The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters

by Thomas Merton, William H. Shannon (Editor)

Thomas Merton was one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, in the American state of Kentucky, Merton was an acclaimed Catholic spiritual writer, poet, author and social activist. Merton wrote over 60 books, scores of essays and reviews, and is the ongoing subject of many biographies. Merton was also a proponent of inter-religious dialogue, engaging in spiritual dialogues with the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and D. T. Suzuki. His life and career were suddenly cut short at age 53, when he was electrocuted stepping out of his bath.

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Theology, Nonfiction

689 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2011

About the author

Thomas Merton, religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. In December 1941 he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani and in May 1949 he was ordained to priesthood. He was a member of the convent of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Merton is a unique figure in American letters and modern theology, and this collection of his private letters was truly a pleasure to read. Here is Trappist monk with politics as left-wing as Noam Chomsky, yet was true to a monk's ascetic lifestyle. It may come as a surprise that a Roman Catholic monk read James Baldwin, admired Camus to no end, was friends with Joan Baez and Henry Miller, and lectured on Rilke. Merton's correspondence was massive, and, despite the speed at which he produced them, his letters are well-written and always a joy to read; he has a wonderful self-deprecating sense of humor. It's also hard not to admire the ballsiness of a man who challenged the drug induced spirituality of his friend Aldous Huxley, wrote the Pope asking for a Vatican condemnation of the war in Vietnam, and who wrote directly to LBJ asking for the immediate pull out of American troops. The war clearly obsessed the man, and the amount of time he spent writing about it is considerable; he was involved in the peace movement during the JFK's presidency, years before the hippie movement began in earnest.

I realize that a Catholic monk's personal letters would not seem to be a topic that would interest a non-Christian, but there is so much to treasure here for anybody to appreciate. Merton is possibly the least judgmental member of the Catholic clergy whose writings I've ever come across; he devotes a huge amount of his correspondence to discussion of Taoism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Quakerism, Protestantism, Atheism, and, especially, Zen. And for Christians, he is an incomparable teacher, with absolutely no ego. The letters reveal a man who appears to have read about virtually every topic, and who admired many different authors, from Beckett to Dylan Thomas. I believe this book would also interest anybody who professes left-wing politics. Merton was deeply involved with the Catholic Worker Movement, an anarchist organization, and corresponded heavily with "outlaw priests" Daniel and Philip Berrigan. The most interesting part of this books, for me, was Merton's correspondence with the Catholic Worker co-founder, and radical activist Dorothy Day. Merton was clearly in awe of the woman, and their friendship was rooted in their selfless devotion to the poor. If Dorothy Day is Emma Goldman, someone who spoke at rallies and went to jail for the peace movement, then Merton is Henry David Thoreau, a backwoods hermit who despised fascism and injustice, and truly loved his fellow man.

While I was reading these letters, I realized that Merton was truly a great man; it is a rare occasion when I can say something like that. He wrote to the widows of JFK, MLK, and RFK, none of whom he had met, expressing his sympathy for them; it's hard not to appreciate the love in this man's heart. You don't have to accept any of his religious beliefs to realize that he was a kindly and loving person; his tragic and unexpected death was a true loss for American literature.

[Maria Hrickova · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Susan Marrier · Rating 4 out of 5]

In these letters to all manner of persons we get a different picture of Merton, the mystic and Trappist monk. He was a voluminous reader as well as writer, passionate about peace and race, prescient about the direction the USA was headed, critical of the Church’s hierarchy and its influence on the thinking of the average American Catholic, frustrated with the restrictions imposed by his immediate superiors, compassionate even when most critical. And yet he never lost his sense of vocation or his love for the Church even as he was aware of its serious flaws. How he ever found time to pursue the spiritual side of life and write his many books on those reflections is a wonder!

[Marijana Ababovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll never ever finish this book.

[Hannah]

I was a little hesitant to start this book originally, since I'd been hoping to find something about Frank Laubach and since these are letters from Merton and not one of his books, but the editor just convinced me in one fell swoop of beauty: "Merton discovered God as the ground of his own being and in that same ground he found the rest of reality, especially his brothers and sisters, in a unity that was beyond all separateness."

[louisa]

I started this at the convent after a sister with Alzheimer's pointed me towards "the serious books." I love The Hidden Ground of Love as a title for a book of letters. So far just through the only extant pre-Trappist letters of Merton and already much to think about.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring and uninspired. it got very boring to read one sided letters from this guy. I couldn't finish the book and all the while craved to hear a response letter.