The Inner Experience: Thomas Merton's Unfinished Masterpiece on Contemplation, Bridging Catholic Monasticism and Eastern Meditation Traditions

by Thomas Merton

In the words of St. Maximus the Confessor:5 The superessential Word, clothing Himself at the time of His ineffable conception with all that is in our nature, possessed nothing human that was not at the same time divine. . . . The knowledge of these things is indemonstrable, being beyond understanding and perceptible only to the faith of those who honor the mystery of Christ in the sincerity of their heart. (Ambigua, Patrologia Graeca, 91.1053) And again: The mystery of the Incarnation of the Word contains in itself all the meaning of the enigmas and symbols of Scripture, all the significance of visible and intelligible creatures. He who knows the mystery of the Cross and the Sepulchre knows the reason (logos) of all things. He who is initiated into the hidden meaning of the resurrection, knows the end for which, from the beginning, God created all things. (Centuriae Gnosticae, Patrologia Graeca, 90.1108)