Merton, Thomas in The Books Store

Spanning from 1966 to 1967, Learning to Love finds Merton in his mt active period. Troubled by events at home and abroad, he expresses anger at wars in Vietnam and the Middle East and outrage at racism and injustice in American society. At his intellectual peak, he reads widely and voraciously, carries on an active global correspondence, receives such high profile friends as Joan Baez, Jacques Maritain and Thich Nhat Hanh, and writes insightful essays on topics from Zen Buddhism and Vatican II to the works of Albert Camus all the while penning poignant love poems for M., furtively calling her from the monastary and arranging to meet with her, all the while searching his soul for answers to his crisis of the heart that has "made a mess out of everything."

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.

The Inner Experience not only provides a far-reaching presentation of the best teaching about contemplation and meditation, but also shows how contemplation can be practiced in everyday life.