Thomas Merton Recomendations

[The Comedian]

Hello all,

I'm looking to read a book by Thomas Merton. I've long wanted to start reading him, but I don't have a good place to start. Are there any titles that you recommend?

Thanks!

[Virgil]

I'm interested myself.

[NikolaiI]

I'm interested too, but I haven't gotten to read him yet either. I've only read a couple of pages here and there, and some of his poetry, which is available online. I really like some of it. Like I think it's called, "A song for Nobody" or something like this, that is a nice poem.

[hellsapoppin]

Merton? Wow. He wrote so many great books and poems that it is impossible to say which is the first one of these you should read.

But I have an idea: why not begin by reading his famous quotes?

These one liners give you a clear view of his messages and what his spiritual views were all about:


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...as_merton.html


Enjoy!

[pagebypage]

The Seven Story Mountain.

[mal4mac]

Idealism. Like later Huxley. Though not as well written. Antidote needed. Try Kafka instead.

[NikolaiI]

Thanks for the link, hells - this one is nice... "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. You are made in the image of what you desire."

It reminds me of something I heard recently, that you can't have a spiritual life while being materially absorbed - it is like trying to light a fire in a block of wood while simultaneously pouring water on it. So we have to sort of purify ourselves by spiritual practices.

I do know about Thomas Merton that he collaborated with Thich Nhat Hanh on one or more works... I don't know too much more, but just that they worked together in an interfaith direction.

[The Comedian]

Just thought I'd note here that I've started to read Merton's Seven Story Mountain and have thus far found it highly enjoyable. I'll post a few more comments as I get father along.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Just thought I'd note here that I've started to read Merton's Seven Story Mountain and have thus far found it highly enjoyable. I'll post a few more comments as I get father along.

Great. Mine has come, but I am swamped with other stuff at the moment so I'll have to put mine on hold.

[PeterL]

I read The Seven Story Mountain years ago, and I was very put off. It is a memoir, and Merton was not a sort of person that I admire. He clung to religion as a crutch.

[The Comedian]

I read The Seven Story Mountain years ago, and I was very put off. It is a memoir, and Merton was not a sort of person that I admire. He clung to religion as a crutch.

Well, he was a Trappist monk. . . .I'm kind of expecting him to see faith and sacrament as essential to a complete human life.

[Lynne50]

I always wanted to read that too. The Seven Storey Mountain.
Did you know that he died tragically? If I'm not mistaken, he got electrocuted from a faulty fan in the bathroom.

[PeterL]

Well, he was a Trappist monk. . . .I'm kind of expecting him to see faith and sacrament as essential to a complete human life.

That would have been fine, but he was running away from ordinary existence. The religious life was a refuge from the ordinary activities of life.

[NikolaiI]

That would have been fine, but he was running away from ordinary existence. The religious life was a refuge from the ordinary activities of life.

Well it rather depends on what you define as necessary for ordinary existence. We don't all do the same thing. Would you criticize Jimi Hendrix for not working in a office job? Probably not, and it would make no sense. Life is so varied, I don't know that you can say there is an ordinary or normal existence.

Thomas Merton became a monk, which maybe we can't all do, but he gave us some valuable insights therefore. Do you think that no one should be a monk, and that there shouldn't be monasteries? In our human history, monasteries have been places which have saved a lot of learning when the rest of the world went to ruin.

Not everyone does the same thing in life, nor should they. Monks don't work 9-5, 40-week-hour jobs, and pay taxes, but then maybe that shouldn't exactly be the necessary standard for existence.

I guess my main point is that the only logical follow-up on your criticism of Thomas Merton for being a monk, is that you would say that no one should be a monk...

What about a (secular) hermit? Is that wrong too?

[PeterL]

Well it rather depends on what you define as necessary for ordinary existence. We don't all do the same thing. Would you criticize Jimi Hendrix for not working in a office job? Probably not, and it would make no sense. Life is so varied, I don't know that you can say there is an ordinary or normal existence.

Thomas Merton became a monk, which maybe we can't all do, but he gave us some valuable insights therefore. Do you think that no one should be a monk, and that there shouldn't be monasteries? In our human history, monasteries have been places which have saved a lot of learning when the rest of the world went to ruin.

Not everyone does the same thing in life, nor should they. Monks don't work 9-5, 40-week-hour jobs, and pay taxes, but then maybe that shouldn't exactly be the necessary standard for existence.

I guess my main point is that the only logical follow-up on your criticism of Thomas Merton for being a monk, is that you would say that no one should be a monk...

What about a (secular) hermit? Is that wrong too?

Opinions vary, and I don't have a copy of SSM handy, but the way he expressed it was like an adult grabbing a teddy bear and sucking his thumb.