The Inner Experience : Notes on Contemplation

From Publishers Weekly
Any book that arrives in print 35 years after its author's death has an unusual history. Thomas Merton, the prolific monk whose autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain brought Christian contemplation into the 20th century, forbade his literary executors to publish The Inner Experience, an unfinished 1959 rewriting of his early book What Is Contemplation? But armed with evidence that Merton had taken up the project anew shortly before his sudden death in 1968, Merton biographer William H. Shannon has reconstructed his drafts and notes into this new volume. The result is rough, since Merton's text has not been edited so much as embalmed. Scholars will appreciate the critical apparatus of italics, footnotes and changes of typeface that indicate variants in the drafts, and they may glean hints of Merton's subtle shifts in emphasis, such as his growing openness toward Eastern mysticism. Less technically minded readers, however, will be distracted, and the writing is as uneven as one might expect of a work cobbled together over 20 years. Still, many passages offer vivid examples of Merton's ability to make monastic disciplines intelligible and plausible even to secular readers. Novices should still start with New Seeds of Contemplation, but Merton's many fans will want to add this book to their shelves. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description

Thomas Merton's final book explores the meaning and daily practice of contemplation -- the heart of monastic and religious experience. This is his most comprehensive work on the subject. And now, the Merton Legacy Trust has decided to produce this expertly edited treatment, which Merton was finishing at the time of his death. The Inner Experience is a major addition to the Merton canon.

Faithfully edited by Merton scholar William H. Shannon, The Inner Experience bridges Merton's early, thoroughly Catholic works on contemplation with his later, wide-ranging writings. This book signals his growing interest in Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality, which would significantly influence his thinking and writing in the last decade of his life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Thomas Merton's final book explores the meaning and daily practice of contemplation - the heart of monastic and religious experience. This is his most comprehensive work on the subject. And now, the Merton Legacy Trust has decided to produce this expertly edited treatment, which Merton was finishing at the time of his death. The Inner Experience is a major addition to the Merton canon." Faithfully edited by Merton scholar William H. Shannon, The Inner Experience bridges Merton's early, thoroughly Catholic works on contemplation with his later, wide-ranging writings This book signals his growing interest in Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality, which would significantly influence his thinking and writing in the last decade of his life.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal