__________________________ THOMAS MERTON ________________________

I have just finished reading Thomas Mertons autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain. It is the story of one mans search for truth. The stunning thing about this particular tale is that it is told with such timeless immediacy that the words reach out and make this a story of every mans / womans identifiable spiritual journey in terms of the asking of the perennial existential questions of existence. Thomas Mertons quest ends, begins and develops with life as a Trappist Monk and as a voluminous writer of some considerable talent. The exposition of what he found along the way is told with an impressive visceral honesty and clarity. The rawness and emphatic opinions of this book are balanced by his more evenly considered and tempered subsequent writings e.g No Man is an Island, which show that his chosen path bought him insight and wisdom. I can highly recommend both of these books.

" Love alone can teach us to penetrate the hidden goodness of the things we know. Knowledge without love never enters into the inner secrets of being. Only love can truly know God as he is, for God is love." - Thomas Merton.