The Seven Storey Mountain

Rating:
Summary: Poet, hermit and monk--a fascinating autobiography
Review: Thomas Merton was brilliant, skilled at literary criticism, a poet, analytical and creative. His sense of self, however, was a mixture of deep introspection and a measure of self-loathing. His spiritual seeking led him to a short stay with Trappist monks in Kentucky. As a result, he gave up his worldly career and embarked on a journey of spiritual seeking as a brother at the monastery.

Merton loved music, women, good food, yet he also had a yearning to be free of the world. He describes the ascetic diet at the abbey--meat is forbidden, even fish not eaten, and the monks do heavy agricultural work on bread, vegetables, cheese, and in the evening, maybe a small dish of applesauce. Despite the hardships, Merton finds that becoming a priest is the most meaningful thing ever to happen to him.

Merton's writing made him so famous he sought a hermitage at the abbey. He never seemed quite comfortable anywhere. His sense of discomfort with himself and his exquisite sensibility to spiritual heights make for fascinating reading.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Spiritual Autobiography
Review: This book is an excellent introduction to Thomas Merton. It actually reads like a great novel, which makes it even more fascinating that it is an autobiography. Merton is often appreciated for his contemplative works. I would not necessarily consider The Seven Storey Mountain a contemplative book, but it definitely belongs in the canon of Western mystical literature. It can provide a great doorway into deeper and more spiritual works. Topics such as monasticism become absolutely intriguing after reading this book. Be warned that this book could cause you to embark on a great spiritual journey!

Rating:
Summary: Contemplation....
Review: Something that most people forget about or just plain ignore in today's world of hustle and bustle. Something that Thomas Merton rediscovered and has shared with us. The Seven Storey Mountain takes us through the life of Thomas Merton, from his childhood all the way to his acceptance at a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. Throughout it all, Thomas examines his life in full detail, revealing what most people don't want to admit about their own lives....that they alone are responsible for their own unhappiness. As he realizes just how miserable and empty his life really is, he notices that all along God had been calling him to something greater...a life full of peace, happiness, and contemplation. And like every one of us, the only requirement for this life is to simply accept it. Sometimes confusing due to the fact that he was a Catholic and I am not, this book was still an incredibly enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable book. After reading this book, you will likely look forward to carving some time out of your busy day to simply sit and ponder the wonders of God, which coincidentally, is when you will finally hear God speaking to you.

Rating:
Summary: "I Once Was Lost, But Now Am Found."
Review: The Seven Storey Mountain is a beautifully written book. Thomas Merton was a brilliant intellectual who had looked at many different types of belief. Merton realizes that he isn't happy, though, and he continues to search until he is converted to Christianity. The Seven Storey Mountain is the story of Merton's journey from being that confused and despairing intellectual to being a secure and happy Trappist monk.

The Seven Storey Mountain offers the reader so much. It is an extraordinary way to build faith. The picture of courage that Merton presents as someone actually willing to give up himself for his belief in God is so inspiring. Some of the passages about God are so beautiful. The only possible warning I have for this book is that its possible that some Protestant readers may be slightly offended by some rather general criticisms pointed at non-Catholic Christians. Still, these in no way detracted from the book for me, and I think that any reader of this book will benefit despite some any doctrinal differences. The Seven Storey Mountain is moving and joyful story of a man's journey to God, and it is a journey which should be celebrated and learned from.

Rating:
Summary: See how a non-religious man became a Trappist monk
Review: This book is a modern masterpiece-- often compared to St. Augustine's Confessions. I think the comparison is valid. Merton's struggles in life can help guide us today.

The book is a bit boring at times, but you should still be able to get through it without too much trouble.

I highly suggest anything by Thomas Merton.

Rating:
Summary: For the Deeply Contemplative
Review: Thomas Merton is a wonderful voice for the spiritual yearning that lies within us all. Merton, a trappist monk expressed the spirituality of so many people that longed for a religion that could both function within the bounds of Christianity and bring it to life. Thus it is with this poet, monk, and student of the Zen Masters the world recieved a new voice on its oldest subject. In this book, Merton's spiritual autobiography, one comes in contact with a truly beautiful human being. This book has my nomination for the great twentieth century American novel. It is a book in which every word echoes the warmth and passion of its author.
Thomas, You will be sadly missed.

Rating:
Summary: The Gateway to Merton
Review: The Seven Storey Mountain is by no means Thomas Merton's Masterpiece. But it is his most well-known work. Many people only know Merton for this, the biography of his early years. This can lead people to an uneven view of Merton and his worldview. A good antidote to this particular problem is to read either Merton's Journals or his Letters. They give a much broader view of Merton's developing thought.

Yet this book is not without its charms. How all the subsequent efforts of his biographers, no one has told the story of this period of Merton's life better than Merton. There are indispensable insights, biographical as well as spiritual, to be gained from this book. It is still probably the best place to start with Merton. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: An Inspiring Journey of Faith
Review: This famous autobiography chronicles the author's life from childhood up to the point as a young man he makes the bold decision to enter the Trappist order. Like many of us, Merton spiritually sleepwalks through much of his youth. But gradually, he is drawn to God as he comes to perceive the shallowness and futility of the intellectuality and self-indulgence that had thusfar characterized his life. Eventually his love for God becomes a passion of awesome proportions, enabling him to bring his life into a wonderous balance, inspiring him to write some of the most influential religious reflections of our age or perhaps any age.

The questions Merton grapples with here--how to balance the seemingly conflicting impulses of our intellect, passions, and spirit--are timeless. Anyone looking for greater harmony in his/her life will undoubtedly find great insight and inspiration from Merton's story.

Also--I think today "The Seven Storey Mountain" is particularly relevant because of its historical context, which so closely parallels our own. Much of Merton's story takes place during the outbreak of World War II. As war looms larger and larger, Merton describes with great unease the sense of impending doom, the uncertainty of where the world is heading, and yet the certainty it is heading somewhere disturbing and dangerous. As I read Merton's reflections on the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia--a defining act of war--for a moment I thought I was reading about September 11. The looming threat of terrorism gives us a newfound ability to relate to Merton's world, and this I think makes his message far more accessible, meaningful, and necessary for us to hear.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Rate - Easy to Read
Review: This book generates many responses, depending on the reader's state of mind when he picks it up.

I read it at a very critical point in my life, and it started me on a journey that ended, like Merton, in the Catholic Church, but not in a monastery. Why? I don't know. It's not great literature. It is nothing like his later works, written after he matured in ways that he would never have expected when this was written. It is an 'immature' book. He's reported to have said later in life that he wished he had never written it. But he did, and it's a good thing.

It gives us a starting point. Other contemplatives probably went through many of these feelings, but not many of them wrote at this point in their lives. Merton talked later about the irony of forsaking all possessions in the morning, and signing the publishing contract for this book in the afternoon. That tension stands out here. The man stands in two worlds. One (his past) that he has rejected, but can not let go of, and the other that he needs (is there any other reason for becoming a monk?), but hasn't grown into.

This is his story. It's not the story of a monk. It's not the story of a secular man. It's the story of a man who was to become one of the most influential monks of the century, almost in spite of himself, but he wasn't there yet. He's still new, caught up in bliss, not yet aware of the things that come with the life he had chosen (or had chosen him, if you want to say it that way).

As I said, it is a hard book to rate. There are times in a sincere man's life when it is going to speak to something within him. If it does, this could be one of the most interesting things he will ever read.

Rating:
Summary: A personal favorite
Review: I read a lot, but there are few books I return to for a second or third reading. Merton's spiritual autobiography is one of them. His story is engaging and well-written, and you will likely see yourself more than once in his unfolding search. I have given this book to friends as a gift, and I highly recommend it. My suggestion would be to use it as an introduction to Merton's journals and other writings.