When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature (Hardcover)

by Thomas Merton (Author), Kathleen Deignan (Editor), John Giuliani (Illustrator), Thomas Berry (Foreword) "1 In this wilderness I have learned how to sleep again..." (more)
Key Phrases: trees say nothing, dark warmth, Holy Week

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A lovely book! Kathleen Deignan's selection and arrangement of passages from Merton's writings on nature--enhanced by John Giuliani's evocative drawings--not only provide wonderful insights into the monk's sacramental vision of the world but inspire a deepened attentiveness to creation on our own part as well."

Product Description
Millions know Thomas Merton as the author of The Seven Storey Mountain, the autobiography that became an international bestseller and a modern spiritual classic. Merton, a prolific spiritual writer and social activist, inspired a generation from the silence and solitude of a Trappist monastery. Decades after his death, he remains a modern spiritual master, a source of wisdom on peace, racial harmony, poverty, alienation, and the engagement of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions.

Now Merton is also revealed as a man whose spirituality is rooted in nature, an environmentalist ahead of his time. His writings on nature serve as a primer on eco-spirituality. He approaches ecology as a spiritual issue, one that exposes the degree of human alienation from the sacredness of the planet.

When The Trees Say Nothing gathers for the first time over 300 of Merton's nature writings, grouping them thematically into sections on the seasons, elements, creatures and other topics. Edited by Merton scholar Kathleen Deignan, the collection is cohesive and accessible, drawing from both Merton's public writings and his recently published private journals. The lyrical writings are enhanced with Deignan's own informative Introduction, along with a Foreword by Thomas Berry, renowned spiritual mentor for the environmental movement.

Unique and powerful on its own, When the Trees Say Nothing is enhanced with the art of John B. Giuliani, known for his stunning iconography. Giuliani's drawings harmonize exquisitely with Merton's meditations on nature, making When the Trees Say Nothing a spiritual and aesthetic prize.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sorin Books (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893732606
• ISBN-13: 978-1893732605
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,083 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Become One With the Creative Mystery, February 29, 2004

By	Swing King (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Kathleen Deignan, a professor of religious studies at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, really outdid herself here in compiling and editing some THREE HUNDRED works by Thomas Merton in this text. It's not a particularly long book, surprisingly, with only 190 some odd pages in it. With that being said, not much is left out here, either. It's by all means complete. There are chapters on the four seasons - on the mountains and the forests. Nature herself.

Merton even likens a mountain to sainthood, seeing God`s creative beauty and wonder all throughout nature. If you have ever been to the Abbey of Gethsemani, you may understand why that is, too. The monastery is surrounded by absolutely stunning and expanding landscape, the perfect spot for the kind of reflection and introspection Merton apparently did in this work. He urges us to be engaged with nature. That probably means for us modernists to get out there off of our sometimes lazy butts and take a walk; go ride our bike. Whatever it is feel your connection to nature in a very raw sense. It opens up the sunshine that is already within. Merton's helpful finger pointing us the way in this work on how wonderful nature really is, serves as truly a great inspiration to do just that.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritually rewarding for readers of all faiths, April 7, 2003

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Compiled and edited by Kathleen Deignan ( Sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame), enhanced with drawings by John Giuliani (Founder and Overseer of The Benedictine Grang, a spiritual center in West Redding, Connecticut), and featuring an informative foreword by Thomas Berry, When The Trees Say Nothing: Writings On Nature is an impressively thoughtful and thought-provoking collection of commentaries by the late Thomas Merton (1915-1968), an influential Catholic monk, poet, spiritual writer, and social activist. The commentaries, observations, and writings are superbly organized into eight chapters: Seasons; Elements; Firmament; Creatures; Festivals; Presences; and Sanctuary. These, along with the postscript "Sophia," a section of notes, a list of abbreviations, and a bibliography, combine in a movingly written, enthusiastically recommended volume of readings that are appropriate and spiritually rewarding for readers of all faiths who seek to experience the sacred and the sacramental in God's handiworks.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars say nothing is everything that matters, October 16, 2003

By	Meg Funk (Beech Grove, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews

Kathleen Deignan's When the Trees Say Nothing
is a fresh rendition of Thomas Merton's writings evoked from creation. In times when chatter is normative and being alone is mistaken for loneliness we have a wonderful lectio book of quotes and context of 'seeing' from the inside.

This book will live beyond the writer but not without chanigng many readers into the vast beauty of 'silence'.