Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth: Joanna Macy, Thich Nhat Hanh, Wendell Berry, Sandra Ingerman, Bill Plotkin, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Brian Swimme, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Richard Rohr, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee PhD

Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth: Joanna Macy, Thich Nhat Hanh, Wendell Berry, Sandra Ingerman, Bill Plotkin, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Brian Swimme, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Richard Rohr, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee PhD

Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth Paperback – July 1, 2013

by Joanna Macy (Author), & 9 more

4.6 out of 5 stars    41 customer reviews

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Despite the gloomy ecological outlook, these essays exude optimism in their belief that love and harmony can prevail over greed and insanity. They are eloquent and passionate pleas for the planet."  —Publishers Weekly



"Some of the most inspiring voices on behalf of our living planet speak forth with power and clarity in this hugely important and timely book. Their words help us find our true home and our rightful place within the great turning world of Nature." —Stephen Harding, PhD, author, Animate Earth, founding member, Schumacher College





"It's hard to imagine finding a wiser group of humans than the authors represented here, all of them both thinkers and do-ers in the greatest battle humans have ever faced. An epic collection!" —Bill McKibben, author, Deep Economy and The End of Nature





"We live in a time of ecological uncertainty and we need opportunities to reconnect with the sacred. Just as scientists are modern-day prophets who tell us why we must act to save our planet, the essayists in this book are sages who remind us why that work is worthwhile." —The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, founder, The Regeneration Project – Interfaith Power & Light





"This gathering of elders from all over the globe…is nothing short of a modern oracle whose voices translate the wisdom of the Earth we must care for. Whatever your passion or work, read this book to better know the irreplaceable ground we all depend on." —Mark Nepo, author Seven Thousand Ways to Listen and The Book of Awakening



"This book is a call to action. It requires us to put down every-day concerns that preoccupy our minds and listen with our hearts to the testaments of how desperately the earth needs us. I thank the authors in the book for reinforcing my commitment to protect the earth as much as is in my power." —His Holiness, The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje





"Spiritual Ecology is a superb collection of thoughtful pieces by people who have gone deep to understand our relations with the Earth. It comes at a crucial time for humanity." —Barry Lopez, author, Arctic Dreams (winner National Book Award), Of Wolves and Men, Crossing Open Ground, About This Life

About the Author

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi teacher who has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He is the founder of the Golden Sufi Center and is the author of more than 15 books, including Alchemy of Light, Return of the Feminine and the World Soul, and Prayer of the Heart. Thich Nhat Hanh is the founder of the School of Youth Social Service, a relief organization that rebuilt bombed villages, set up schools and medical centers, resettled homeless families, and organized agricultural cooperatives after the Vietnam War. He was nominated for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize. Joanna Macy is a scholar of Buddhism, deep ecology, and general systems theory. She lives in Berkeley, California. Wendell Berry is a conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist, and poet. He is a former professor of English at the University of Kentucky and a past fellow of both the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky. Sandra Ingerman is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), and professional mental health counselor. She was awarded the Peace Award from the Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine in 2007. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bill Plotkin is a depth psychologist, wilderness rites guide, and ecotherapist. He lives in Durango, Colorado. Mary Evelyn Tucker is a senior lecturer and research scholar at Yale University where she holds appointments in the Divinity School and in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut. Brian Swimme is the director of the Center for the Story of the Universe and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He lives in San Francisco. Vandana Shiva is an environmental leader, and recipient of the 1993 Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.

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Biography

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D., is a Sufi Teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujadidiyya Sufi Order. Born in London in 1953, he has followed the Naqshbandi Sufi path since he was 19. In 1991 he moved to Northern California and became the successor of Irina Tweedie, author of "Chasm of Fire" and "Daughter of Fire." In recent years the focus of his writing and teaching has been on the subject of Spiritual Ecology -- a spiritual response to our present ecological crisis. Author of several books, Llewellyn lectures in the United States and Europe. He has also been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on Super Soul Sunday, and featured on the PBS Global Spirit series. For further information, please see: www.goldensufi.org, www.workingwithoneness.org, and www.spiritualecology.org.

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4.0 out of 5 starsA book to launch a million urgently needed discussions.

By Guttersnipe Das on September 23, 2013

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

If you arrive suddenly in a foreign city, a city where you do not know the landmarks and do not speak the language, you may find yourself urgently in need a guide. In the same way, this book is vitally necessary, now that we find ourselves in a changed and unfamiliar world. If we wish to survive as a civilization, we need to find new paths - and we need to find them quickly. You would do well to call in sick to work - and stay home to read this.



A few of the texts here I'd found previously, including one that blew open my mind when I read it aged 19: Joanna Macy's "Greening of the Self". It is even more amazing than I remember. Thich Nhat Hanh is here as well and just because he's a beloved Zen master who knows the right way to eat an orange doesn't mean he pulls his punches: "In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will all be killed." He knows we may not make it. Even acknowledging we may not survive, there is a way forward, a way to take action and not be paralyzed by helplessness.



Of the thinkers I discovered for the first time while reading this book, the most helpful and inspiring was Sister Miriam MacGillis. The interview here with Sister Miriam, a contemplative inspired by Thomas Berry, was stunning - perhaps the most profound example of skillful means united with a vast perspective that I have ever come across. Her understanding is so vast - and she brings it to bear on the farm that is in her stewardship. I read it three times in a row. It is magnificent.



I loved, too, Susan Murphy's essay, "The Koan of the Earth". Susan Murphy is a Zen teacher in Australia and her gaze is stark and clear. When the situation is as serious as this one, it is best to have a physician who does not mince words. In order to survive, we will need vast compassion, and it is compassion like this, tough as nails. (After reading this essay, I wanted very much to read `Minding the Earth, Mending the World', Murphy's book on this subject, but it appears to be unavailable. Somebody please bring this book back to print!)



I was particularly grateful to Geneen Marie Haugen and the essay "Imagining Earth". Haugen writes about how the imagination can be used to reacquaint ourselves with the sacred in the land and how this practice, which involves some "make-believe", might turn out to be essential for our survival.



Haugen helped me a lot to understand my own experience. As a boy in New Hampshire, I experienced my family's farm as a place vastly alive and full of spirits. Certain places had certain powers; there was even an area I believed to be "the heart of the farm". I grew up, thought myself foolish, and it was years before I was able recognize how correct I'd been as a child! This essay is a beautiful guide to this practice. She helped me understand, too, why I find the unfortunate fate of my family's farm (and life in Tokyo) so wrenching. Haugen writes, "A practice of attending an animate world may have a cumulative effect of rearranging our own consciousness in a way that we cannot later withdraw from without pain"(166). Yes, indeed.



Anthologies like this one aim to reach many people by providing many styles and approaches. I admit there were a few essays here that seemed to me "keynote addresses" - general statements aimed at an audience already convinced. I hope that this book will serve as a sort of general introduction for a series of books on this subject.



Hopefully these essays will serve to fuel discussion. Admittedly, I did not agree with all the approaches found here. A few, like the essay by Sandra Ingerman, seemed to be examples of cheesy, old-style New Age thinking that is too busy being airy and optimistic to actually be useful. This sort of thing was good enough for 1987 (when "The Aquarian Conspiracy" was going to save us all) but - we're going to need to think a lot harder now.



In a book of strong essays, there was one essay that dismayed and even offended me: Satish Kumar's "3 Dimensions of Ecology: Soil, Soul, Society." As a keen student of Hinduism and Buddhism, I think the ecological perspectives of these traditions are both fascinating and urgently necessary. This essay, however, is an embarrassing concoction of platitudes, generalities and sentimentality. This is not 1893, Mr. Kumar is not Swami Vivekananda, and we do not need dumbed-down, platitude-ridden, soft-serve presentations of Hinduism anymore. Pardon me for being rude, but I think this is an argument worth having!



Kumar translates yagna, tapas and dana as soil, soul and society. I'm sorry, but that's not what those words mean. If he wishes to give a creative translation or reinterpretation, that's great, but he should give the traditional meanings and the reasons for his reinterpretation - not just assume that we are ignorant and cannot handle the actual definitions of words. It is no longer necessary to gloss over what is complicated in these faiths -- we can handle the complexity of the real tradition. For a brilliant discussion of how Hindus see the divine as manifest in the land around them, please read Diana Eck's marvelous book India: A Sacred Geography, a book that is as necessary to ecologists as it is to students of religion.



I am grateful to this wonderful collection of essays for giving me so much to investigate and ponder - as well as a few things to argue about! May there be more books like this one - and fast! May the conversation continue deep into the night.

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5.0 out of 5 starsReally beautiful book, with so much in it we need to hear right now!

By Charlotte A. Bruce on September 4, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Chief Oren Lyons in chapter 1 says, "As we move each day closer to a point of no return, we lose that day's option.And there will come a point where we won't have an option."



He goes on to say that his people were told in prophecy that there would be two very important systems to warn of a degradation of the earth. One would be the acceleration of the winds. "When you see that the accelerations of the winds are growing, then you are in dangerous times." Chief Lyons says the second warning would come in seeing how people don't care for the children. Both these signs are now present on the earth. Various kinds of horrible exploitation of children are taking place and society doesn't do anything about it.



And this is only Chapter 1! Each chapter, each author has a unique viewpoint to offer, yet all agree that the answers will not come from the thinking that has created them and thereby desecrated the earth. We can no longer afford to treat it as an object, manipulate and exploit it.



Thich Nhat Hanh says, "...we act as if our daily lives have nothing to do with the condition of the world. We are like sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing ... Whether we can wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on our Mother Earth. The future of all life, including our own, depends on our mindful steps."



Let's hope we can. Chief Lyons is right. Options are running low.

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5.0 out of 5 starsHealing Words

By amy wheeler on September 8, 2013

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I highly recommend this collection of essays from some of our most impassioned advocates for the earth. I sat in front of my fireplace and read one of these pieces each day, and wept, and was inspired, by their deep thinking on what's wrong with our relationship to our mothership, and each other, and ourselves...and what's possible moving forward. The essays are simultaneously hard-hitting, and hopeful. Recommended reading for anyone who cares about the spiritual implications of our current trajectory, our interconnectedness with each other and with the soul of the earth.

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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Cry of the Earth

By kj on September 18, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

The message of Spiritual Ecology takes the reader beyond politics and social movements to the heart of the need for awareness, attention and awakening to the cry of the earth.



"The prophets told of the time ahead,explained the deluge of past and predicted the two paths of the future:one scorched and one green ....All of us have the same choice, and somewhere in this time, there is the potential to take the right path." Winona La Duke p. 85



Do we dare to see ,to feel and respond?



This book is filled with deep wisdom that encourages us to participate in creating a new consciousness and a transformed relationship with our Earth.



"A human being is part of the whole called by us,'the universe' a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves ,our thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest- a kind of optical illusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us,restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of Nature in its beauty." Albert Einstien quoted by Jungian analyst,author and scholar Jules Cashford p.173

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5.0 out of 5 starsUplifting approach to healing our planet, ourselves

By Ilona Meagher on August 19, 2013

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This book is so refreshing, so empowering, so magic-revealing and so human meaning-making. If your response to the environmental challenges we face (yes, they *are* serious and quite painful to digest) is to tune out and weep as if all is already lost, this book may buy you some hope.



More of us putting its concepts to practice may also buy Gaia (and all of her life forms) more time.

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Download William Shannon - Thomas Merton: An Introduction (pdf)

Download William Shannon - Thomas Merton: An Introduction (pdf) 



William H. Shannon - Thomas Merton: An Introduction (St. Anthony Messenger, 2005). 199 pages.

New scan. Searchable pdf (clearscan) with contents in bookmarks, accurate pagination and metadata, etc.


Survey of Thomas Merton's life, themes in his writing, books, and continued relevance.

description:

'He was something of a legendary figure among the old boys of his generation and he was clearly something of a rebel.'

That description of Thomas Merton by his English headmaster influenced this captivating introductory look at the monk-writer and his works. Merton scholar William H. Shannon presents Merton s life story to suggest that this mid twentieth-century writer can speak meaningfully to women and men now several years into a new century, to develop... some of the themes that make their way through his writings, and to suggest a possible order for reading his books as one enters into the huge library of Mertoniana.



Review

precisely what is needed today to introduce a whole new audience to the life and writings of Thomas Merton. William Shannon, in his usual insightful and balanced way, makes a compelling case for Merton s continued relevance. --Br. Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O., general editor of the Merton Journals

How is it that one life can be so inexhaustible? I think it is because Merton, apart from being brilliant and in search of the Ultimate, is both medium and message, both style and substance. No one brings both parts together better than William Shannon. Maybe because Shannon is the same. --Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Shannon brings to this remarkable and refreshing book many of the qualities which identify Thomas Merton: humanity, style, drama, spirituality, scholarship. Shannon s judgments are astute, his sensitivity to others keen, his balance liberating, his openness engaging. Had Merton a choice of who might remember him and clarify him, Shannon would have been selected, with gratitude and eagerness. --Dr. Anthony T. Padavano, Catholic theologian, Merton scholar

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About the Author

WILLIAM H. SHANNON, professor emeritus in the religious studies department at Nazareth College, is a priest of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. He is the author of numerous books, including Thomas Merton s Paradise Journey: Writings on Contemplation, An Introduction and Exploring the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He is the founding president of the International Thomas Merton Society.

The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, : Daniel P. Horan

The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, Thought, and Writing eBook: Daniel P. Horan

Daniel Horan, O.F.M., popular author of Dating God and other books on Franciscan themes—and expert on the spirituality of Thomas Merton—masterfully presents the untold story of how the most popular saint in Christian history inspired the most popular spiritual writer of the twentieth century, and how together they can inspire a new generation of Christians.

Millions of Christians and non-Christians look to Thomas Merton for spiritual wisdom and guidance, but to whom did Merton look? In The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton, Franciscan friar and author Daniel Horan shows how, both before and after he became a Trappist monk, Merton’s life was shaped by his love for St. Francis and for the Franciscan spiritual and intellectual tradition. 

Given recent renewed interest in St. Francis, this timely resource is both informative and practical, revealing a previously hidden side of Merton that will inspire a new generation of Christians to live richer, deeper, and more justice-minded lives of faith.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This finely textured volume highlights Thomas Merton's intellectual and spiritual debt to the Franciscan tradition. Like the good householder of the Gospel, Daniel Horan draw forth old things and new" -- Lawrence S. Cunningham, University of Notre Dame

"Daniel Horan brings a fresh and welcome perspective to the life and legacy of the twentieth century's most celebrated monk" -- Michael Downey, Editor of The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality

"What a treasure we have in young and insightful Daniel Horan!" -- Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

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About the Author

Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., is a Franciscan friar of Holy Name Province (New York), a columnist for America, and the author of several books, including The Last Words of Jesus, Dating God, and Francis of Assisi and the Future of Faith. 

He is the author of many scholarly and popular articles and a frequent lecturer and retreat director around the United States, Canada, and Europe. 

Horan received a 2011 Catholic Press Association first-place award for his writing on spirituality. 

Horan studied at St. Bonaventure University where he earned a bachelor degree in theology and journalism. He entered the Order of Friars Minor in 2005, made his first profession of vows in 2007, and was ordained a priest in 2012. 

During his studies as a friar, Horan earned a master's degree in systematic theology in 2010 and a master of divinity in 2012, both from the Washington Theological Union. He is currently completing a doctorate in systematic theology at Boston College. 

Horan taught in the department of religious studies at Siena College (2010-2011) and was a visiting professor in the department of theology at St. Bonaventure University (2012). 

He serves on the board of directors of the International Thomas Merton Society. Horan is a regular contributor to Give Us This Day and The Huffington Post. He is also the Catholic chaplain at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Follow him online at danhoran.com.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful

A New Scholar Brings A New Lens For Viewing the Life and Work of Thomas Merton 3 October 2014

By I. J. Montaldo - Published on Amazon.com

As someone who has read Thomas Merton since he was thirteen years old, who is about to celebrate his sixty-ninth birthday on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi in a few days, who has edited several volumes of Merton's work and served as President of the International Thomas Merton Society, and who is past being eager to read another book about Merton, rather preferring to continue reading Merton himself, I am taken aback at how much I enjoyed and appreciated this new, because more intense, focus employed by Daniel Horan on the Franciscan foundations and influence upon Merton's Cistercian vocation and on key elements of his spiritual legacy. 

The heart of Horan's good book are Parts II and III. 

In Part II, "Franciscan Foundations," 

he employs original research to present a time-line that is more expansive and detailed, than the one more ordinarily constructed by Merton scholars as only brief, of Merton's interest in becoming a Franciscan. He highlights the instigation of Merton's desire to become a priest and Franciscan as it was mentored by Merton's friend and former professor, Daniel Walsh. He sheds better focus on how individual Franciscan friars, especially a foremost scholar of the Franciscan tradition, Father Philotheus Boehner, were crucial in encouraging Merton's studies in Franciscan philosophy and theology, while Merton taught English at what was then Saint Bonaventure College in Olean, New York. 

In Part III, "Reflections on Faith," 

Horan successfully uncovers the Franciscan ground of key ideas associated with Merton's writing on spirituality, 

• especially the idea of the "true self," 
• his Christ-centered theology, 
• the motive of Christ's incarnation as an excess of God's love, and 
• Merton's life-long appreciation of his kinship with all beings in creation. 

Horan carefully examines how much Merton's theological and artistic perspectives in these key ideas are grounded in the writings of Franciscans John Duns Scotus and Saint Bonaventure. 

Most importantly, he brings to the forefront Merton's continuing reverence for Saint Francis of Assisi and how, beginning from the time Merton becomes a Third-Order Franciscan while teaching at St. Bonaventure's, Francis was a major model for how Merton sought to live out his own search for God in his own century. 

Horan's writing is clear and his judgments about Francis and Merton are connected to twenty-first century life so that a reader gets the points for her own contemporary experience, but there is nothing light-weight about his text.

 Although he wears his learning lightly and can write for the general reader, Horan is a scholar. I do judge that this book is not a general introduction into the thought and life of Thomas Merton. It is best approached by someone who has read Merton elsewhere, but "The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton" polishes the Merton corpus anew so that hidden veins of Merton's intellectual history can be better uncovered and the richness below the surface of his thought can be better appreciated. 

I don't know Daniel Horan personally and have no ax to grind on his behalf, but I am happy to endorse his new book publicly and wish him good work in the many decades of living and writing ahead for this young Franciscan priest and scholar.

 Jonathan Montaldo

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

HASH(0xb1b26654) out of 5 stars 

Unwrapping the nuggets of similarity required the studies of this author 

9 November 2014

By Mary Jane Pelletier - Published on Amazon.com

I found Daniel Horan's book to be insightful, surprising, and challengingly practical. I had anticipated references to contemplation and to the false self, and I found in this book a remarkably active interpretation of both - no navel gazing here. 

I felt as though I somehow walked hand in hand with Daniel Horan, Thomas Merton, and Francis of Assisi as they exchanged ideas, learned from one another, and brought the theoretical to practice through their lives. 

The interwoven references to vocation, peacemaking, Incarnation, and embracing the stranger gave the book focus and left me with a renewed interest in and commitment to Franciscan spirituality and to contemplative practice. 

I was delighted to find references to authors who are currently inspiring my learning such as James Finley and Ilia Delio.

I was grateful for the opportunity to learn more about John Duns Scotus and his influence on the Franciscan school. I find references to the univocity of being, for example, to be relevant to today's environmental crises; thus the book is as much forward-looking as it is a study of past events.

 I am grateful to Dan Horan for sharing with the reader insights from the intensity of his Franciscan studies over the past several years and the fruits of his Merton studies as well. Only someone fully immersed in both could have written this book.

Top reviews from the United States

Jessica Coblentz

5.0 out of 5 stars 

Engaging and clear presentation of theological themes in Merton and the Franciscan tradition

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2014

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Dan has given us another great book! I had the pleasure of reading the manuscript while in production, and I have been awaiting its publication ever since. As a causal reader of Merton and the Franciscan tradition, I am grateful for Dan's informative and accessible commentary on the lives of Merton and Francis. 

My favorite parts of the book are the many chapters Dan dedicates to overlapping theological themes in the works of Merton and the Franciscan tradition. Dan brings his typical clarity of thought and prose to complex theological themes--from theological anthropology and christology to theologies of creation and interreligious dialogue, just to name a few. Not only did I learn great deal from this book, but I was also challenged to reflect on my Christian life in important ways.

19 people found this helpful

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Claudia.PoetryPainter

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Merton Scholars & Christian Spirituality Students

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2015

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A Great book for Merton lovers that connected the dots between Merton's early years teaching in a Franciscan University and personally studying there. The explanation of Franciscan spirituality and theology was very helpful and worth reading the book even if one is not a Merton fan.

Daniel Horan is a logical and interesting writer, presenting many facts to support his observations of the impact of Franciscan theology and spirituality in Thomas Merton's life as observed from his writings and ideas. Some parts of the book could have been tightened up but I enjoyed reading all of the details.

I am thankful for certain key ideas that Horan presented that are useful to all Christians. In particular the chapter on prophecy and the opportunity for all Christians to grow into this calling and his explanation of why Merton is said to have functioned in a prophetic role for our culture.

I have a master's degree in Spirituality from Bellarmine University in Louisville Kentucky and still learned many details from Horan about Thomas Merton (Father Louis). Thus, I highly recommend this book for all Merton scholars and students of Christian Spirituality.

6 people found this helpful

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Carol

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous information and so convenient in audiobook form

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2018

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Having read so much of Merton's own writings, I was greatly enriched and informed by listening to Dan Horan's perspectives on Merton's mindset. Had never considered the strong Franciscan influence. Wonderful information and it was very helpful to take in in in audiobook form. In my busy life, recordings work very well for me.

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Victoria Vancouver

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book comparing Francis and Merton

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2018

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I love Dan Horan's style of writing. He looks at the "usual" and straightens you out. He says much in a single paragraph that just rocks what you know. We are reading the book for a Franciscan reading group.

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Jeanette E. Miraglia

5.0 out of 5 stars A Challenge for 2015

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2015

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This is an excellent book, and I must admit that the first chapter threw off base. It is a challenge for me to follow the Franciscan path realistically.

Having been associated with a Cistercian community for over 40 years, it is where I attend Sunday services, I have read numerous books by Thomas Merton and other Cistercian publications. I feel most persons interested in advancing in 

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Mary Gillmarten

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful new facet on the study of Merton's life

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2015

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A wonderful new facet on the study of Merton's life. Merton has been studied as a Catholic, as a Catholic moving towards Zen and eastern religions, as a philosopher, as a peacenik, and now as a Franciscan. He is a diamond with many facets, none exclusive of the other. Young Fr. Horan is always a delight to read, his prose is easy and clear.

3 people found this helpful

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Joseph

Apr 30, 2018Joseph rated it really liked it

Author sets out wonderful parallels between lives of St. Francis and Thomas Merton. Makes both more accessible to modern reader. While primarily a limited biography on Merton, it does address the issues he grappled with (i.e. civil disobedience, war, modernism) and how they are not dissimilar to issues that the reader may face today.

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Craig Bergland

Oct 31, 2014Craig Bergland rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, christianity, contemplation, interspirituality, thomas-merton-studies, spirituality

An outstanding study of Merton's Franciscan influence. Well conceived, researched, and written, this book is an absolute necessity for any fan of Thomas Merton. Highly recommended! (less)

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Amy Moritz

Mar 11, 2020Amy Moritz rated it really liked it

I picked up this book because (a) I know Fr. Dan Horan and adore him, (b) I love Thomas Merton, and (c) my brother recommended it. So trifecta!

I decided to read some "spiritual" books during Lent this year and 

by "spiritual" I mean books that lead me to think more deeply about life and love and God and all that is good, particularly as I work on the depths of grief. Looking at the intersection of Francis and Merton THE best place to start.

First of all, I appreciated Fr. Dan's look at the brief overview history/biography of each man. I learned more about Merton and his "rejection" by the friars, of which my knowledge pretty much ended with what he wrote in Seven Story Mountain.

My biggest takeaway, which is not likely what Fr. Dan intended, is to look more closely at Merton's notion of the "true self." 

This is a place I personally want to look at more in depth. His writing on true self (though I didn't remember it called that or really recognize that as a theory when I read it the first time) was something I instinctively felt called to when I first read "New Seeds of Contemplation." And it has Franciscan roots? No wonder I loved it!

"It is not about putting Francis on a pedestal in order to laud him as so exceptional that we cannot possibly relate but instead about seeing in his example what it means to so deeply reflect on scripture and the love of God that his WHOLE LIFE, mentally and physically, was transformed by the experience of prayer, solitude, and reflection."

"It is not what we do, what we have, or how we act that makes us loved by God and worthy of love from others. Rather, it is WHO WE ARE -- individually created, willed, and loved into being by God -- that is the source of our dignity and value."

"William Shannon explains that there are, according to Merton, only two ways to discover the true self. The discovery of the real self is achieved (1) through death, which Merton conceives not so much as the separation of the soul from the body, but the disappearance of the external self and the emergence of the real self, or (2) through contemplation, which is the renouncing of our "petty selves" to find "our true selves beyond ourselves in others and above all in Christ." Contemplation is the letting go of the false self -- which is why it is a kind of death, a death that takes place during life."

And I finally learned something about Scotus:

"Scotus makes the point that the reason for the Incarnation rests in the need for all creation to be glorified and share in God's goodness."

"It is through Christ that we are able to see God as God truly is -- humble, loving, forgiving, and poor. To say 'Christ' is, at one and the same time, to say this is who God is and this who WE ARE CALLED TO BE."

"Contemplation in a Franciscan key is not about our searching for God in particular times and dedicated places. Rather, Franciscan contemplation is about learning to see how God is always ready right before us, reflected in all aspects of creation. ... A Franciscan approach to contemplation challenges us not to let contemplation, the gazing at God, become just another thing we have to do. We need to let our relationship with God Transform us to see the whole world in new and life-giving ways."

"Through contemplation and openness to ongoing conversion from false self, we discover who we really are in who God really is. To live the life of the Gospel is to live a life of self-emptying service, finding God in our emptiness and poverty. From that position of minority, we, like Merton and Francis, are able to authentically encounter the "stranger' and to hear his or her voice."

"At the core of Francis' understanding of what it means to be a peacemaker is the commitment to take down any barriers we intentionally or inadvertently put up between ourselves and others that prevent us from entering into honest, humble, and meaningful relationships with others." (less)

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