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

by Thomas Merton

It may be remarked in parentheses that theologians generally regard the spiritual experiences of oriental religion as occurring on the natural rather than on the supernatural level. However, they have often admitted, with Jacques Maritain and Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange,20 that truly supernatural and mystical contemplation is certainly possible outside the visible church, since God is the master of His gifts and wherever there is sincerity and an earnest desire for truth, He will not deny the gifts of His grace. As we grow in knowledge and appreciation of oriental religion we will come to realize the depth and richness of its varied forms of contemplation. Up to the present, our judgments have been too vague and too undocumented and have borne witness chiefly to our own ignorance. However, this statement is not intended as an encouragement to the foolish and equally ignorant infatuation with oriental cults which tends to be fashionable in certain circles today.