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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
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.
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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
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.
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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
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)
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