The Merton we knew, who is still in the lives of both of us, was a different man, and monk, from the saintly person of pre-fabricated purity that has become his image these days. He was a real person, not a saint; he was a mystic searching for God, but a God that crossed the boundaries of all religions; his was not a purely Christian soul. He developed closer spiritual ties than Church authorities will ever admit to the Eastern religions, Hinduism as well as Buddhism. In fact just before his appalling accidental death in December 1968, he was saying openly that Christianity could be greatly improved by a strong dose of Buddhism and Hinduism into its faith.

... I arrived at the college in 1936, from Atlanta; Rice, from Brooklyn. Merton had transferred from Cambridge University in England, from which he was being expelled for lack of work. He had fathered an illegitimate child, a little girl

... He did all the things we thought about but didn't do -- at least, not yet. He drank a lot, partied, chased (and caught) women. He impressed the hell out of both of us by saying he had learned Hungarian in bed.

Merton and Sufism provides "a complete compendium of materials revealing the king of spiritual nourishment Merton gained from Islam and his profound friendship with the Muslims". Sufism is a mystic tradition of Islam. Sufism encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practises. Tariqas (Sufi orders) may be associated with Shi'a Islam, Sunni Islam, other currents of Islam, or a combination of multiple traditions.

S.H. Nasr, in the Preface of Merton and Sufism, writes:

Let it be said first of all that Merton's knowledge of Sufism was authentic and genuine…. He saw in Sufism a living tradition…in which techniques of meditation, concentration, contemplation, invocation had been well preserved leading ultimately to principal and unitive knowledge (al-ma'rifah) which ultimately transcends the realm of multiplicity….Any study of the relation between Merton and Sufism is therefore of much value for not only a better understanding of Merton himself but also for the creation of deeper modes of comprehension between the inward and contemplative dimensions of Islam and Christianity.

Indeed, in The Springs of Conemplation (p. 266), Merton writes, 'I'm deeply impregnated with Sufism.'"

One Merton biographer traces Merton’s affection for mysticism to noted humanist Aldous Huxley (Brave New World):

““Merton’s attraction to Asia developed gradually. The first concrete evidence of it dates back to November 1937, when he had come under the influence of Aldous Huxley. Since the 1930s Huxley, formerly a skeptic, had been attracted to mysticism and investigated Christian as well as Hindu and Buddhist mysticism. His newly acquired mystical views found expression in Ends and Means (1937), which Merton read at the suggestion of Robert Lax…. Huxley not only aroused in Merton an interest in mysticism but also drew his attention to the resemblances in the experiences of eastern and western mystics. In particular, Huxley pointed out similarities in the views of the anonymous author of the Cloud of Unknowing and of Meister Eckhart with those of the Buddha and India’s foremost philosopher, Sankara.” [Thomas Merton and Asia: His Quest forUtopia, by Alexander Lipski -- ©1983, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, MI, page 5.]

From his own journal entry of November 27, 1941, Merton wrote, “I spent most of the afternoon writing a letter to Aldous Huxley and when I was finished I thought: ‘Who am I to be telling this guy about mysticism?’ I reflect that until I read his book, Ends and Means, four years ago, I had never even heard of the word mysticism. The part he played in my conversion, by that book, was very great. . . .

Links:

Wikipedia: Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton: The Contemplative Dark Thread

Lighthouse Trails: Thomas Merton

THOMAS MERTON AND MYSTIC IDOLATRY

Image: The Real Thomas Merton by Ed Rice

Tags: Thomas Merton mysticism mystic sufism