Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander [Paperback]

Thomas Merton (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 9, 1968

In this series of notes, opinions, experiences, and reflections, Thomas Merton examines some of the most urgent questions of our age. With his characteristic forcefulness and candor, he brings the reader face-to-face with such provocative and controversial issues as the “death of God,” politics, modern life and values, and racial strife–issues that are as relevant today as they were fifty years ago.

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander is Merton at his best–detached but not unpassionate, humorous yet sensitive, at all times alive and searching, with a gift for language which has made him one of the most widely read and influential spiritual writers of our time.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In this series of notes, opinions, and reflections kept since 1956, Thomas Merton examines some of the most urgent moral issues of the modern era.

About the Author

THOMAS MERTON (1915-1968), Trappist monk, author, and peace activist, came to international prominence at a young age with his classic autobiography, The Seven Story Mountain. Over the rest of his life he wrote prolifically on a vast range of topics, including prayer, interior growth, social responsibility, violence, and war. Toward the end of his life he played a significant role in introducing Eastern religions to the West. He is today regarded as a spiritual master, a brilliant religious writer, and a man who embodied the quest for God and human solidarity in the modern world.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Image (January 9, 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385010184
• ISBN-13: 978-0385010184
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,326 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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal and compelling August 16, 2002

By Brad Shorr

Format:Paperback

This book is a series of reflections on and examinations of topics ranging from the flora and fauna of Kentucky to studies of grammar by Cassiodorus. This is a later work of Merton's, and what comes across more than anything is his all too human moodiness. At times he seems to despair of the human condition. But then a tremendous hope wells up in him as he sees Christianity reaching out in brotherhood to all men of all faiths and non-faiths. But regardless of his attitude, Merton, as always, maintains the highest standards for fidelity to one's self and to God. His rather caustic critiques of Western culture seem more true today than when he wrote them in the 1960's, as he exposes the moral rationalizations and spiritual hollowness that necessarily accompany a mass culture devoted to materialism and pragmatism. His understanding of the human condition is so clear and so true and so universal, that his writing seems to be speaking to each of us alone, much as a parent might speak to his child. And like a child, our first reaction to his challenging words might be resentment or denial, but in the end, if we reflect and examine, we begin to see his truth-that is, his pointing us to God. I imagine one of Merton's hopes in this book is to move us beyond words and arguments so we might dispense with temporal intellectual distractions and concentrate on what counts-personal salvation.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Reflections from the 1960's, still important today January 22, 2004

By Christopher Culver TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER is the second collection of brief reflections by Thomas Merton, a book which he called in his Preface "a personal vision of the world in the 1960s". The format of these reflections is quite reminiscent of the modern weblog, so consistency should not be expected. Some are evocative and interesting. Others are intensely personal and opaque, such as one that says only, "Every time Kennedy sneezes or blows his nose, an article is read about it in the refectory."

Some of this book is quaint and linked too much to the time of its writing. Merton's writes nearly vitriolic reflection on communism but does not foresee the rise of liberation theology in his own church. However, there are many other portions where the author moves beyond the context of his time. Merton's reflections on race-relations, for example, are unusually compassionate for a writer of his time, for he believes that African-Americans are blessed by God, who was bringing them in freedom from exile, slavery, and oppression like the Hebrews.

When I was younger and full of idealistic fire, having just left the Navy as a conscientious objector, I couldn't understand Merton. Here was a man who was full of zeal for the gospel, but who turned away from the community for a hermitage in rural Kentucky. From CONJECTURES, however, I can better appreciate this writer. Though he was alone, he has made a considerable contribution to society through books like these. Merton essentially wishes to make people live more authentically, to always be more conscious of Christ's social teaching and reject the false values of the world. Merton may have been a recluse, but if more people out and about in society read his writings, then the world would be a better place. For example, though Merton is not one to overtly recommend political engagement, he often calls the American reader to consider that his nation has strayed from the values on which they were founded and needs righting.

If you have never read Merton before, I'd recommend starting with THE SEVEN-STOREY MOUNTAIN, the story of his youth, conversion, and entry to a Trappist monastery, a book which occasionally rises to true greatness and might be a modern-day CONFESSIONS of Saint Augustine (well, almost). CONJECTURES is an excellent book for those interested in Merton who want to know better his social ideas.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth Prophesied To A Violent World May 12, 2002

By Patrick McCullough

Format:Paperback

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander is Thomas Merton's response to the terror of the world around him, the world he had been raised into, and the world he sought to leave behind as a monk in the back corners of Kentucky. It is a collection of thoughts which had been developing in him from the very beginning of his life. He came to monastic life to retreat from the world. He came to find quiet. And yet he remained more connected to the outside world than most people within that world, and certainly more than anyone behind his monastic walls, even as he wrote and compiled Conjectures itself from his secluded hermitage.

This book is his reaction against the violent century which he was born into and which was born into him. He speaks against issues including such things as the true nature of the monastic relationship with the world (he calls "separation from the world" an illusion); unity/ecumenism; war & violence; false "truths" (particularly what he calls the American myth); technology versus nature, etc.

He calls himself a "bystander" relating to his aloofness as a monk. He calls himself "guilty" in relation to not living up to his responsibility for the outside world. As a monk, he calls himself a contemplative activist. As a collection of "conjectures," it is a compilation of thoughts or pensees grouped together loosely, only slightly tied together by five section titles. Because of this format it is not the easiest thing to read; it is helpful to read topically (a good guide for this can be found in Something of a Rebel by William Shannon). But I would say the experience is worth it. The book is deeply moving and convicting. Merton stands out as an authoritative voice on how Christians, all people in fact, should be aware of the world around them, while they also should not neglect the contemplative life that feeds their love for that world.

There is a short observation Merton gives us in his Conjectures as he witnesses the way of the world around him:
"This morning, before Prime, in the early morning sky, three antiquated monoplanes flew over the monastery with much noise followed by a great heron." (15)

Commenting on this thought, Thomas Moore writes in his introduction to Conjectures:
"Many antiquated machines have come and gone in the time since Merton wrote these lines, an explosion of technology giving the illusion of progress, while Merton himself continues to fly, pulling up the rear, a great silent heron reminding us that the noisy are not necessarily the knowledgeable." (v)