The Seven Storey Mountain

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"[Merton] is an incredible source of light and comfort and humor." - Anne Lamott

The famous autobiography of one of the most acclaimed faith leaders and theologians of our time.

Credited as being the first major Catholic book to achieve widespread popularity in America, Thomas Merton's spiritual evolution has captivated millions since its publication. Based on Merton's personal journals, The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders--the Trappist monks.

At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. In this remarkable book, readers will gain insight into:

- How spiritual fulfillment leads to the deepest form of self-discovery

- The true redemption that comes from forgiving ourselves and past sins

- The sacred power of vulnerability and relinquishing control

- How to navigate our desires, discouragements, possibilities, and limitations

- How our cumulative lived experiences broaden our cultural acceptance

- What it truly means to be human in the world

Arriving on the heels of the devastation of WWII, Merton's compellingly passionate words touched a society longing for direction and a true sense of purpose. This work continues to inspire and motivate both present day believers and non-believers alike, through intimate discussions of the power of the human spirit during times of suffering and immense self-doubt. While Merton's story is uncommon, his experiences are universal - touching those of all backgrounds and identities. The immediacy of his words and reflections bring solace to an anxious world.

Translated into more than twenty languages and for readers of Jennie Allen, Brené Brown, and Flannery O'Connor, this spiritual journey towards enlightenment exposes the trials and tribulations that give our lives their ultimate meaning.

"The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most."

“Without a life of the spirit our whole existence becomes unsubstantial and illusory.-Thomas Merton”

"[Thomas Merton] is perhaps the proper patron saint of our information-saturated age, of we who live and move and have our being in social media, and then, desperate for peace and rest, withdraw into privacy and silence, only to return. As we always will." -- The New Yorker

"[Merton] is an incredible source of light and comfort and humor." -- Anne Lamott

"[The Seven Storey Mountain] may well prove to be of permanent interest in the history of religious experience." -- Evelyn Waugh

"a remarkable book, a classic of its kind....a book one reads with a pencil so as to make it one's own....a pattern and meaning valid for all of us." -- Graham Greene

"It is to a book like this that men will turn a hundred years from now to find out what went on in the heart of men in this cruel century." -- Clare Booth Luce

"The fervor of [Merton's] progress to the monastery of Gethsemane is deeply moving. It is a difficult matter to write about, but I think there will be many who, however alien the experience may remain to them personally, will put the narrative down with wonder and respect." -- New York Herald Tribune

"bracing in its realism, sincere, direct and challenging. . . . The Seven Storey Mountain is a prolonged prayer as well as a great book." -- F. X. Connolly, Catholic World

"With publication of his autobiography, Merton became a cult figure among pious Catholics." -- Newsweek

"under its spell disillusioned veterans, students, even teenagers flocked to monasteries across the country either to stay or visit as retreatants." -- Time

"[Merton's] example made credible an extreme religious option that would strike many as unthinkable."
-- New York Times

"Merton's vivid writing, his spiritual honesty, and his heavenly quest fired my soul." -- National Catholic Reporter

"The Seven Storey Mountain is undoubtedly one of the most significant accounts of conversion from the modern temper to God that our time has seen." -- America Magazine

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was born in France and came to live in the United States at the age of 24. He received several awards recognizing his contribution to religious study and contemplation, including the Pax Medal in 1963, and remained a devoted spiritualist and a tireless advocate for social justice until his death in 1968.

The Seven Storey Mountain is one of the most famous books ever written about a man's search for faith and peace. While still in his early twenties, Merton, an intensely passionate and brilliant man, found that nothing in his worldly life assuaged a growing restlessness. His curiosity about spiritual matters led him first to baptism as a Catholic and ultimately to entry into a Trappist monastery-"the four walls of my new freedom." There he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography of a man who withdrew from the world only after he had fully immersed himself in it. In the half-century since its original publication, The Seven Storey Mountain has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. Translated into more than twenty languages, it has touched millions of lives.

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