The Ascent to Truth [Paperback]

Thomas Merton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1981 | Series: Harvest/HBJ Book

Merton defines Christian mysticism, especially as expressed by the Spanish Carmelite St. John of the Cross, and he offers the contemplative experience as an answer to the irreligion and barbarism of our times. “For those...curious about mysticism...this is an excellent book” (Catholic World).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was born in France and came to live in the United States at the age of 24. He received several awards recognizing his contribution to religious study and contemplation, including the Pax Medal in 1963, and remained a devoted spiritualist and a tireless advocate for social justice until his death in 1968. The Sign of Jonas was originally published in 1953.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1St Edition edition (June 15, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156086824
• ISBN-13: 978-0156086820
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,470,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is arguably the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, has millions of copies and has been translated into over fifteen languages. He wrote over sixty other books and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to civil rights, nonviolence, and the nuclear arms race.

After a rambunctious youth and adolescence, Merton converted to Roman Catholicism and entered the Abbey of Gethsemani, a community of monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists), the most ascetic Roman Catholic monastic order.

The twenty-seven years he spent in Gethsemani brought about profound changes in his self-understanding. This ongoing conversion impelled him into the political arena, where he became, according to Daniel Berrigan, the conscience of the peace movement of the 1960's. Referring to race and peace as the two most urgent issues of our time, Merton was a strong supporter of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which he called "certainly the greatest example of Christian faith in action in the social history of the United States." For his social activism Merton endured severe criticism, from Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who assailed his political writings as unbecoming of a monk.

During his last years, he became deeply interested in Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, and in promoting East-West dialogue. After several meetings with Merton during the American monk's trip to the Far East in 1968, the Dali Lama praised him as having a more profound understanding of Buddhism than any other Christian he had known. It was during this trip to a conference on East-West monastic dialogue that Merton died, in Bangkok on December 10, 1968, the victim of an accidental electrocution. The date marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of his entrance to Gethsemani.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A more than introductory study of St John of the Cross., November 14, 1998

By 

Halbert Weidner "thomisthawaii" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ascent to Truth (Paperback)

This is the young Thomas Merton tackling a great Spanish mystic that he was able to read in the original language. The Sign of Jonas, another book, makes wonderful side comments about the Carmelite mystic John of the Cross but here Merton really tries to meditate and explain him. It is not always successful. Merton did not think the book a success. Nevertheless, it is a good introduction to the problem of the tension between living by faith which enlightens the mind and the experience of God which can be so blinding as to create a dark night.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern mystic experiences the dark night, October 21, 2006

By 

Greg (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ascent to Truth (Paperback)

Thomas Merton was a Benedictine friar who turned to a writing career within the monastic fold. While perhaps inevitable given his great energy and zeal (which misdirected were probably responsible for his turbulent life before he converted to Catholicism) he later used his very considerable intellectual and artistic gifts for the right end, praising God and creation, and exploring the spiritual in a world which both thirsts for it and decries it is irrelevant at the same time.

The Ascent to Truth is one of Merton's finest works, and it explores the mysticism of the 'dark night', expemplified by St John of the Cross but also by Gregory of Nyssa and Eckhart.

Merton also engages in a theological and philosophical analysis of Truth using modern scholasticism but thankfully avoids dessicating God's reality through dry concepts. Merton thirsts for God as a living reality and treats him as such, and certainly the God Merton describes is not that of the philosophers, but that of the Bible and the Christian tradition, the living 'Thou.'

He also writes with considerable insight into the modern predicament and the dangers and possible rewards of the spiritual journey, from the mirage of New Age occultism which promises much but delivers nothing, and the Christian way which demands much and appears to give nothing, but in fact gives all in return for little. The way of the Cross demands the death of the ego, and Merton is emphatic on this point as much as St John was, but not the death of the true Self, which abides in God (not in substance but in will and created good by participation).

Merton revitalises our faith in the face of arid modern and postmodern forms of nihilism and offers us the path to darkness and joy and final peace, which is only ever found in Christ and in God.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Merton's reading of John of the Cross - reason in the contemplative life, November 19, 2009

By 

Donner C. S. Tan (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ascent to Truth (Paperback)

The mystical literature of John of the Cross is known for its literary beauty and spiritual profundity but it is not always accessible. The Ascent to Truth is a clear and reliable guide to understanding him. Merton's Catholic and monastic background together with his literary gifts makes him an excellent expositor of St John. Merton devotes many pages to exploring the place of reason (understood here as spiritual discernment, good sense/moderation and biblical understanding) in the mystical life. This is a helpful corrective to tendencies of some readers of John and practitioners of contemplative prayers that elevate personal experiences over the intellect, almost treating the latter as a hindrance to be bypassed. While recognising the immediacy of mystical union and the passivity of the natural faculties when one is graced with infused contemplation, one never at any point dispenses with the need to stay rooted in the concreteness of the revealed word of God and in Christ. That is to say, a sound grasp of biblical truths is essential in preparing one to receive by faith a deeper apprehension of divine mysteries that go beyond the intellect itself as one reaches out to God in love.

Besides John of the Cross, Merton also draws lessons from the other great spiritual teachers such as John Ruysbroek, Teresa of Avila, Gregory of Nyssa and others that have left us some signposts along the mystical path that help one discern where one might be in the journey, avoid some of the pitfalls and know when one is ready to advance. Though the book gets tedious at times in its seemingly repetitive circling around the book's main theme - reason in the life of contemplation, Merton delights us with some fine touches every now and then such as these:

'Contemplation is one of the indications of spiritual maturity. It is closely allied to sanctity. You cannot save the world merely with a system. You cannot have peace without charity. You cannot have order without saints. Our nature imposes on us a pattern of development which we must follow if we are to fulfil our best capacities and achieve at least the partial happiness of being human. The pattern must be understood and worked out in all its essential elements. But it can be stated very simply: We must know the truth, and we must love the truth we know, and we must act according to the measure of our love.' (pg 8)

'All the deeper instincts of a true theologian warned Saint John of the Cross that the revealed word of God offered him greater security than did experience itself, where there was question of a supernatural order in which the ways were known with certitude by Him alone who had established them.' (pg 124)