NO MAN IS AN ISLAND by Thomas Merton ($13)
10.95
HB: 0-15-665962-X
"Leaving system to others, and renouncing the attempt
to lay down universal prlndples which have been exposed
by better men elsewhere, I only desire in this book to
share with the reader my own reflections on certain aspects of the spiritual life. I consider that the spiritual
life is the life of man's real self, the life of that interior self whose flame is so often allowed to be smothered under the ashes of anxiety and futile concern. The spiritual life is oriented toward God, rather than toward the immediate satisfaction of the material needs of life, but it is not, for all that, a life of unreality or a life of dreams. On the contrary, without a life of the spirit,
our whole existence becomes unsubstantial and illusory.
The life of the spirit, by integrating us in the real order
established by God, puts us in the fullest possible contact with reality--not as we imagine it, but as it really is. It does so by making us aware of our own real selves, and placing them in the presence of God.
This book is, then, a sequel to a previous volume called Seeds of Contemplation. But instead of going on
from where that book left off, it goes back to cover some
of the ground that was taken for granted before the
earlier volume began. This book is intended to be simpler, more fundamental, and more detailed. It treats of some of the basic verities on which the spiritual life depends. It is dedicated to the scholastics studying for the
priesthood at the Abbey of Gethsemani, who will perhaps recognize in it some notions they have received in
spiritual direction." - Fr. M. Louis, O.S.C.O., Abbey of Gethsemane, January 1955
CONTENTS:
No Man Is an Island
Love Can Be Kept Only by Being
Given Away
Sentences on Hope
Conscience, Freedom, and Prayer
Pure Intention
The Word of the Cross
Asceticism and Sacrifice
Being and Doing
Vocation
The Measure of Charity
Sincerity
Mercy
Recollection
"My Soul Remembered God"
The Wind Blows Where It Pleases
The Inward Solitude
Silence
