and convert myself, I found his story extremely inspiring. However, I don't think that only Catholics should read this book. Anyone who considers themselves spiritual (or would like to) should read it, and consider its contents.
This isn't a book, however, that you're going to sit down and read all at one go. It's four hundred and twenty pages long, so that pretty much precludes speeding through the thing.
Show More
Is it ever hard to read? Well, yes. But I'd temper that with the thought that I haven't read a spiritual book that was ever completely easy. And there are times when switching back and forth between philosophical/religious insight and autobiographical stories isn't as smooth as it could be.
However - keep this fact in mind. When Merton wrote this book, he was ONLY THIRTY-THREE YEARS OLD!! I was astounded and a little befuddled by that when I got to the end and discovered it. I thought, as I was reading, that this book was written by a wise old man. Imagine my discomfiture when I found that he was only five years older than me.
And yet - inspite of some minor awkwardness in the sheer writing mechanics - this is an amazing book. As a Catholic and convert myself, I found his story extremely inspiring. However, I don't think that only Catholics should read this book. Anyone who considers themselves spiritual (or would like to) should read it, and consider its contents.
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LibraryThing member ElTomaso
A good message but the writing style is distracting.
LibraryThing member laudemgloriae
I was very impressed with this auto-biography, and I'm not one for auto-biographies. I think they seem too egotistical generally, but this one is different. His life is fascinating, and he writes humorously, really giving all the glory to God for the good things in it.
LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
Merton's writing is clearly the product of a lot of solitude and reflection. The comparisons with Augustine an Aquinas are apt, but he is less of a theologian and more of a literary writer (wasn't surprised to find he was a reader of Joyce and Dante). Still, the impulse to retreat into solitude
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during WWII does have some historical moral implications, and you can see he is struggling with this in writing this. Show Less
LibraryThing member watson_1
I had read this book about 22-23 years ago and didn't remember much about it. I enjoyed re-reading this, although I did get bogged down in some details. I am still not convinced of the value of the monastic life, but did appreciate the discussion of finding a vocation. It was also clear of the
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authors devotion to God and Love. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carolfoasia
This is one man's journey of faith. He wrote very beautifully too.
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
Although I have learned much and been inspired by Thomas Merton's later writings, I have some difficulty with his young self as reflected in this book. Part of the problem is that it necessarily pulled a lot of punches because, as a monk, Merton was required to omit some of his real sins from the
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book in order to receive the imprimatur. Where he is able to be honest, one can appreciate his self-examination. Show Less
LibraryThing member maryreinert
I'm not a Catholic and knew nothing of Thomas Merton, but came across this book by following links of "customers who bought this, also bought..." and by reading Amazon reviews. I was not disappointed. Reading like a novel at times, this book is an autobiography of a faith. I was very impressed with
This book is not in the same category of many popular Christian writings of this time. Thomas Merton's faith is one that was found in an ancient church and many ancient writings. It was a faith found through traditional liturgy and reading. I don't think Merton would have been comfortable in many of the modern churches (both Protestant or Catholic) that attempt to mold worship to meet cultural demands.
Thanks to all the reviewers who so aptly described this book and caused me to want to read it. I hope others will find it equally as inspiring.
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the author's search for a faith, his many trials and searches in the wrong place, and his determination to find somthing "bigger than himself." This book written over 50 years ago is dated in ways by theology and politics that seem out of place now; however, the overall impact of Merton's search is well worth the effort to read. This book is for someone who is searching for a deep quiet faith -- one that is found through searching, reading, praying and worshiping quietly and individually.This book is not in the same category of many popular Christian writings of this time. Thomas Merton's faith is one that was found in an ancient church and many ancient writings. It was a faith found through traditional liturgy and reading. I don't think Merton would have been comfortable in many of the modern churches (both Protestant or Catholic) that attempt to mold worship to meet cultural demands.
Thanks to all the reviewers who so aptly described this book and caused me to want to read it. I hope others will find it equally as inspiring.
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LibraryThing member Neftzger
This book is essentially Thomas Merton's autobiography of his early life through the time of his conversion to Catholicism and entry into a monastery. Aside from being an interesting story, there are a few additional insights to be gained from this book that make it extraordinary. For example, at
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the end of the book Merton talks about how vices can also be manifested in spiritual forms. It's through his own self reflection that he discovers how a person may display pride over spiritual accomplishments. While the spiritual versions of these sins are disguised as good, they're just as corrupting to the soul as the other forms. Insights like these make the book worth reading and throughout the book Merton also feels like someone worth knowing. Show Less
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
I was tremendously attracted by what is in this book, yet it is plain that Merton is a special character, with an innate bent to mysticism and his reactions have no objective validity for me. Yet seldom has a book stirred me so deeply, and, in fact, disturbed me. Unless something happens to me to
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make me very content, e.g., a girl, I have not finished my mental searchings. But I think it idle not to integrate psychology into Merton's story, and into all consideration of religious orders' differences. None I know of strike me as ideal. None strike the perfect balance between modernity and difficulty, between putting to best use their members and sanctifying them. I'd like to read psychoanalysis of the typical member of all the orders. Or I'd like to take a 'vocational' test to detrmine the one I was best suited for! Thus do I think, affected as I am by my reading. Reading has always affected me profoundly. On Feb 26, 1955. I finished the book and said: "An absorbing book, and really the story told is not an extraordinary one, but it fascinates all the same. I would like to read and understand St John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, but I am sure an attempt to read them would leave me none the more enlightened. Merton was 26 when he became a Trappist, but he was reading the Breviary at the time, teaching at St. Bonaventure's, and long ago had tutored Latin, as well as knowing several other languages. Also it is plain to me that to be a Trappist requires a certain type mind and that the only thing about it that attracts me is the bizarre, the unueusal. Only fleeting pangs of enthusism for solitude, comparable to my thoughts about Ascension Island, could never sustain a life such as Trppist leads. Nothing as unusual as Cistercian life calls me, that's for sure. Show Less
LibraryThing member LTW
In 1941, a brilliant, good-looking young man decided to give up a promising literary career in New York to enter a monastery in Kentucky, from where he proceeded to become one of the most influential writers of this century. Talk about losing your life in order to find it. Thomas Merton's first
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book, The Seven Storey Mountain, describes his early doubts, his conversion to a Catholic faith of extreme certainty, and his decision to take life vows as a Trappist. Although his conversionary piety sometimes falls into sticky-sweet abstractions, Merton's autobiographical reflections are mostly wise, humble, and concrete. The best reason to read The Seven Storey Mountain, however, may be the one Merton provided in his introduction to its Japanese translation: "I seek to speak to you, in some way, as your own self. Who can tell what this may mean? I myself do not know, but if you listen, things will be said that are perhaps not written in this book. And this will be due not to me but to the One who lives and speaks in both." --Michael Joseph Gross Show Less
LibraryThing member ebenlindsey
This autobiography of the early years and conversion to Catholicism of the Trappist Monk Thomas Merton is highly engaging and often quite beautiful in it's descriptions of the value of faith and the the importance of a contemplative life. What I found difficult was the constant condescension toward
I was glad to learn later that Merton said he regretted much of this book, and for my own enjoyment I will assume it is this over-eagerness of a recent convert that he regretted.
Beyond this one complaint I can say that it is a beautiful book with value beyond the Catholic world, as well a good introduction to Merton.
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other faiths, which seemed very strange for a man who would become a champion of ecumenicism, and who wold die decades later on a tour of Asia, where he addressed an interfaith conference of monks.I was glad to learn later that Merton said he regretted much of this book, and for my own enjoyment I will assume it is this over-eagerness of a recent convert that he regretted.
Beyond this one complaint I can say that it is a beautiful book with value beyond the Catholic world, as well a good introduction to Merton.
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LibraryThing member dbsovereign
Merton's description of having seen a vision in which he "saw God" has many similarities to my own "satori." Another one of those books that one can read that opens a person up on many levels. Even if you're not a Christian, one can relate and find substantive advice on awakenings in the spiritual
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realms. Show Less
LibraryThing member oldman
A book of Thomas Merton's journey from being an agnostic to being a contemplative Trappist monk. Very deep philosophical passages, but well worth reading through. Almost makes you want to be a monk by the time you get to the end!
LibraryThing member Nathaniel_J_D
I haven't read this in a while though i am reading his journals. What makes Merton so great is his descriptive language brings to life the scenes and times of his long and now legendary spiritual journey. This was one of his earlier works and his most famous though he did write many other books.
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I'm enjoying his descriptive style even more in [The Intimate Merton], Thomas Merton's Life from His Journals too. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
The Seven Story Mountain, published in 1948, is the autobiography of Thomas Merton, which he completed when he was only 31 years old. The book recounts the spiritual and intellectual journey that led Merton not only to espouse the Roman Catholic faith, but to become a Trappist monk. The Trappists
Merton was an accomplished prose writer and a respectably competent poet. He forewent a fairly successful secular literary career to become the best known and best selling “Catholic” author of his generation. In later life, while remaining devoutly Catholic, he explored, analyzed, and praised eastern religions, particularly Buddhism.
The title of The Seven Story Mountain refers to Dante’s description of Purgatory, up through which Virgil must struggle and climb to reach Paradise. Presumably, Merton viewed his early life as his own purgatory.
The version of Catholicism that forms the back story of the book is rather dated—it happens to be the version I was taught in the 1950s. It is full of devotion to the saints: in Merton’s case, special devotion to The Virgin and to the Little Flower (St. Therese of Lisieux, whom he considers “the outstanding saint of the 19th century”). His devotion to the Virgin manifested itself in a rather extreme view that sanctity comes to man only through her: “God has willed that there be no other way.” !!!
In addition, it includes some truly perverse views of man’s condition in the universe. For example Merton writes:
“…man’s nature, by itself, can do little or nothing to settle his most important problems. If we follow nothing but our natures, our own philosophies, our own level of ethics, we will end up in hell.”
That sounds more like a hard-shell Southern Baptist than a modern Catholic.
Merton frequently ascribed divine intervention as the cause of perfectly unexceptional events. In several places, he says (paraphrasing), “God brought us together” or “Jesus caused me to read a particular book.” In one strange passage, he accounts for his recovery from rather sever illness to the prayers of unknown people:
“Only God could help me. Who prayed for me? One day I shall know. But in the economy of God’s love, it through the prayers of other men that these graces are given. It was through the prayers of someone who loved God that I was, one day, to be delivered out of that hell where I was already confined without knowing it.”
I found two of his observations particularly amusing. The first concerned the attitudes of one of the students he taught at St Bonaventure college. Merton could hardly fathom that one of the students didn’t believe in devils!
The second amusing observation concerned the consequences of the tendency of Catholics to bifurcate sinning into mortal and venial sins and to downplay or even disregard venial sins. To him, the fact that imbibing in alcohol was only a venial sin resulted in “a lot of drunk Irishmen on Saturday night.”
But in my view, the craziest, totally batty idea Merton expressed had to do with the power of prayer:
“The eloquence of the liturgy was even more tremendous; and what it said was one, simple, cogent, tremendous truth: this church, the court of the Queen of Heaven, is the real capital of the country in which we are living. This is the center of all the vitality that is in America. This is the cause and reason why the nation is holding together. These men [the monks], hidden in the anonymity of their choir and their white cowls, are doing for their land what no army, no congress, no president could ever do as such: they are winning for it the grace and the protection and the friendship of God.”
Who’da thunk it?! My apologies to the author, but my most recent atlas still lists Washington DC as the nation’s capital. Moreover, Messrs. Eisenhower, Truman, and the 11 million members of the WWII armed forces might have been able to bring some nuance to Merton’s observations in 1948!
The book, having a highly religious and devotional content, sold surprisingly (perhaps “astonishingly” is more accurate) well, with sales of more than 600,000 copies in hard cover and more than 3 million in paperback. That fact alone demonstrates how much this country has changed from the late 1940s.
The book is actually pretty well written and interesting for historical purposes, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone except young Catholics (to compare its preconceptions with the modern church) and students of comparative religion.
(JAB)
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are among the most severe of all Catholic orders, living very abstemiously, with complete submission to the will of their superiors, and, pursuant to their vows of silence, scarcely speaking at all. Merton was an accomplished prose writer and a respectably competent poet. He forewent a fairly successful secular literary career to become the best known and best selling “Catholic” author of his generation. In later life, while remaining devoutly Catholic, he explored, analyzed, and praised eastern religions, particularly Buddhism.
The title of The Seven Story Mountain refers to Dante’s description of Purgatory, up through which Virgil must struggle and climb to reach Paradise. Presumably, Merton viewed his early life as his own purgatory.
The version of Catholicism that forms the back story of the book is rather dated—it happens to be the version I was taught in the 1950s. It is full of devotion to the saints: in Merton’s case, special devotion to The Virgin and to the Little Flower (St. Therese of Lisieux, whom he considers “the outstanding saint of the 19th century”). His devotion to the Virgin manifested itself in a rather extreme view that sanctity comes to man only through her: “God has willed that there be no other way.” !!!
In addition, it includes some truly perverse views of man’s condition in the universe. For example Merton writes:
“…man’s nature, by itself, can do little or nothing to settle his most important problems. If we follow nothing but our natures, our own philosophies, our own level of ethics, we will end up in hell.”
That sounds more like a hard-shell Southern Baptist than a modern Catholic.
Merton frequently ascribed divine intervention as the cause of perfectly unexceptional events. In several places, he says (paraphrasing), “God brought us together” or “Jesus caused me to read a particular book.” In one strange passage, he accounts for his recovery from rather sever illness to the prayers of unknown people:
“Only God could help me. Who prayed for me? One day I shall know. But in the economy of God’s love, it through the prayers of other men that these graces are given. It was through the prayers of someone who loved God that I was, one day, to be delivered out of that hell where I was already confined without knowing it.”
I found two of his observations particularly amusing. The first concerned the attitudes of one of the students he taught at St Bonaventure college. Merton could hardly fathom that one of the students didn’t believe in devils!
The second amusing observation concerned the consequences of the tendency of Catholics to bifurcate sinning into mortal and venial sins and to downplay or even disregard venial sins. To him, the fact that imbibing in alcohol was only a venial sin resulted in “a lot of drunk Irishmen on Saturday night.”
But in my view, the craziest, totally batty idea Merton expressed had to do with the power of prayer:
“The eloquence of the liturgy was even more tremendous; and what it said was one, simple, cogent, tremendous truth: this church, the court of the Queen of Heaven, is the real capital of the country in which we are living. This is the center of all the vitality that is in America. This is the cause and reason why the nation is holding together. These men [the monks], hidden in the anonymity of their choir and their white cowls, are doing for their land what no army, no congress, no president could ever do as such: they are winning for it the grace and the protection and the friendship of God.”
Who’da thunk it?! My apologies to the author, but my most recent atlas still lists Washington DC as the nation’s capital. Moreover, Messrs. Eisenhower, Truman, and the 11 million members of the WWII armed forces might have been able to bring some nuance to Merton’s observations in 1948!
The book, having a highly religious and devotional content, sold surprisingly (perhaps “astonishingly” is more accurate) well, with sales of more than 600,000 copies in hard cover and more than 3 million in paperback. That fact alone demonstrates how much this country has changed from the late 1940s.
The book is actually pretty well written and interesting for historical purposes, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone except young Catholics (to compare its preconceptions with the modern church) and students of comparative religion.
(JAB)
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LibraryThing member Tonestaple
I'm in the middle of it or thereabouts. I have stopped, at least for a while. I'm just not finding the book all that interesting. I'm a convert to Catholicism but this book is just leaving me cold.
LibraryThing member IonaS
I found this autobiographical work to be absorbing and very readable; unfortunately, I didn’t get it quite finished before it had to be returned to the library.
We’re told of Merton’s childhood, his parents and brother John Paul.
Merton’s mother died young and his father died slowly of a
Merton was interested in literature, philosophy, religion, mostly the latter.
He seems much obsessed with “the misery and corruption of my own soul” and several times throughout the book refers to his “mortal” sins.
I had no idea what mortal sins were, as opposed to other sins such as venial sins. But on consulting the net I find that a mortal sin is “a grave action that is committed in full knowledge of íts gravity”. Merton doesn’t specify what in fact he means, but one gets the impression he has led a dissipated life.
Most of the book seems to deal with Merton’s development from having a strong aversion to the Catholic Church to having a strong attraction to Catholicism and desire to become a monk; and then there is whether to become a Trappist or Carthusian monk, or whatever. He doesn’t really explain much about the difference between the various sorts of monks, but seems to assume we know what he’s talking about.
He becomes a Catholic, and then he wants to enter a monastery and be a priest.
But should he become a Jesuit, Benedictine or Franciscan, Cistercian or a Trappist? In the Trappist monasteries they fast more than half the year and never eat meat or fish, unless they got ill, But Merton feels he needs meat for his health (in my view, a strange belief).
He goes to mass and communion (what’s the difference?), then another mass in another church. He says the Rosary and does the Stations of the Cross (with no explanation of what these are).
In the Church of St. Francis at Havana he has an awareness, a realization of God made present by the words of Consecration “in a way that made Him belong to me”.
He is “suddenly illuminated by being blinded by the manifestation of God’s presence”.
He thinks “Heaven is right here in front of me”. It lasts only a moment but leaves “a breathless joy and a clean peace and happiness that stayed for hours”.
All these things were happening with Merton in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War.
He then has a crisis and feels he no longer has a vocation “to the cloister”.
He decides to join up, to go to war, but was it moral to do so? He asks to be a non-combatant objector; but he fails the medical examination due to not having enough teeth!
Though I am not a Catholic nor interested in Catholicism, or in religion at all, I found the book inspiring and in a way fascinating, but some of the religious rituals, services, whatever, I found incomprehensible because Merton seemed to take for granted that the reader had knowledge of such matters, or else didn’t care that he or she didn’t.
Merton found out that “the only way to live was to live in a world that was charged with the presence and reality of God”.
“The life of the soul is not knowledge, it is love, since love is the act of the supreme faculty, the will, but which man is formally united to the final end of his strivings – by which man becomes one with God.”
He is much absorbed by William Blake and Gerald Manley Hopkins and the latter’s life as a Jesuit, and reads James Joyce’s Ulysses (the incomprehensible book) and his Portrait of the Artist. Merton was fascinated by pictures of priests and Catholic life that came up here and there in Joyce’s books.
This is an inspiring book by a gifted author.
We’re told of Merton’s childhood, his parents and brother John Paul.
Merton’s mother died young and his father died slowly of a
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brain tumour.Merton was interested in literature, philosophy, religion, mostly the latter.
He seems much obsessed with “the misery and corruption of my own soul” and several times throughout the book refers to his “mortal” sins.
I had no idea what mortal sins were, as opposed to other sins such as venial sins. But on consulting the net I find that a mortal sin is “a grave action that is committed in full knowledge of íts gravity”. Merton doesn’t specify what in fact he means, but one gets the impression he has led a dissipated life.
Most of the book seems to deal with Merton’s development from having a strong aversion to the Catholic Church to having a strong attraction to Catholicism and desire to become a monk; and then there is whether to become a Trappist or Carthusian monk, or whatever. He doesn’t really explain much about the difference between the various sorts of monks, but seems to assume we know what he’s talking about.
He becomes a Catholic, and then he wants to enter a monastery and be a priest.
But should he become a Jesuit, Benedictine or Franciscan, Cistercian or a Trappist? In the Trappist monasteries they fast more than half the year and never eat meat or fish, unless they got ill, But Merton feels he needs meat for his health (in my view, a strange belief).
He goes to mass and communion (what’s the difference?), then another mass in another church. He says the Rosary and does the Stations of the Cross (with no explanation of what these are).
In the Church of St. Francis at Havana he has an awareness, a realization of God made present by the words of Consecration “in a way that made Him belong to me”.
He is “suddenly illuminated by being blinded by the manifestation of God’s presence”.
He thinks “Heaven is right here in front of me”. It lasts only a moment but leaves “a breathless joy and a clean peace and happiness that stayed for hours”.
All these things were happening with Merton in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War.
He then has a crisis and feels he no longer has a vocation “to the cloister”.
He decides to join up, to go to war, but was it moral to do so? He asks to be a non-combatant objector; but he fails the medical examination due to not having enough teeth!
Though I am not a Catholic nor interested in Catholicism, or in religion at all, I found the book inspiring and in a way fascinating, but some of the religious rituals, services, whatever, I found incomprehensible because Merton seemed to take for granted that the reader had knowledge of such matters, or else didn’t care that he or she didn’t.
Merton found out that “the only way to live was to live in a world that was charged with the presence and reality of God”.
“The life of the soul is not knowledge, it is love, since love is the act of the supreme faculty, the will, but which man is formally united to the final end of his strivings – by which man becomes one with God.”
He is much absorbed by William Blake and Gerald Manley Hopkins and the latter’s life as a Jesuit, and reads James Joyce’s Ulysses (the incomprehensible book) and his Portrait of the Artist. Merton was fascinated by pictures of priests and Catholic life that came up here and there in Joyce’s books.
This is an inspiring book by a gifted author.
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LibraryThing member allenkeith
This is a long spiritual journey from time before and after Merton is drawn to things Christian and from there to things Catholic. It is made longer still with a prospect of a vocation and to that of knowing his vocation and it being denied of which Merton was so convinced. The long journey reaches
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its culminating point with taking vows in a Trappist monastery - "the four walls of my new freedom." The delight to me of this book was Merton's description of the spiritual side of his journey, his interpretation of the world around him, his failings - but also his perspective of men and women pursuing a life full of meaning and purpose. Show Less
LibraryThing member debnance
Thomas Merton tells the tale of his life in this book. He was born into a not-especially devout Catholic home in France. He sought to fill the emptiness he felt inside himself with various things, including runs at Communism and intellectualism and youthful pleasure, but it was only after he
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stumbled into Catholicism and life at one of the most restrictive Catholic monasteries that he found great peace. Show Less
Awards
Notable Books List (1948)
Language
Original publication date
1948
Local notes
Contents
Part One
1. Prisoner's Base
2. Our Lady of the Museums
3. The Harrowing of Hell
4. The Children in the Market Place
Part Two
1. With a Great Price
2. The Waters of Contradiction
Part Three
1. The Magnetic North
2. True North
3. The Sleeping Volcano
4. The Sweet Savor of Liberty
Epilogue
Meditatio Pauperis in Solitudine
Index
Part One
1. Prisoner's Base
2. Our Lady of the Museums
3. The Harrowing of Hell
4. The Children in the Market Place
Part Two
1. With a Great Price
2. The Waters of Contradiction
Part Three
1. The Magnetic North
2. True North
3. The Sleeping Volcano
4. The Sweet Savor of Liberty
Epilogue
Meditatio Pauperis in Solitudine
Index
Other editions
Elected Silence: The Autobiography of Thomas Merton by Thomas Merton (Paperback)
Elected Silence: The Autobiography of Thomas Merton by Thomas Merton (Hardcover)
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (Paperback)
Elected Silence: The Autobiography of Thomas Merton by Thomas Merton (Hardcover)