Name: The seven storey mountain
Rating: 4.75 (8 reviews)
ISBN: 0156010860

Thomas Merton

The seven storey mountain

Greg Talbot

Stillness is something I chase. When I lived in Wisconsin for a summer in 2006, remotely away from television, modern culture, email....my mind and heart just openeed up in different ways. The settings of an outside peace helped to cultivate an inner peace. Working to serve others, helping adults with developmental disabiltiies, it forced me to put myself second in my own life...I wasn't very successful at it, not a first, and my ego fought it all the way. But there was a richness, a true selflessness that I felt in myself for the first time. Merton's coming to faith, and ordination as a monk is detailed in this coming of age journey. Born to artistic parents, and a father suspicisious of Catholicism, it's easy grasp how Merton became one of the most important Catholic thinkers of the 20th century. Many religious leaders today, the one that comes to mind most easily is James Martin (<a target="_blank" href="https://onbeing.org/programs/james-martin-finding-god-in-all-things/" rel="nofollow noopener">https://onbeing.org/programs/james-ma...</a>) were greatly inspired by the book. If not for his parents illnesses - detailed here with his mother's stomach cancer, and father's illness, and Thomas's own bouts with hospitalization, would he have pursued a religion. He had no illusions about his secular nature: “my soul was simply dead. It was a blank, a nothingingness. It was empty, it was a kind of spiritual vaccum, as far as the supernatural order was concerned (p.98). Why so influencial - well just from what i've read I think it's Merton's intellect and worldy curiousity. He approaches his writing as a novice. Although, I was more inspired by his collected diary works, Merton never preaches. His flickering certainty in his vocation, his raw rejection from some catholic leaders, his general vulnerabiltiy, make him immensly lovable and approachable. Always stuck in secualr fiction, he would be inspired throughout his life with writers. Here he writes of his love for James Joyce, William Blake, Aldous Huxley and others. There is a natural growth here. Place, time, influences from school, and grace from God. Strangely, Merton's transformation to a monk never feels forced or all that determined. He has a pronounced sensitivity, especially to the suffering of others. He writes“Perhaps the inner motive is that the fact of being loved disinterestedely reminds us that we all need love from others, and depend upon the charity of others to carry on us our own lives (p.23)". That he was so concerned about the U.S.'s involvement in war, and with social justice, demonstrates his commitment to a living a meaningful life. Ultimately, Merton is one of the religious leaders where it's hard not to be inspired. Religious or not, there is wonder in the world, and finding authentic, humbled voices willing to share their stories, gives more peace to world. An inspiring read! “There is not a flower that opens, not a seed that falls intot eh ground, and not an ear of wheat that nods on the end of its stalk in the wind that does not preach and proclaim the greatness and mercy of God to the whole world." (p.129)

Brigid Hogan

This was so hard for me to read, but so worth it. The questions Merton asks himself, especially at the end of the book when he has come into the church and has changed so much of his life, are incredibly challenging questions to turn on myself. I understand that this was written when he was still relatively new to monastic life and that he later regretted some of the more condescending or pietistic passages, but even those passages provide such deep insight into the soul of a young believer - things that many, many people struggle with in reaction to the excesses of the world.

Merton is a challenging figure, and the book reflects that. There are a number of parts where I am left frustrated with the young monk, even when he sees himself as working out the answers he is seeking. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to be his monastic superior. I am even more excited to pick up some of his later work (No man is an island, The Sign of Jonas, New Seeds of Contemplation...) and to really dive into "Contemplative Prayer" which has been on my bookshelf for ages. I am not called to monastic life and don't think I will ever be a contemplative either (though neither did Merton for years!), but I do think there is so much to learn about simplicity, grace, and providence from him.

Seven Storey Mountain is a real kick in the pants for a believer - how far is any single person willing to go, how deep into God can a person fall, how willing to listen, to follow, to be open to the action of the Spirit in daily life? Do we get to decide that? Are we open to the idea of serving a purpose here on earth? And how do we find out what that is?

And in the words of Jim Martin SJ, "Seeing that someone so human could be holy gives me great hope. Especially with Merton one sees both the sins and the sanctity. And I wonder if this isn't something like the way God sees us."

The seven storey mountain

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