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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Merton finest journal., September 25, 1998
This, the fifth of Thomas Merton's complete journals, covers Merton's move to becoming a full-time hermit, the fulfilment of a deep desire for solitude that had haunted Merton from his earliest days at Gethsemani. It begins in August 1963 when Merton was living as a part-time solitary and traces the gradual expansion of the amount of time he was allowed to spend at the hermitage until he was allowed to take up full-time residence there in August 1965. This volume concludes at the end of 1965 allowing us to see Merton's reflections on his first few months as a hermit. Some parts of this journal will already be familiar to readers as it contains journal entries that were prepared for publication by Merton in the journal A Vow of Conversation, as well as his account of his visit to meet the Zen scholar Suzuki and an early version of Day of a Stranger. Having said that, over half of the material in this journal is previously unpublished and even those parts previously published can read quite differently in their unedited form. Vow leaves the reader with the impression that Merton had effortlessly made the transition to life as a full-time hermit whereas, in Dancing, this transition appears far from easy and a visit from his former novice Ernesto Cardenal brings to the surface the instability Merton experienced with the move. Dancing in the Waters of Life begins with a masterful introduction by Robert Daggy which highlights the central movements in this volume - Merton's move to the hermitage, his movement into his middle years with increasing health difficulties, and his continuing efforts to work out the paradoxes in his life. At times in this journal we see Merton at his most free and yet, almost in the next sentence he can be highly introspective and obsessed with certain aspects of his life. This tension runs throughout this volume and, as Daggy points out, accounts "for the highs and lows, the joy and the despair, the enthusiasm and the carping." (xii-xiii.) Merton's own sense of this continuing movement in his life, of the dance, comes over clearly in a passage he wrote in January 1964: "The need for constant self-revision, growth, leaving behind, renunciation of yesterday, yet in continuity with all yesterdays...my ideas are always changing, always moving around one center, always seeing the center from somewhere else. I will always be accused of inconsistencies - and will no longer be there to hear the accusation." (67.) Dancing allows us the most direct contact with Merton of any of the journals yet published. The difficulties of this period which Merton writes about, the tensions, his continuing ill health and his coming to terms with middle age and the absurd world of the sixties can make this volume sound like the ravings of a man obsessed with himself. Yet there is a fine balance here between the madman and the prophet, as was frequently the case with the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. When one considers Merton's other writings of this time - Emblems of a Season of Fury, Seeds of Destruction, The Way of Chuang Tzu, Gandhi on Non-Violence, along with such classics essays as "Rain and the Rhinoceros," and his "Message to Poets" - it is the stature of the prophet which becomes evident and this journal gives us an intimate insight into the dynamics of the prophet. In this journal we can see the sources to which Merton was turning for his own spiritual and intellectual nourishment. Of particular interest to Merton in this period are Rilke, Barth, Bultmann, and Sartre. The Church Fathers, scripture and the religious writings of other traditions are all evident along with a growing awareness of his natural surroundings, brought about partly through a growing closeness to nature and its rhythms in his life at the hermitage: "Came up to the hermitage at 4 a.m. The moon poured down silence over the woods, and the frosty grass sparkled faintly. More than two hours of prayer in firelight...Sweet pungent smell of hickory smoke, and silence, silence." (93.) Although not as intensely involved in the peace movement as he was earlier in the sixties Merton's awareness of the issues confronting it is clearly still evident as is his grasp of a wide range of national and international issues - race relations and civil rights, the space race, American politics, Viet Nam and the effects of the Vatican Council. In all the journals of Thomas Merton references can be found to the various anniversaries that were important to him. In this journal the dominant such date is his fiftieth birthday. Throughout this journal Merton makes references to a variety of health problems and his fiftieth birthday provides the occasion for an extended reflection on his life connecting his present self with various moments in his life from Oakham, through Cambridge and Columbia to Gethsemani concluding "Why go on? Deo gratias for all of them." (199.) As he approaches middle age Merton is more able to see the unity of his life and discovers, in the midst of his vulnerability, a new sense of happiness which he had not experienced previously writing "Lay in bed realizing that what I was, was happy. Said the strange word `happiness' and realized that it was there...And I was that." (177.) This is a journal full of movement, from Merton's daily journeys between the hermitage and the monastery, through his frequent visits to Louisville, to his first ever return visit to New York since entering Gethsamani. There is also the movement of his restless spirit, of his continuing debates with the abbot, the church and the wider society. The rhythm of this movement gives it at times the feeling of a dance, one in which Merton dances very lightly, touching on spiritual masters down through the ages and calling his reader to undertake the same dance in their own life and to join in the general dance of creation.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Merton. Again., October 18, 2000
Thomas Merton has become, since his absurd death,many thingsto many people. Only with Pope John Paul II, in my estimation, has such a varried and vocal sparring been going on for legacies and interpertations{I actually do not know who will have the more influential leagcy. My guess is merton.}In this, the 5th volume of these magnificent diaries, Merton has begun the transition to hermit,such as it was.Much of the published writings from this period have the smooth polish of an editors hand. Not so with these entries. Merton still writes,to borrow a phrase from Ross Mcdonald, like a slumming angel,and his nuggets of insight into his own foibles, that of his brethren{his abbot, of course, comes off no better here than the previois volumes}comes through almost painfully at times.. His reading list is so varied and prodigiois, that coupled with his correspondence, I cannot fathom how he found time to write,never mind pray,and meditate . Herein I think is the true genius,a word that has become so commonplace that it has lost its power.Mertons powers of concentration must have been extraordinary,his ability to focus on the thing at hand, without losing interest in momentary gifts{the fire-light reflecting through a glass jar of honey, the sound of deer scurrying about in new fallen snow.]The Thomas Merton I encountered here is an adult,believer,long discarding the triumphialism of the newly converted,grwing more at peace. Of course, we know how this part of the journey ends,so reading this again with that in mind makes it all the more pointed,and still retaining its power. HAving read all 7 volumes, I look foward to re-reading them for I believe them to be that good, and certainly worth the time, effort and cost.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect Merton!, September 1, 2000
This fifth volume of Merton's Journals hits a home run, an analogy Thomas Merton would probably relish. I've read volumes 1 through 5, and here Merton hits his stride. The diarist in Merton contributes nearly everything within his vast sight and makes it important and touching. The lengthier review on this page covers the base ground admirably. One of the really interesting aspects of these journals is the inadvertently given bibliography of Merton's own reading material, everything from Elias Canetti to Barth to D. T. Suzuki! These volumes give us a whole and uncompromising look at Merton's innermost sensibilities, apparent in his formal oeuvre, but turned over and examined like a winter leaf in these journals. I think the various editors of these volumes, a different editor for each, deserve high praise for the consistency of tone in their editing, one volume to the next; a job done wisely and well. It is as well a tribute to the consistency of Merton's path over the years. He was a true monk, an authentic thinker in the best tradition, and a heck of a writer. When Thomas Merton writes, he never loses that clear-sky-with-stars timbre of voice, spending his real humility like gold, and awakening all the sleeping people. The more I read these journals the more I miss him. Noble and unforgettable.
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