Previously unpublished material from world-renowned Trappist monk and author, Thomas Merton, featuring the final conference talks given in the United States before his untimely death.
In May and October of 1968, Thomas Merton offered two extended conferences at Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey, a Cistercian women’s community in Northern California. Comprising over twenty-six hours of previously unpublished material, Thomas Merton in California covers a variety of topics including ecology and consciousness, yoga and Hinduism, Native American ritual and rites of passage, Sufi spirituality, and inter-religious dialogue, along with extended discussions on prayer and the contemplative life.
The material presented in these talks reveals Merton’s wide-ranging intellectual and spiritual pursuits in the final year of his life, and fills a long-standing lacuna around Merton's visits to Redwoods Monastery, forming a necessary bridge to the Asian journey that was to come. Practical and applicable, as well as searching and inspired, Thomas Merton in California is essential for Merton readers and scholars, and all those interested in deepening their spiritual lives.
By:
Thomas Merton OCSO
Preface by:
Douglas Christie
Foreword by:
Kathy DeVico OCSO
Edited by:
David Odorisio
Imprint: Liturgical Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 776g
ISBN: 9798400800313
Pages: 462
Publication Date: 20 January 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents Foreword by Kathy DeVico, OCSO ix Preface by Douglas E. Christie xiii Introduction: “The Nocturnal Balconies of California”— Thomas Merton on the Lost Coast by David M. Odorisio 1 Mapping Thomas Merton in California 20 On the Road with Thomas Merton: The California Itinerary in His Own Words 21 PART I: THE REDWOODS CONFERENCES MAY 1968 29 1. Modern Consciousness 31 2. Alienation and the Feminine Mystique 55 3. The Feminine Mystique, Millennial Consciousness, and Ecological Conscience 67 4. Psychological Aspects of Religious Life and Karma Yoga 79 5. The Origins of Modern Consciousness 101 6. Mystical Consciousness in Yoga and Life in Solitude 111 7. Hindu Stages of Life and Karma Yoga 139 8. Bhakti Yoga and Inter-Monastic Dialogue 157 9. Introduction to Sufism 177 10. Native American Ritual and Practice 215 11. Sufi Spirituality: Surrender and Mercy 225 12. The Interpretation of Dreams, Sufi Spirituality, and Religious Inclusivity 247 OCTOBER 1968 260 13. Life in Prayer 261 14. Opening Discussion 297 15. Prayer, Freedom, and Doubt 303 16. Discussion: Zen and Non-Violence 321 17. Discussion: Pentecostalism, Poetry, and Prayer 337 18. Prayer and Time 347 19. Closing Discussion: Politics and Prayer 369 PART II: THE LETTERS 20. The Thomas Merton-Myriam Dardenne Correspondence 385 21. Letters to Fellow Monastics, Acquaintances, and Friends 417 APPENDIX 22. Four Days with Merton by Gracie M. Jones 429 Acknowledgments 435 Permissions 437 Index 439
David M. Odorisio, PhD, is Associate Core faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, California. He received his MA in the History of Christian Spirituality from Saint John's University, School of Theology-Seminary, and his PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. David is editor of Merton and Hinduism: The Yoga of theHeart and has published in numerous journals in the areas of psychology and religion, and the life and writings of Thomas Merton.
Reviews for Thomas Merton in California: The Redwoods Conferences and Letters
"""This is a significant, well-annotated exhibition of the monk's nuanced massage of 1960s consciousness experiments mere months before his death in Thailand. David M. Odorisio, the astute editor of the recent magisterial Merton & Hinduism, represents a new wave of scholarly contemplatives who explore Merton's strategic inner work to transcend himself in service and witness to the global communities of those who pray. Odorisio lays out evidence of Merton's having lost his 'self' forward through deeper inner experiences of solitude and community. Merton beacons hope that all divisions of our true and false selves will disappear at last into a universal matrix of love."" Jonathan Montaldo, Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton -- (8/4/2023 12:00:00 AM) ""What a marvelous, unexpected gift! These series of informal talks to a cherished community of Cistercian women and later to a small group of their invited guests, along with related materials, sparkle and inspire with Thomas Merton's characteristic insight, humor and wisdom. Expertly introduced and edited by David Odorisio, this volume presents Merton at the top of his form and fills a gap we didn't even know existed in the literary record of the final months of his life."" Patrick F. O'Connell, Editor, Thomas Merton: Selected Essays -- (8/2/2023 12:00:00 AM) ""As one of the . . . participants of the [October] 1968 Redwoods Conferences, I can sum up the atmosphere of those days in one word: electrified--and this in every respect . . . even the most mundane exchange seemed to be charged with high voltage. Thomas Merton in California gives readers the privilege to sense for themselves the formidable creative charge of those encounters as if they were there. What higher praise could there be for this book?"" Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB, monk, author, co-founder of grateful.org -- (4/11/2023 12:00:00 AM)"
