The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey

Posted on by Thomas Merton Patrick Hart
The Other Side of the Mountain The End of the Journey With the election of a new Abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani Merton enters a period of unprecedented freedom culminating in the opportunity to travel to California Alaska and finally the Far East j

With the election of a new Abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton enters a period of unprecedented freedom, culminating in the opportunity to travel to California, Alaska, and finally the Far East journeys that offer him new possibilities and causes for contemplation In his last days at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton continues to follow the tumultuous events of the sWith the election of a new Abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton enters a period of unprecedented freedom, culminating in the opportunity to travel to California, Alaska, and finally the Far East journeys that offer him new possibilities and causes for contemplation In his last days at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton continues to follow the tumultuous events of the sixties, including the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy In Southeast Asia, he meets the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist and Catholic monks and discovers a rare and rewarding kinship with each The final year is full of excitement and great potential for Merton, making his accidental death in Bangkok, at the age of fifth three, all the tragic.

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The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey

  1. 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.

368 Reply to “The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey”

  1. This is Thomas Merton s last journal before he died of electrocution in Asia He has blown apart my idea of a monk in a hermitage He had visitors from near and far, he went out to fine restuarants for social meals, he wrote to women romantically, he enjoyed fine wine frequently, he took his dog walking, he edited a poetry magazine, he harshly criticized personally his superiors He read profusely and was my idea of an erudite So much for isolation, humility and poverty But a brilliant man who had [...]

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  2. For a monk devoted to contemplation and solitude Merton had a busy social life, but his contradictions make him all the interesting I thought there was a lot of material here that should have been edited, but that is to be expected in a posthumous publication There is, however, plenty of first rate material here.There is this strange and disturbing foreshadowing throughout the book and he contemplates whether or not to go to the conference in Bangkok, wonders if he can obtain permission to go a [...]

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  3. It s very sad that the journey is over, that his unique mostly unedited voice is silent Though he died the fall that my first child was born, there was such freshness in his observations, so much change in his thinking that he seems contemporary Yes, lots of books and I ve read many But nothing like the journals Not even the poetry is quite as touching.

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  4. This diary from the final two years of Merton s life is uneven, as I suspect any personal journal must be Part travel notes, part mundane record of the schedule of a semi hermit, part spiritual searching every reader will find some areas intriguing and others a bit dull, depending on the interest the reader brings.

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