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Learning to Love: Exploring Solitude and Freedom (The Journals of Thomas Merton Vol. 6)

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In Learning to Love, the penultimate of the seven volumes of Merton's complete journals we have presented to us the only volume of the seven not containing any journal material printed previously. With earlier volumes parts of the text were already familiar to readers through their having been previously published. In volume six the writing is totally new to the reader though a large part of its content, Merton's 1966 affair with a student nurse, has been in the common domain since the publication of the official biography.

Monica Furlong in her 1980 biography described 1966 as "a rather quiet time in Merton's life." Subsequent biographies revealed that 1966 had not been quiet but contained one of the most critical and formative events of Merton's monastic life, events recounted in intense detail in Learning to Love. This volume although it covers the shortest time span of any of the journals published so far contains as much material as any that has preceded it and this suggests the nature and the intensity of that material.

This volume is made up of three separate sources - Merton's daily journal; an additional account Merton wrote during the summer of 1966 about his relationship with the student nurse called "A Midsummer Diary for M."; and finally a number of entries from "Notebook 17" which cover the beginning of 1966. In her introduction to this volume Christine Bochen notes that "A Midsummer Diary for M." was one of two additional accounts Merton kept of his relationship with M. and the other account, entitled "Retrospect", was not made available for publication.

In editing this volume Christine Bochen has divided her material up into four parts: "Being in one place" a short section covering January to March 1966; "Daring to Love" which covers the period of Merton's relationship with M. and his attempt to reconcile himself with his solitary life; "Living love in solitude" which covers September to December 1966 as Merton worked at recommitting himself to his monastic life; and "A life free from care" the last section of this journal covers January to October 1967 and presents a picture of Merton living fully his life as a hermit and writer.

It is good at last to be able to read Merton's own account of this period. What would have been really fascinating would be to know what Merton himself would have included if he was editing this journal for publication. As it stands this volume is dominated by Merton's affair with M. The first section, "Being in one place" is very short and then the reader is rocketed into Merton's affair and his journal for a time scarcely contains anything else except his speculations and reflections on their relationship. These reflections continue, though in a much lesser form through the last months of 1966 and into 1967 and at times overshadow some of the excellent journal writing contained in these passages. With his "Midsummer Diary for M." included as an appendix at the end of this volume the reader is once again thrown into Merton's intense self-examination and is in danger of this relationship obscuring the blossoming of a far more mature Merton, partly as a result of this relationship, in the entries from September 1966 through to October 1967. If Merton were to have prepared this material for publication I think it is this material he would have concentrated on, though by no means to the exclusion of his relationship with M.

In the first section of Learning to Love many of the themes readers will have encountered in earlier journals are still present. Prominent in this section is Merton's interest in the poet Rilke. Merton had begun a serious study of Rilke the previous autumn and found in him a like voice. Both men had struggled over their relationships with women and a sense of their inability to love and to be loved. Merton had also been struggling with the difference between solitude and loneliness since his move to the hermitage and with thoughts of death as he felt his own physical body deteriorating and as some of his friends from his time at Columbia died. Over the course of this journal themes develop in Merton's life and through his relationship with M. he found that he could "love with an awful completeness" and that his loneliness was transformed into solitude and that he could face death and the destructive forces in himself as "I no longer fear them, [the destructive forces] as I no longer fear the ardent and loving forces in myself." After this period Merton never again spoke of his "inability to love, or to be loved."

This experience filters through into some of Merton's conferences to the monastic community, especially his lectures on Rilke where he speaks of "learning to love" as the hardest of all the tasks in the monastery, and of solitude as central to love. The effect of this relationship and the discoveries Merton made through it are reflected in the journal entries for 1966 and into 1967. After the intense journal entries of March to September 1966 Merton's journal takes on a very different open and world-embracing tone as his new sense of love and compassion is extended to the wider world. The authors he was reading in this period - Camus, Eliot, Zukofsky, Muir, Sartre, Faulkner, Jones, Bachelard - and their thought effected his own thought and writing in his final, most creative, years including his books Cables to the Ace, The Geography of Lograire, Ishi Means Man, as well as essays on Zen, Camus, Cargo Cults, Faulkner and the monastic life.

Readers will find this sixth volume of Merton's journals a veritable contrast to earlier journal, some, I am sure, will love it whilst other will not like the Merton who comes across from its pages. Whatever our reaction it is a part of the whole Merton and a part of the paradoxical figure readers have grown to expect from Merton.

This book, by a much loved and respected spiritual director for many mature persons, albeit only through his books, allows one to see first hand the struggles of a committed monk to remain faithful to his promise. Merton honestly relates his feelings and his battles to make sense of a love that, on one hand, could destroy all he had worked to achieve and yet, on the other hand, made him more human and therefore more real. The triumph of this struggle brings hope to all of us.

This was actually the first I ever read or heard of Merton. I read this book at a time when I was going through a bit of a struggle myself in regards to who I was and what I believed. I was raised Catholic, but no longer felt that I had any place in the Church and then I felt guilty for having those feelings. What Merton does so beautifully and bravely is to show his own struggles and his own humanity to the world. He struggles with the idea of being a hermit vs his desire to change the world; with his love and devotion to the Church vs his love of a woman; with his need for solitude vs. his need to be surrounded by other intelligent, compassionate minds. It's a fascinating read. I think one of the things that struck me most about it was how unselfconsciously he writes about what he's going through. It's not a book overflowing with self-judgment or condemnation. On the contrary, it's a book filled with the idea that he is as human as the rest of us and has the same flaws and desires, yet what he does with those flaws and desires is really up to him. That's no small discovery. It's one we could all stand to make about ourselves.

here is the volume that was much anticipated, the volume of Thomas Merton's diaries that dealt with his "love affair" with a young nurse, Margie Smith. By this point in the diaries, Merton has become a full time hermit{as someone once remarked, the busiest,most voluminous hermit in history. Or,as Merton wrly titled one of his diaries, A VOW OF CONVERSATION}. Moving further away from the obdient young novice of volume 2,Merton as always in full tonged battles with his Abbot,James Fox,,has been exploring eastern religions,trying to find the center which unites all. Then, he goes to a louisville hospital to have back surgery,and falls deeply in love with a young nurse. Always honest with himself,Merton knows where this is heading, and knows, even in his early entries, that this will not end well for her. There is a sweet episode when Joan Baez arrives,and after Merton tells her about his new love, insists that they drive straight away to Loiuisville to go to her{they do not.}There is nothing salacious here,and Merton comes to grips with his poor treatment of woman in his early life{he had fathered a child in London, and mother and son had died during the blitz in WWII},and finds another side in himself. Interspersed within this is the usual Merton gold, the ability to see through modern problems for what they are{fleeting}, and come up with crystalline insights{his commenst on his prayer life while he is essentialy leading ,for him, a compromised life, are very interestin.] This is top flight Merton, now on the top step, cleansed and looking east,where on the horizon, is the next and last volume, and the Asian journey. Essential,non-sensational,always edifying.

"Learning to Love" captures the ache of forbidden love better than any work I have ever read. Merton's honesty, as mentioned in the other reviews, sets the gold standard for how we should converse with ourselves and with God. Ultimately, through meditation and prayer, Merton decides that his affair has opened his heart so that it holds a greater love for God, and the experience of going against his vows humbles him.

Anyone who is a true believer, who struggles to live that belief in daily life and who tries to reconcile the faith and the heart will enjoy this book. I can also recommend this book to people who are interested in journaling, as a example of "getting to the heart of matter" (Graham Greene) and to people who want a good introduction to Thomas Merton. I have gone on to read a number of his journals and his other books. He is most well-known for Seven Story Mountain. The Merton in that book is far younger and more naïve than the erudite and humble Merton displayed in these pages. Had I read Seven Story Mountain first, I never would have picked up another Merton book. Luckily for me, I picked this Merton book up first.

This review is for the Kindle edition, I really wish Amazon would not mix reviews for different versions of the book... The book itself is great, I'd give five stars for the actual journal. However, the Kindle edition is a travesty, and HarperCollins ought to be ashamed of putting their name on such a poor quality ebook. The following is the content of a refund request I just sent to Amazon customer service, which I think will serve as a fine review of the Kindle edition:

"I recently purchased Learning To Love: Exploring Solitude and Freedom by Thomas Merton for my Kindle. I have to say that this book was full of copious typos, more so than many of the free Kindle ebooks. I am rather appalled to have paid $10.99 for a book so riddled with errors. Every time a word appeared that had "tl" in it, it showed up as a "d". For example, "little" appeared as "litde," "subtle" was "subde," etc. This is only one type of example, several other letters were repeatedly distorted in very strange ways as well. This book is a journal with dated entries that are supposed to be in chronological order. At one point the entry dates read "June 28" followed by "June 20" and then "June 50"! Seriously?! This was very distracting and sometimes it was quite hard to decipher words in the book. I don't feel like I should have to pay $10.99 for a book I had to decode on nearly every page. This was ultimately too frustrating and I am going to try to buy a used copy of the printed version. I really cannot believe that this was put out by a major publisher (HarperCollins) with so many errors. There is no way that somebody actually proofread the Kindle version of this book. I am going to leave a copy of this email as a review on the product page because I do not think major publishers should get away with selling ebooks that have obviously not been proofed and edited, and I don't think readers will appreciate all these distracting errors. Amazon.com is a great company and I have always appreciated the excellent customer service. I do hope that you will let this publisher know about the bad quality of this ebook. I also hope that it is possible to get a refund for this item."

I wanted everyone considering buying the Kindle version to be aware of these errors. You can read this book, but only if you are prepared to overlook errors, sometimes several, on practically every page. If you are trying to have a mental sense of Merton's timeline, it is especially distracting that the journal entry dates are wrong in several places. By all means, get a hard copy, you will not regret it! Merton's journals are amazing, especially this sixth volume with its chronicle of Merton's love affair and the ensuing tension between romance and his vocation. I have not finished it yet, but look forward to reading the rest in a printed version.

This must ,by far, be the best writing of Merton.It is intense, it is heart-rending and it is REAL!His illict love affair carried on whilst suppossed to be under vows of celibacy and obedience show that Merton was after all like us.Had the same struggles as us and got himself into the same shameful muddles, as we do.If you want a book you can't put down- buy this journal.If you already have problems of your own this book could help you to logically find your way through those tangled feelings

Thomas Merton falls in love with his nurse (and she with him). This completely disorients him from his vocation, and throws him into an emotional spiral. He loves "M", but knows that he really can't do anything about it, he has vowed celibacy and stability, but he's so torn by the emotional turmoil that he really can't see straight. Merton's usual sangfroid and dedicated direction toward the wholly spiritual life, even to the extent of moving to the Hermitage, is in the balance here, and one sees how strongly the emotions can overtake even one who has lived so many years adhering to his vows.

One wonders, after it's all over, what "M" must have gone through, with Merton going this way and that, loving and then withdrawing to his safe place. This book is an important one to read to understand the vagaries of human nature and how easily we can be tossed about and thrown from our self-created pedestals.

If there is anything this book has taught me, it is that there is no escape from the human condition. No matter if you are living as a monk in the woods or living in the midst of 9-5 city life, there is no real sanctuary from the struggles of humanity. Merton's writings on his challenges to reconcile his desires and remain true to his vows are enlightening. These are the difficulties that all of us face, in one form or another. You can't help but love and appreciate Merton, the man, found in this journal.

As usual, his journal style leads me into deep contemplation, but his honesty in dealing with all issues reminds the reader that he is a man before a monk or priest. I reccommend this book to all Seminary Students and those seeking quiet prayer and contemplation.