Thesis on "Thomas Merton (1915 -- 1968)"

Thesis 5 pages (1525 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Thomas Merton (1915 -- 1968) was a prominent Catholic figure and one of the most important spiritual writers of the previous century, renowned for some of his influential works on Christian living, the first one of them being an autobiographical account called "The Seven Storey Mountain." This work mainly talked about Merton's conversion to Catholicism and his spiritual experience and has subsequently been dubbed as one of the more powerful works on Christianity. This book motivated a whole generation of Americans to re-evaluate their preoccupation with the consumerist and materialistic world. Some of the factors that led to this conversion can be traced back to his childhood and young days which was full of recklessness and wild living quite similar to the conversion of Augustine of Hippo (North Africa) to Christianity after leading a wild and reckless life in his youth. (Koch, 92); (Inchausti, 2) Thomas Merton, also known as Fr. Louis in the Abbey of Gethsemani at Trappist in Kentucky, was born of an American mother and New Zealand father on January 31, 1915 in Prades (southern France). The family later migrated to America in order to escape the unrest going on in Europe at that time.

One of the major events that left an indelible mark on Merton's mind was the death of his mother, Ruth Merton, when he was barely six years old. (Merton; Szabo, 26) Merton was said to be devastated by her death and the mention of the six-year-old child burdened with the "gloom of adult grief" can be found in "The Seven Storey Mountain." The extreme loneliness and pain that Merton experienced in his childhood may have been one of the factors that led to his wild ways in his youth. Combined with this was the incomplete upbringing provided subsequently by Owen Merton, Thomas Merton's father. Owen Merton, a painter, went on painting expeditions to Bermuda and Algeria, taking young Tom along with him. They returned to France and Merton was sent to a boarding school in Lycee. (Merton; Szabo, 26); (Cunningham, 4); (Graham)

Even though Merton describes his stay at the Lycee to be very dismal, it is here that some of the medieval Catholicism of that area began to influence young Merton and may have played a significant role in his future conversion to Catholicism. (Royal, 34) The family again migrated to England after the failure of Owen's many plans. Here, when Merton was studying at Oakham, an English boarding school, his father died of brain tumor leaving him an orphan at the age of 16. This terrible news reached the lonely Merton in his boarding school and in his own words he was left "without a home, without a country, without a father, apparently without any friends, without any interior peace or confidence or light or understanding." (Cooper, 70) Without doubt, this is yet another important factor which made Merton turn towards Catholicism and God in his quest for inner peace later on in life. However, the period in between was marked by extreme waywardness.

Merton's literary abilities and considerable intelligence were evident even during those days when his literary essay won him a prize at Oakham and he earned a scholarship for studying at Clare College, University of Cambridge. Just before entering Cambridge in 1933, Merton visited Rome and was reported to be extremely moved by the Byzantine mosaic icons of the fourth- and fifth-century in the ancient Roman churches. It is probably here that Merton first had a brush with the Divine presence. But Merton's inattentiveness in studies, over enthusiasm in visiting local pubs and a scandalous love affair which resulted in a child fathered by him cut short his Cambridge experience and he was packed off to Long Island in United States where his maternal grandparents lived.

The whereabouts of the mother and child are controversial but it is reported that Merton mentioned them when he left a bequest on becoming a monk. No doubt the guilt of having an illegitimate child and not being able to take care of them weighed on his troubled mind. Merton's zest for hanging out at pubs continued even after he joined Columbia University as a sophomore in 1935 for the study of literature. His life reflected all the "privileges of wealth" but an intense "poverty of spirit" as he himself described it. His intellectual quests led him to join various political movements like the Young Communist League. He also joined a fraternity -- Catherine de Hueck's Friendship House in Harlem. This spiritual and intellectual restlessness and over dosage of an undisciplined and reckless life may have been another factor contributing to his conversion. (Merton; Szabo, 31); (Cunningham, 8); (Graham)

In Merton's own words, he felt "spiritually dead" and shame and despair filled his entire being when after a whole night of irrational merry-making and reckless enjoyment he would see healthy laborers with "rational purpose before them" going out to work. This sense of immense guilt and lack of purpose and direction may have drawn him towards conversion to Catholicism. (Koch, 94) During his sophomore days, Merton was also influenced by some prominent teachers of literature like Joseph Wood Krutch, Mark Van Doren and Daniel C. Walsh. (Hart)

Merton's interest in reading literary works started from his childhood and continued even after he became a monk, playing a major role in his spiritual endeavors and subsequent conversion. Merton had already read the French, German and Latin classics by the time he reached undergraduate level. The account of Merton's insight into the inner meanings of Blake's poetry, the understanding of the mystical experience which transformed man's natural powers and led him away from all the trivial materialistic temptations in "The Seven Storey Mountain" reveals how profoundly such readings had affected him. He talks about how understanding Blake and Maritain had helped repair his sick and torn soul. For a person who considered himself an atheist, such readings were a revelation and helped him come closer to "Union of the soul with God." (Koch, 78): (Detweiler; Jasper, 63)

Merton was also influenced by very diverse personalities like the agnostic English writer, Aldous Huxley as well as by St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, who were great Spanish mystics of the 16th century. During this time he also met a wandering Hindu monk, Dr. Brahmachari, who surprisingly recommended reading Christian literature like Thomas Kempis's Imitation of Christ and St. Augustine's Confessions instead of Hindu religious literature when Merton asked him about Eastern religion. His subsequent reading of an account of the life of G.M. Hopkins by G.F. Lahey and "The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy" by Etienne Gilson in 1938 completed the groundwork for his conversion. (Koch, 78): (Detweiler; Jasper, 63); (Graham)

These readings constitute a profound religious experience which led him to his conversion to Catholicism in 1938 and he was baptized at the Corpus Christi Church situated near Columbia. He soon started contemplating priesthood. Subsequently, he had a mystical experience that he describes in "The Seven Storey Mountain" and which might have been another one of the factors leading him to take up one of the severest orders of Catholicism. As Merton describes, it was during a pilgrimage that he made in 1940 to the shrine of Our Lady of Cobre in Cuba during Easter that he had a vision -- a bright light that was extraordinary and yet ordinary, a light that he felt belonged to the order of love and knowledge. On his return, Mertin carefully considered joining the Franciscans -- he was even accepted but rejected later on account of his illegitimate child and the Jesuits and finally made up his mind to join the strictest order -- that of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance at the Abbey of Gethsemani in December 1941, a… READ MORE

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