Thomas Merton loved life with the passion of a romantic poet. At the age of twenty-six he chose to become a Trappist monk and began to pursue his ultimate, lifelong passion. From his austere quarters at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, Kentucky, Merton worked to change the world and to come closer to his God. The drawings and prayers in this volume are the intimate, beautifully rendered record of that pursuit -- Merton's dialogue with God. The prayers have been gathered from all of Merton's writings -- his books, journals, letters -- and are collected here, along with his largely unknown drawings, for the first time.In his drawings we see the evolution of Merton's art from purely representational to the more abstract, reflecting his interest in Zen andEastern cultures. It is easy to see that art was in his genes; both of his parents were artists. With each prayer and in every brushstroke, we sensethe depth of Merton's passion as we pause and incline our ear to his voice offering these heartfelt songs to God and to the world. "Dialogues with Silenceinvites the reader to enter into that sacred realm of contemplation where we listen in silence and await the divine presence in our lives, where emptiness becomes the juncture for the interchange between the outer and inner worlds, where darkness is transformed into light -- the place where the voice of God is revealed.
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.
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