Religion
Related: About this forumHas anyone read Thomas Merton?
He was a prolific author but I haven't read anything of his. I'm looking for a recommendation.
Docreed2003
(17,682 posts)"Seeds of Contemplation" and "Thoughts in Solitude" are also very good but "No Man is an Island" is my favorite.
"Seven Storey Mountain" is his autobiography and it's great, but would recommend reading his other works first
TommyT139
(670 posts)My first thought to suggest was The Seven Storey Mountain. It's the very readable autobiography of the part of his life when he went from being a college student to a monk at the Trappist monastery where he spent nearly the rest of his life. That and New Seeds of Contemplation will get you a good start. They seem to be numbers one and two-or-three on the lists written by people who've read far more than me.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlmccolman/2015/01/seven-essential-thomas-merton-books/
This page has selections from the books (like Google or Amazon samples), but it wouldn't load on my phone properly.
https://englewoodreview.org/thomas-merton-intro-reading-guide/
Edited to add one last link, to Merton's famous prayer (from Thoughts in Solitude), in both text and audio:
https://onbeing.org/blog/thomas-mertons-prayer-that-anyone-can-pray/
milestogo
(17,406 posts)notemason
(572 posts)milestogo
(17,406 posts)I've been listening to a book on audible called JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. The author makes mention of Thomas Merton, who was a pacifist, and his answer to "why" Kennedy was marked for assassination- because he chose peace over war. Kennedy resisted using nuclear weapons, and he was planning to draw down all the troops from Vietnam by the end of 1963.
Douglass takes listeners into the Oval Office during the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, along on the strange journey of Lee Harvey Oswald and his shadowy handlers, and to the winding road in Dallas where an ambush awaited the president's motorcade. As Douglass convincingly documents, at every step along the way, these forces of the Unspeakable were present, moving people like pawns on a chessboard to promote a dangerous and deadly agenda.
It made me want to learn more about Merton. I think I will start with the Seven Storey Mountain and keep going.
Dawgman49
(251 posts)John Lewis had a copy of his seeds of contemplation in has back pack when he crossed the Edmund Pettit bridge. Would also recommend a year with Thomas Merton.. daily meditations from his journals..