Thomas Merton

In his essay “The Contemplative Life: Its Meaning and Necessity,” Merton enunciates his enduring faith, for which he was criticized by some, that “Contemplation is the fullness of the Christian life. It is the deep and supernatural and perfect experience of God, which we were all created to enjoy in heaven and which those who listen to God, on earth, and make the sacrifices which He

In his essay “The Contemplative Life: Its Meaning and Necessity,” Merton enunciates his enduring faith, for which he was criticized by some, that “Contemplation is the fullness of the Christian life.

passing “through the center of his own soul [so as to] lose himself in the mystery and secrecy and infinite, transcendent reality of God living and working within him”

the exterior world of multiple created things whose variety once more dissipates his energies until they are lost in perplexity and dissatisfaction

the mystic enters into himself, not in order to work but to pass through the center of his own soul and lose himself in the mystery and secrecy and infinite, transcendent reality of God living and working within him.