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by Thomas Merton

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.

Thomas Merton’s first 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.”

In the half-century since its original publication, this timeless spiritual tome has been published in over twenty languages and has touched millions of lives.This 50th anniversary edition contains an introduction by Merton’s editor, Robert Giroux, and a note to the reader by biographer William H. Shannon.

The Seven Storey Mountain

Available at Wellsprings for S$31.90

by Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton is often considered the most prominent Christian contemplative of the twentieth century, but he was also a political activist, social visionary, and literary figure whose writings combine the candor of Thoreau and the moral vision of Gandhi. Here is a remarkably accessible introduction to his work: a collection of a short, vivid excerpts arranged in four parts so as to parallel the journey of a seeking soul in the modern world.

•  “Real and False Selves” distinguishes between our real selves, a deep religious mystery known entirely only to God, and the identities we take on in order to function in society.

•  “The World We Live In” provides a spiritual context to modern life, moving from a stark rejection of its empty promises to a deep compassion for its tragic limitations.

•  “Antidotes to Illusion” reflects on contemplative practices that can serve as the allies of our “real selves” in the battle against illusion: silence, solitude, meditation, prayer, charity, and faith.

•  “Love in Action” explores the role of the contemplative in the modern age and the challenges and pitfalls of living a life of active love.
Merton’s startling critique of a society driven by technology and rampant acquisition, the politics of “good versus evil,” and the self-deluding complacency of the spiritual “lifestyle” demonstrate beyond doubt that his writings are as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.

Seeds

Available at Wellsprings for S$26.90

by Roger Lipsey

In the last decade of his life, while living as a hermit-monk in dialogue with the world, Thomas Merton created a body of visual art that has remained largely unknown and little studied in the nearly forty years since his death. With this book, Merton’s art at last moves out of the shadows to be appreciated for what it is: a revealing expression of his state of mind and heart in the 1960s, and a visual correlative to his mature works of spiritual writing such as New Seeds of Contemplation and Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. Roger Lipsey provides a fascinating analysis of the simple and striking images and their significance in Merton’s journey. He find in them resonances with Asian calligraphy and American abstract expressionism, and relates them to the influence of Merton’s wide circle of friends, which included such diverse figures as the Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, the poet Czeslaw Milosz, the Zen scholar D. T. Suzuki, and the artist Ad Reinhardt—among many others.

But the centerpiece of the book is the art itself, presented in a portfolio of thirty-four representative pieces that reflect the changing themes and methods of Merton’s work. Each is accompanied by selections from his writings from the 1960s that reflect the inward and outward territories Merton was exploring in the period when these remarkable images were created.

Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton

Available at Wellsprings for S$45.90