Thomas Merton was born in France two years before World War I broke
out. In this tumultuous time period in his early years, Merton would
lose his mother to cancer when he was very young and his father when
he was in his late-teens. The impact that his parents had on his life,
both good and bad, was evident in his autobiography “The Seven
Storey Mountain.” His mother always promoted in him a sense
of individuality and non-conformity in nature. His artist father lived
a Bohemian lifestyle of continuous travel for work, but he was very
loving of young Thomas, passing on his creativity and love of nature
and beauty. Merton was not exposed to strong religious beliefs in
his family, which served as a painful void when he had to deal with
the tragedy and loss of his parents. Free to do as he pleased in his
late adolescence and early adulthood, the future monk lived a life
of indulgence and selfishness. Despite traveling throughout Europe,
the Caribbean, and North America, he had no zeal for life and felt
empty somehow. Even as a student at Columbia University, with several
writing credits to his name, Thomas continued to search for meaning
in his life. It came in the form of a religious awakening and embrace
of Roman Catholicism after visiting a mass while still in college.
His faith continued to grow as he realized how empty he had felt.
Thomas Merton continued to study Catholicism and the saints, who he
greatly admired. In 1941, he made a life decision and entered the
Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist Monastery, where his new given name
would be “Father Louis.” This community of monks lived
in simplicity as they lived off the land they farmed. The vows they
took helped Merton tame his tormented thoughts of his past, while
the solitude of his lodgings allowed him time to reflect on his faith.
Despite having traveled the world, Merton admitted that the simple
beauty of living off the land in an ideal setting of the monastery
was enough for him. He began to see God’s beauty in everything,
even the simplest of things. This was the start of his interest in
the Zen practice of mindfulness. Having seen the ravages of war, including
the untimely death of his brother during World War II, he became a
staunch supporter for peace and opposed conflict. Likewise, during
the 1960’s, he was a supporter of the non-violent civil rights
movement. These were controversial stances for the time, but ever
the non-conformist, Merton stood up for what he believed. An avid
writer, he wrote continuously throughout his life, including many
books, lectures, and private journals of his inner thoughts. In his
later years, Thomas Merton took a great interest in Asian religions,
particularly Zen Buddhism, which he compared to the practices of some
of the early Christian mystics. He promoted talks between different
faiths and traveled to the Far East to help bridge differences in
the religions. While there, he met with the Dalai Lama, who said that
Merton had a more profound understanding of Buddhism than any other
Christian he had met. Unfortunately, on this trip to Asia, Merton
died unexpectedly in a tragic accident. By an ironic and symbolic
twist of fate, his body was shipped back to America along with many
fallen American soldiers killed during the Vietnam War. He was 53
years old. He was buried at the Abbey of Gethsemani, where he had
spent the last twenty-seven years of his life praising God.
