Customer Reviews

The Springs of Contemplation: A Retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani

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This retreat given to several nuns, mostly superiors of their orders, was transcribed, and it shows that Merton returned to his monastic vocation. The things he says indicate his compassion, understanding, and responsibilities he had been given in the monastery--he was master of novices for many years. It is fascinating to read this retreat material and to compare it with his published journals of the same time. This comparison shows the consistency of Merton's private and public views.

Merton is relaxed and often charming. His perceptiveness is obvious. For example, "obedience is meant to free us so that we can follow the Holy Spirit. We respect the authority of others and obey it, but we also have to follow our conscience." Time has proved him right on many issues, and wrong on others. I find his sincerity undeniable, and I think this book gives a wonderful view into his thought processes.

Anyone who is interested in Merton's views on celibacy and its place in religious life will find them in great detail here. Although his college friend Ed Rice claims in his correctly titled "entertainment" on Merton, "Man in the Sycamore Tree", that Merton talked about the possibility of married monks, that doesn't seem to be the case. During this retreat, in May 1968, Merton states that the secular clergy (usually known as parish priests) should be free to marry; he does not espouse marriage for monks (see the chapter "Collaboration, Penance, Celibacy"). For those interested in Merton's life, this book is a "sleeper" which reveals the applications he made of Catholic beliefs to everyday monastic life. I highly recommend this book as an antidote to the sensational and obtuse presentation of Merton by Mark Shaw in "Beneath the Mask of Holiness."

Thomas Merton is not the typical Catholic, yet is fully rooted in Catholic faith. He explores some troubles with the world with a cutting grace and how contemplatives should address them. For example, he discusses how the will to see problems change sometimes cannot overcome cold comforts--in particular, he talks about how people deplore racism but would not want to suffer the detriment of integration. He states, for example, how many whites felt terrible for the treatment of the blacks, but would not invite blacks to live in their neighborhood because it would decrease property value. He discusses how people tragically get caught up in a given protocol and can only break free with creative contemplation. He discusses why non-violence between MLK or Ghandi worked whereas the hippies were rather impotent. Ultimately, he shows that contemplation can free us from the mundane to really change the world.

He discusses silence very deeply. I read this on an Ignacian Silent Retreat, so it really spoke to me, but reading this in another setting may reduce the power, which seems evident from previous reviews.

If your are a Catholic or Buddhist interested in comparative religion, he has a lecture on Zen. He is very objective, giving credit where credit is due; he does not say, "If only Catholics did this . . ." or "Buddhism is inferior because . . ." Overall, he gives a really to-the-point discussion on meditative practices. No Unitarian, he readily brings up similarities and differences, being fair yet true to his faith. He really moves past the New Age Post-Modern crap which plagues most other comparative analyses.

I would recommend this to any spiritual person going on a quiet retreat or even someone who just wants to spend a weekend alone contemplating God.

Its odd, how things work out. In his Journals, Merton was ENTHRALLED by this reterat. He spoke in glowing terms of the participants,and praised the intamcy achieved. He states, flatly"this is the best reterat of my life." Yet none of that comes forth in this collection, which is more the pity. Of course, some of this is indeed dated[the world is radically changed in 33+ years]and perhaps, as it seems Fr. Merton was wont to do, he gets overly enthusiastic about something before he has completely immersed himself.Still, second level Merton is better then just about top shelf from anyone else.Some nuggets on prayer left me thinking that perhaps the great moments of this retreat were the celebration of the Mass that were held each day. In that silence was perhaps that ineffable moment that cannot be heard nor touched that Merton groped for so in his life and writings. So, in all not great Thomas Merton, thjough still necessary to see the entire picture of this good great man.

This volume contains lectures which Thomas Merton gave to nuns of the Loretto community during late 1967 and early 1968. He manages to say almost nothing of substance, except that "contemplation" (however we define it) is good, and that authoritarian structures are bad. Only the most fervent devotees of the somewhat trendy Trappist would find this book ineluctable; the rest of us can profit by avoiding it. We look to his earlier work for nourishment: Thoughts in Solitude (1958), New Seeds of Contemplation (1961), and many of his poems and journals. THE SPRINGS OF CONTEMPLATION strikes this reader as needless chit-chat about silence. We do not find God in the book, but a tired talkative Merton who is a bit too convinced of his own sagacity. Alas.