• One Man's "Way": Thomas Merton's
  The Seven Storey Mountain

-April Renee Lynch

If I were to re-name author, poet, and Trappist monk Thomas Merton's autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, I'd simply call it One Man's Journey to the Priesthood. It's a mistake, though, to think that the book is a sort of religious vade mecum or guidebook exclusive to believers. It is not merely a tour guide of the contemplative life that Merton loved so well that he wanted to throw over his writing talents for love of God. The Seven Storey Mountain, named from the system of Dante's Inferno, also has a story to tell to those who are still searching.

The search is not easy, in Merton's opinion. His prescription for living is perhaps difficult for modern folk to swallow: " . . .[T] here is only one vocation. Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married or single, no matter who you are or what you are, you are called to the summit of perfection: you are called to a deep interior life, perhaps even to mystical prayer, and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others. And if you cannot do so by word, then by example [p. 458]." Merton felt that most people wasted their lives ignoring, not caring about, not loving the God Who loves them so much. He spends most of the book describing the many ways that people (such as himself) try to avoid Divine grace: the book is at its best when it does this. The rest is, many times, weak, self-absorbed, hair-shirted. (" . . .I myself . . .was a mess. Even the sight of my own face in a mirror was enough to disgust me [p. 146].")

On the whole, what makes this book so exceptional is what Merton says and the way he says it. He is an artist and a poet who paints words as one hears them- absent the human voice. And his wonderful sense of humor shows through in even the most serious situations. Thomas Merton feared that writing would destroy his monastic vocation and his desire for solitude in Christ. As one of his readers, I thank God that rather than losing his vocation, Merton found grace. His writing and his vocation fuelled one another.

Back to current book review.


April Lynch recently received her M.A. in Art History from U.C. Irvine: she hopes soon to enjoy a career as an art historian. She has been a member of St. Agnes since 1990.