Who was Thomas Merton?
For over fifty years the thought and writings of Thomas Merton have guided spiritual seekers across the world. His writings offer important insights into four essential relationships–with self, with God, with other people, and with nature. While the Christian tradition is the foundation of his perspective, he is open and inclusive in his examination of other religious traditions, recognizing the important contribution that all faith traditions have made throughout the history of civilization. He draws from their strengths to enhance the spiritual growth of individuals and communities.
Thomas Merton’s view, according to his autobiography The Seven Story Mountain is that the way the world works is that men promote themselves so that the best stand out and get all the attention. Merton sees this as a fallacy and a strange error in that our success then depends on what is going on in other people’s minds To Merton this has the weird result that we end up living in the minds of other people!