Lord of the Absurd (Nogar)
Louf, Dom André
Louisville Airport, May 5, 1966 poem
Love: between Merton and M., danger of platonic, erotic, for God, God as, need and, pain of, reflections on, sexual, solitude and
Lowell Robert
LSD
Lucas, Dr.
Lucidity
Lugano Review
Luk, Charles
Luke, Sister
Luther, Martin
Lyford, Joseph P.
M.: confides in nun from Covington, decision to marry by, developing friendship with, future plans with, goes on picnics with Merton, graduation day of, Jim Wygal’s opinion of, letters between Merton and, love between Merton and, meetings with Merton, “Midsummer Diary” from Merton to, phone conversations with, poems written for, possible plans of Merton to marry. See also Merton, Thomas
McCarthy, Mary
McCaslin, Ike
McCullers, Carson
McDonnell, Thomas P.
McDonough, Archbishop
McGruder, Pee Wee
McLuhan, Marshall
Madness and Civilization (Foucault)
Mailer, Norman
Malcolm X
Malentendu, Le
Manresa, Josefa
Manual, Babeth
Maritain, Jacques
Mark, Bro.
Married priests
Marshall, Dr.
Martin de Porres, Bro.
Marty, Martin
Marxist Catholic dialogue
Mason, Endo
Mass (at hermitage)
Mass reforms
“Mass in Time of Pestilence,”
Matthew, [Kelty] Fr.
Maurice, [Flood] Bro.
Mauser, Ulrich
Mayan cult centers
Mead, Margaret
Meatyard, Gene
Meatyard, Madie
Meditation
Meerloo, Joost
Meriwether, James B.
Merton Room
Merton, Thomas: begins conferences again, burden of expectations of, on censoring by Dom James, dreams of, on exposure of affair with M., 51st birthday, forbidden to contact M., future plans with M., gives Dom James written commitment, on gradual distancing from M., on his childhood, on his journal, on his own repentance, on his own solitude, on his own writing, infirmary stay of, on lack of future with M., La Dehesa hermitage proposed of, letters between M. and, letter to Fr. Eudes from, on light to know God, on living, love between M. and, meetings with M., “Midsummer Diary” written for M. by, on M.’s marriage plans, on new liturgy, on people’s criticism of, personal notes (1966) of, personal struggle over M. by, phone conversations with M., on picnic with children, on possible Nicaragua trip, punishment given by the Abbot to, reflections on Dom James by, reflections on own writing by, regrets/reflections over affair with M., on sexual love with M., surgery/hospital stay of, to make commitment as hermit, tumor in stomach of, on upcoming back surgery, See also Hermitage (Merton), M.
“Message of contemplatives,”
Metaphysics
“Meteor of Aug. 13” (Char)
Meyer, Catherine
Middle East crisis
Middle Eastern history
“Midsummer Diary” (Merton). See also M.
Miller, Henry
Milton, John
Misa. Oriolla
Mistral, Gabriela
Mitchell, Dr. William C.
Modern man
Monastery Council
Monasticism
Montale, Eugenio
Montherlant, Henry de
Monumenta Nipponica (Kranth)
Moon and the Bonfires, The
Mornssey, Jim
Moslem Shaikh
Mots, Les (Sartre)
“Mount Amiata,”
Muir, Edwin
Muller, Julian
Mumford, Lewis
Murray, John Courtney
Murray, Michele
Mysticism
Mystics and Zen Masters (Merton)
Mythologiques (Lévi-Strauss)
The Myth of Sisphus (Camus)
Nabokov, Peter
Name changing
Nasruddin tales
National Association for Pastoral Renewal
“Natural Estate, The” (Muir)
Natural state
Need
The Negro Man (Life article)
Neruda, Pablo
“New Christian Consciousness, A” (Merton)
New Yorker
Nhat Chi
Nhat Hanh, Thich
Nicholas, Fr.
Night of Destiny
Nishida
Nogar, Raymond J.
Northbourne, Lord
Norway foundation
Norwich, John Julius
Nouwen, Fr. Henri
Nuclear attack danger
Obedience
O’Callaghan, Diane
O’Callaghan family
O’Callaghan, Tommie
O’Connor, Flannery
Odilo, Bro.
Odor of Verbena, An (Faulkner)
O’Gorman, Ned
Oliver, Pat
Olmstead, Beatrice
Olson, Charles
“On Solitude” (Montaigne)
Ontology
Original sin
Origins (Shimpei)
Orwell, George
Ossi di Seppia (Montale)
Our Lady of Gethsemani
Pacem in Terris conference (Geneva)
Paddock, J.
Palestine
Palestinian monasticism
Palomares incident
Panichas, George
Paradise Lost (Milton)
Parra, Nicanor
Parsons [Sabbath], Linda
Pascal, Blaise
Pasolini, Pier Paolo
Pauker, John
Paul, Bro
Paul the Hermit
Pavese, Cesarae
Paysan de la Garonne, Le (Maritain)
Paz, Octavio
Peace demonstration
Peace News
Pensée sauvage, La (Lévi-Strauss)
Penthos (Hausherr)
Percy, Walker
Perfectae Caritatis Council Decree
Pessimism
Peter, Mother
Phillips, Bernard
Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx (Tucker)
Piontek, Heinz
Plague commentary (Merton)
Plague, The (Camus)
Plague theme
Platonic danger
Poetic experience
Poétique do l’espace, La
Poetry: Catholic, importance of, Muir’s lectures on, on South American, written by Merton
Politics and the English Language (Orwell)
Pope [Paul VI], the
Portrait d’un inconnu (Sarraute)
“Post-Conciliar” theology
Poverty vow
Prayer
Preoccupations
Privacy
Protestant Mystics
Psalms, Latin
Psychanalyse de Feu (Bachelard)
Pueblo Indians
Quantum physics
Race riots
Racial issues
Rahner, R.
Raids (Merton)
Ralph, Bro.
Rancé, Armand-Jean
Randall, Meg
Ransom, John Crowe
Reading
Reality
Red China
Redeeming the Time (Merton)
Red Guards (China)
Réflexions sur la guillotine (Camus)
Reinhardt, Ad
Religious fads
Renegade (Camus)
Repentance
Responsibility
Retreats
Retrospect (Merton), Intro.
Revolt
Rice, Ed
Rieux, Br. Bernard
Rilke, Rainer
Maria
“Rite for Ejection of Lepers,”
“Road to Mandalay, The” (song)
Roethke, Theodore
Roman Catholic reforms
Roser, Dr.
Ross, Nancy Wilson
Roy, Cardinal Maurice
Ruether, Rosemary Radford
Rule for Recluses, A (ed. by Olgin)
Rule of St. Benedict
Sacraments
Sacred Wood (Eliot)
Sacrifice
St. Pierre, Dr.
Salman, Fr.
Salvation
Sarraute, Nathalie
Sartre, Jean-Paul
Saul Bellow (Dommergues)
Schinzinger, Robert
Schmidt, Mary Ann
Schumann, Martha
Scott, Matt
Secularization
Seitz, Ron
Sevareid, Eric
Seven Storey Mountain (Merton)
“Seven Words” (O’Gorman)
Sewanee Review
Sexual love
Shah, Idries
Shahn, Ben
Sheen, Bishop Fulton J.
Shepherd, Bob
Shimpei, Kusano
Shine, Judy
“Silver Dagger” (Baez)
Simeon, Dom
Sinyavsky, Andrei
A Sketch of His Life and Writings (Milton)
Slate, John
Slum life
Smith, Carleton
Smith, Tom Jerry
Snowdon, Lord
Snyder, Gary
Solitary life: as act, by God’s will, gratitude for, illusion and, love and, reflections on, See also Hermitage (Merton’s)
Sonnets to Orpheus [Rilke]
Soul
Soul on Ice (Cleaver)
Sound and the Fury, The (Faulkner)
South American poets
Spanish Harlem photo book
Spanish writers
Spencer foundation (Chile)
“Spiritual preoccupations,”
Spring
Steeple
Stein, Gertrude
Stephen, Fr.
Steppenwolf
Stevens, Wallace
Stone, I. F.
Stranger (Camus)
“Suffering in Greek Thought and in the Bible,”
Suicide
Sur (Merton)
Syke, Gerald
Symbolism
Szilard, Leo
Tadié, Marie
Taparra, Fidel
Tarcisius, [James Conner] Fr.
Tauler, Johannes
“Taxman” (Beatles)
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre
Temptation
Theokistos
Theology
Thera, Nyanaponika
Thomas, R. S.
Thoughts in Solitude (Merton)
“Three Saviors in Camus:” (Merton)
“Thursday’s Child” (Hamilton)
Time
Time-Life books
Timothy, [Kelly] Fr.
Total institution question
Trial (Kafka)
Truth
Tucker, Robert C.
Two Leggings (ed. by Nabokov)
U., Fr.
Understanding Media (McLuhan)
“Un Oiseau …”(Char)
Vahanian. Gabriel
Vallejo, César
Vatican II
Vie de Rancé(Chateaubriand)
Vietcong
Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire (Nhat Hanh)
Vietnam War
Vigil of Epiphany (1966)
Village-Castle relationship
Virtue
Vita Antonii (Athanasius of Alexandria)
Vita (Jerome)
Vital, Dom
Von Balthasar, Urs
Walgrave, P.
Walsh, Dan
Walsh, Mary Ellen
War
Warnock, G. J.
War and peace
War on poverty
Warren Commission report
Watt, Fr. Joe
Watts, Alan
Welsh, Pat
Wesselman, Bob
“What Is a Classic?” (Eliot)
Whitman, Walt
Wilderness and Paradise in Christian Thought (Williams)
Wilderness theme (Biblical)
Wilderness (Williams)
Wild Palms, The (Faulkner)
Willett, Thompson
Williams, George
William, Sister Marion
Williams, Jonathan
Williams, William Carlos
Wilson, Nancy
Winandy, Dom
“With the World in My Bloodstream” (Merton)
Wright, James
Wu, John
Wygal, Jim
Yahi Indians
Yungblut, June
Yungblut, Jan
Zapotecan city of Monte Alban
Zen
“Zen and the Cloud,”
Zen people
Zionist nation
Zorca Franca
Zukofsky, Louis
Acknowledgments
Editing this journal has made me mindful that work like this is never done by an individual alone. I have enjoyed the company and assistance of many to whom I gladly express thanks.
First I wish to thank Robert Giroux, James Laughlin, and Tommie O’Callaghan III, trustees of the Merton Legacy Trust, for appointing me editor of this volume. Together with Anne McCormick, secretary of the Trust, and Abbot Timothy Kelly of the Abbey of Gethsemani, they have offered wise counsel. I also wish to thank Brother Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O., general editor of the Merton Journals, for his confidence and support during every phase of my work. I especially appreciate his patience and his help in deciphering Merton’s sometimes inscrutable handwriting and in decoding Merton’s more obscure references. I am grateful to the editors of Volumes I-V – Brother Patrick, Jonathan Montaldo, Lawrence S. Cunningham, Victor A. Kramer, and Robert E. Daggy – for the fine example of their work and their readiness to share with me their editorial experience.
Special thanks are due to all those who helped me prepare this volume for publication: to Beverly Evans of the State University of New York at Geneseo, Marion Hoctor, SSJ of Nazareth College of Rochester, William H. Shannon and Francis Cecilia English, SSJ of Rochester for assisting in the translation of foreign language passages found in the journal; to Jonathan Montaldo and to Erasmo Levia-Merikakis for their careful transcription and translation of “Notebook 17.” To the staff of the Lorette Wilmot Library of Nazareth College of Rochester, especially to Richard Matzek, Sheila A. Smyth, and Jennifer Burr for making available to me their expertise and the library’s resources; to the staff of the George Arents Research Library, Syracuse University and to Robert E. Daggy of the Thomas Merton Studies Center at Bellarmine College for making archival materials available to me; to Jillian Brown for the enthusiasm and determination with which she tracked down countless citations; to Diane Curley and Anne Wolcott for their skillful typing; to Linda Loree for giving so generously of her time and computer skill in the final stages of manuscript preparation; and to John Loudon, Karen Levine, and Terri Leonard of Harper San Francisco for the care and skill with which they transformed the manuscript into a book.
Members of the Nazareth College community continue to be supportive in numerous ways. I am grateful to Rose Marie Beston, president, and Dennis Silva, vice president for academic affairs, for their generous support of my work; to my colleagues in the Religious Studies Department and other faculty colleagues, especially those in Carroll Hall, for their day-today collegiality and good cheer; and to my students for their curiosity, interest, and insight, which energize my work.
I am especially grateful to my family and friends who listen, ask just the right questions, share wisdom and, sometimes, advice, and support me, in so many loving ways, in my work and my life. For them, I am more thankful than I can say.
&nb
sp; I dedicate this volume to three individuals who have worked with indefatigable energy to make the Merton corpus available to readers: Robert E. Daggy, as director of the Thomas Merton Studies Center; Brother Patrick Hart, as general editor of Merton’s journals; and William H. Shannon, as general editor of Merton’s letters. Each, through his work as editor, writer, and mentor, has promoted knowledge and understanding of the life and work of Thomas Merton. Each, in his person, has embodied something of Merton’s expansive spirit. For what they have done and for who they are, I and so many others are deeply grateful.
About the Author
THOMAS MERTON (1915-1968) was a Trappist monk, writer, and peace activist. His spiritual classics include the bestselling The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and The Sign of Jonas.
CHRISTINE M. BOCHEN is professor of religious studies at Nazareth College, a founding member of the International Thomas Merton Society, and editor of a volume of Merton’s letters, The Courage for Truth.
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OTHER BOOKS BY THOMAS MERTON
The Seven Storey Mountain
The Sign of Jonas
New Seeds of Contemplation
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Zen and the Birds of Appetite
The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton
The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton
Mystics and Zen Masters
The Hidden Ground of Love (Letters I)
The Road to Joy (Letters II)
The School of Charity (Letters III)
The Courage for Truth (Letters IV)
Witness to Freedom (Letters V)
Love and Living
The Monastic Journey
The Asian Journal
Run to the Mountain (Journals I)
Entering the Silence (Journals II)
A Search for Solitude (Journals III)
Turning Toward the World (Journals IV)
Dancing in the Water of Life (Journals V)
The Other Side of the Mountain (Journals VII)
Credits
Photograph: Ralph Eugene Meatyard/courtesy of Christopher Meatyard
Copyright
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material: Poetry by Thomas Merton from Eighteen Poems. Copyright © 1977, 1985 by The Trustees of the Merton Legacy Trust, © 1968 by The Abbey of Gethsemani. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. Lines from The Bones of the Cuttlefish by Eugenio Montale, translated by Antonio Mazza, Mosaic Press, 1252 Speers Road, Units 1 & 2, Oakville, Ontario L6L 5N9; copyright translation, 1983. “Motet XX” by Eugenio Montale translation copyright 1990 by Dana Gioia. Reprinted from Mottetti: Poems of Love with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.