Meet Thomas Merton – Monk, Mystic, Poet

Abbey Walk to the Statues after the Rain

I would like to introduce you to one of my top 10 heroes.

Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk, a prolific author, a lover of solitude, yet deeply connected with the world. Where I resonate mostly with him is in his reverence for nature, his love for photography, and his openness to new ideas. He embraced the contemplative life.

Contemplation is the highest expression of man’s intellectual and spiritual  life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source.

I don’t have any answers about God. I prefer to live in the questions; it’s a very freeing place to be. I do know that I have experienced that spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life. I do know that I am grateful for life, for awareness, for being. I do believe that there is an underlying ground that connects us all.

Thomas Merton, although he was a Catholic monk, had questions too. But he experienced that invisible connection at the corner of 4th and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky – a story that has become legend.

I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream…There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun….

This past weekend, I finally had the chance to visit the place where he lived – the Abbey of Gethsemani, near Louisville, Kentucky. I was on a retreat about the sacred poetry of Thomas Merton and Mary Oliver. I do believe that it is possible to experience heaven on earth, and this place is as close as it gets.

Here are some highlights from the weekend.

* At Bethany Spring, the retreat center where I stayed, I experienced a beautiful setting, wonderful hospitality and food, and a group of like-minded souls. Who could ask for a better combination than that?

* Through the poetry of Mary Oliver and Thomas Merton and the insights of my fellow participants, I reconfirmed the importance of honoring your own experience and staying true to the unique code inside of each person.

* Through Brother Paul Quenon, I saw the grace and dignity of life as a monk. That’s all I can say. You have to experience them for yourself.

* I took the Abbey Walk to the statues, and even wrote a poem about it.

* I learned the difference between reflection and contemplation. Reflection is about thought and remembering, while contemplation has nothing to do with thought. It is about a stillness, an awareness, a long, loving look at the real.

On December 10, 1968 Thomas Merton, while at a conference on East-West dialogue, gave his last lecture before his death that same day. He said,

“My dear brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we already are.”

Words to ponder….

Related Reading

The Seven Storey Mountain – Thomas Merton’s Autobiography
My Top 10 Heroes
The Inspirational Thomas Merton
The Merton Institute

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