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No Man Is an Island
Here, in one of his most popular of his more than thirty books, Thomas Merton provides further meditations on the spiritual life in sixteen thoughtful essays, beginning with his classic treatise "Love Can Be Kept Only by Being Given Away." This sequel to Seeds of Contemplation provides fresh insight into Merton's favorite topics of silence and solitude, while also underscoring the importance of community and the deep connectedness to others that is the inevitable basis of the spiritual life—whether one lives in solitude or in the midst of a crowd.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
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14298 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Merton
552 books1,890 followersThomas Merton, religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. In December 1941 he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani and in May 1949 he was ordained to priesthood. He was a member of the convent of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 419 reviews
April 15, 2019
"We are always asking, 'What is Truth?' and then crucifying the truth that stands before our eyes."
- Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
Appropriately, I guess, I read this while flying back to the US from a week with my family in Malta. On the plane I ran out of tabs, so had to ink this sucker up. Something I'm usually reluctant to do if I have enough tabs. The problem is Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk/Zen Scholar/Social Justice warrior, etc., is infinitely quotable. He writes well and, I (an agnostic Zen Mormon) find myself attracted to his approach to God, man, and our relationship with each other. I think my Catholic friends get confused by my attraction and feel I am moving towards Catholicism (I'm not). My Mormon friends may also get confused and think I'm moving away from Mormonism (I'm not). I think what I'm moving towards is a universal approach to God that transcends religions and belief. Merton captures a lot of this, or at least a lot that I'm attracted to.
This book is divided up into chapters on:
Love
Hope
Conscience, Freedom, Prayer
Pure Intention
Asceticism and Sacrifice
Being and Doing
Vocation
Charity
Sincerity
Mercy
Recollection
Solitude
Silence
... and more. The book is lovely. It moves beyond religion and dogma to a universal desire to know ourselves, understand God, and relate to the other. It is, again, lovely.
- Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
Appropriately, I guess, I read this while flying back to the US from a week with my family in Malta. On the plane I ran out of tabs, so had to ink this sucker up. Something I'm usually reluctant to do if I have enough tabs. The problem is Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk/Zen Scholar/Social Justice warrior, etc., is infinitely quotable. He writes well and, I (an agnostic Zen Mormon) find myself attracted to his approach to God, man, and our relationship with each other. I think my Catholic friends get confused by my attraction and feel I am moving towards Catholicism (I'm not). My Mormon friends may also get confused and think I'm moving away from Mormonism (I'm not). I think what I'm moving towards is a universal approach to God that transcends religions and belief. Merton captures a lot of this, or at least a lot that I'm attracted to.
This book is divided up into chapters on:
Love
Hope
Conscience, Freedom, Prayer
Pure Intention
Asceticism and Sacrifice
Being and Doing
Vocation
Charity
Sincerity
Mercy
Recollection
Solitude
Silence
... and more. The book is lovely. It moves beyond religion and dogma to a universal desire to know ourselves, understand God, and relate to the other. It is, again, lovely.
April 17, 2009
Having just finished No Man Is an Island, I can honestly say that it is one of the best spiritual books I've read. This is the second of Merton's that I've read. I took awhile to read it only because I was only reading one small part at a time. But lately, I've devoured it. He speaks to the depths of the spiritual life with compassion, honesty, and simplicity. Merton seems to strike the proper balance between mysticism and practical living, or rather mysticism in practical living.
The last chapter on Silence hits home. Though he spoke to 20th century man, it is even more 21st century man that should learn to be silent. We are immersed in instant communications, in a myriad of forms, from Myspace to Goodreads, from 24 hour news cycles to Twitter. I find myself too busy to sit still and quietly contemplate God. I can't let my thoughts unwind like I once could. Part of it is just life in general, but part of it is becoming caught up in the ways of our modern world.
The second to last chapter, on Solitude, is as well pertinent to modern man surrounded by cameras and becoming more and more surveilled. A quote that particularly stood out to me from this chapter is this, "A community that seeks to invade or destroy the spiritual solitude of the individuals who compose it is condemning itself to death by spiritual asphyxiation."
The last chapter on Silence hits home. Though he spoke to 20th century man, it is even more 21st century man that should learn to be silent. We are immersed in instant communications, in a myriad of forms, from Myspace to Goodreads, from 24 hour news cycles to Twitter. I find myself too busy to sit still and quietly contemplate God. I can't let my thoughts unwind like I once could. Part of it is just life in general, but part of it is becoming caught up in the ways of our modern world.
The second to last chapter, on Solitude, is as well pertinent to modern man surrounded by cameras and becoming more and more surveilled. A quote that particularly stood out to me from this chapter is this, "A community that seeks to invade or destroy the spiritual solitude of the individuals who compose it is condemning itself to death by spiritual asphyxiation."
July 13, 2015
Amazing. Breathetaking. I adore this book. I have never given a book a five because there is no such thing as perfection but this book is more or less perfect it is that close. For a million hundred different reasons that is hard for me to explain. But I shall try, yes it is a religious book so it is about god or partly about god and our relationship to him but its not just about that. Its about us as humans and our flaws and our perfections, its about our connection to ourselves to others to the world to the universe to the almighty being whomever it may be that alters us. Its about connections and faith and hope and love and compassion and reflection and giving ourselves to the present.
Its about being who we are truly and opening and allowing ourselves to be exposed to the elements of the world and letting those things change us by not changing us at all but making who we are more of ourselves.
This book reaches within the depths of your being and grabs you and shakes you and opens you up. It is absolutely amazing. Because it is all true. No matter what your religious stand point. because it is more than that. It truly is a book that simply states the way men live and they way a man should live and which one are you? And what path will you follow?
Everyone in the universe(because the world is just too small) should no rather MUST read this book. It will change your life. You will become a better person a better human being the person that you want to be rather the person you want people to see and it will not be a false illusion rather a sincere presense of a human being that unfortunetly can be far and few between.
I wish I could state more articutely(spelling) and more precisely on why this book is what it is but I simply can't because it just is. "We not only have more than we had but we become more than we were."
Its about being who we are truly and opening and allowing ourselves to be exposed to the elements of the world and letting those things change us by not changing us at all but making who we are more of ourselves.
This book reaches within the depths of your being and grabs you and shakes you and opens you up. It is absolutely amazing. Because it is all true. No matter what your religious stand point. because it is more than that. It truly is a book that simply states the way men live and they way a man should live and which one are you? And what path will you follow?
Everyone in the universe(because the world is just too small) should no rather MUST read this book. It will change your life. You will become a better person a better human being the person that you want to be rather the person you want people to see and it will not be a false illusion rather a sincere presense of a human being that unfortunetly can be far and few between.
I wish I could state more articutely(spelling) and more precisely on why this book is what it is but I simply can't because it just is. "We not only have more than we had but we become more than we were."
November 24, 2025
This might not even have been written by Merton. He was a huge marketing name, I wouldn’t be surprised if they (his monastery) ghost-wrote this and published it under his name.
Too abstract, too airy, too many vague references to other things that are never actually mentioned. The Bible has more than enough vagueness in itself, but that has also its own historic reasons. This was written 50 years ago and it gave me absolutely nothing that the Gospel did not already give me.
Come on, Catholicism is in desperate need of a sweeping reform, a fresh look at the same old truths, and it needs the oxygen of plain English talk, especially in our times. But these type of books never dare to provide anything with a bit of any real "flavor". Tell me about scientific and historic truth as being a different thing altogether from the Gospel's theological truths. Propose some new ways for science and faith to co-exist, as they can do. Acknowledge the fact that most catholics today have absolutely no idea about the real concept of "God", as articulated by St Augustine and others. Tell me about the money that the Church owns, how about that, before exhalting poverty and telling me to devoid myself of all my material goods. Tell me that faith is fundamentally a way to live well with yourself and with other people (like Pope Benedict had the courage to say in one of his books).
None of that here.
Religion is made of spiritual life, yes, but it should also be made of practical life, facts and examples. In this book there is none of that. Only grand statements, expressed in a rather cerebral and theoretical way.
Matter of tastes, but I need examples if you want me to understand what you are saying with your philosophical meanderings.
Having said that, there are some passages that I found very inspiring.
Too abstract, too airy, too many vague references to other things that are never actually mentioned. The Bible has more than enough vagueness in itself, but that has also its own historic reasons. This was written 50 years ago and it gave me absolutely nothing that the Gospel did not already give me.
Come on, Catholicism is in desperate need of a sweeping reform, a fresh look at the same old truths, and it needs the oxygen of plain English talk, especially in our times. But these type of books never dare to provide anything with a bit of any real "flavor". Tell me about scientific and historic truth as being a different thing altogether from the Gospel's theological truths. Propose some new ways for science and faith to co-exist, as they can do. Acknowledge the fact that most catholics today have absolutely no idea about the real concept of "God", as articulated by St Augustine and others. Tell me about the money that the Church owns, how about that, before exhalting poverty and telling me to devoid myself of all my material goods. Tell me that faith is fundamentally a way to live well with yourself and with other people (like Pope Benedict had the courage to say in one of his books).
None of that here.
Religion is made of spiritual life, yes, but it should also be made of practical life, facts and examples. In this book there is none of that. Only grand statements, expressed in a rather cerebral and theoretical way.
Matter of tastes, but I need examples if you want me to understand what you are saying with your philosophical meanderings.
Having said that, there are some passages that I found very inspiring.
June 2, 2020
This book is short and power-packed. If you are a new taker, as I am, you will find yourself making slow progress not because Merton's epigrams are hard to understand but because you will want to squirrel them away for future use.
November 29, 2025
If concentration and recollection can exist together, why is the Christian concept of mercy, "the key to the transformation of a whole universe"? (207)
"We make ourselves real by telling the truth." (188)
If I am telling my truth, I disagree that:
~ "An optimistic view of life is not necessarily a virtuous thing." (xii)
~ "Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy." (21)
~ "We must be silent in the presence of signs whose meaning is closed to us." (62)
~ "Suffering is wasted if we suffer entirely alone. Those who do not know Christ, suffer alone." (85)
~ "Self denial delivers us from the passions and from selfishness." (105)
~ "If I love my brother with a perfect love, I will want him to be free from every love but the love of God." (165)
~ Divine love in married life is, "less spiritual." (154)
~ "The Church understands human love far better and more profoundly than modern man." (199)
~ "Our sincerity itself establishes an instant contact with the God of all truth." (205)
~ "We can only get to Heaven by dying for other people on the cross." (212)
* I would prefer no suffering as opposed to, "effective suffering." (139) *
I do agree that:
"Nevertheless, if we really love others it will not be too hard to like them also." (169)
"We make ourselves real by telling the truth." (188)
If I am telling my truth, I disagree that:
~ "An optimistic view of life is not necessarily a virtuous thing." (xii)
~ "Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy." (21)
~ "We must be silent in the presence of signs whose meaning is closed to us." (62)
~ "Suffering is wasted if we suffer entirely alone. Those who do not know Christ, suffer alone." (85)
~ "Self denial delivers us from the passions and from selfishness." (105)
~ "If I love my brother with a perfect love, I will want him to be free from every love but the love of God." (165)
~ Divine love in married life is, "less spiritual." (154)
~ "The Church understands human love far better and more profoundly than modern man." (199)
~ "Our sincerity itself establishes an instant contact with the God of all truth." (205)
~ "We can only get to Heaven by dying for other people on the cross." (212)
* I would prefer no suffering as opposed to, "effective suffering." (139) *
I do agree that:
"Nevertheless, if we really love others it will not be too hard to like them also." (169)
December 19, 2019
If we are lucky, once or twice in our lives a book will come along that will truly, drastically, change us. This was one such book. I first read it a little more than fifteen years ago and I felt that it was unquestionably one of the greatest books I had ever read. It humbled me. It challenged me.
Since that time it has been sitting on my shelf and I kept saying I need to get back to it. Finally, I have done so but I almost wish I hadn't. This is still a really good book. It is actually more of a collection of thoughts and ideas than what we are used to seeing even as a work of philosophical or religious nonfiction. Within those reflections, there are some incredibly profound glimpses and some very quotable (and life aspiration type) moments.
However, there are also some points where it just seems like he is rambling or repeating things he has already said in other ways in other chapters. I still truly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who would consider themselves a true reader (knocking out a few dozen YA novels a year does not count as real reading). I just think that I had set the bar so high after my first read that it would have been impossible to meet my expectations.
Since that time it has been sitting on my shelf and I kept saying I need to get back to it. Finally, I have done so but I almost wish I hadn't. This is still a really good book. It is actually more of a collection of thoughts and ideas than what we are used to seeing even as a work of philosophical or religious nonfiction. Within those reflections, there are some incredibly profound glimpses and some very quotable (and life aspiration type) moments.
However, there are also some points where it just seems like he is rambling or repeating things he has already said in other ways in other chapters. I still truly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who would consider themselves a true reader (knocking out a few dozen YA novels a year does not count as real reading). I just think that I had set the bar so high after my first read that it would have been impossible to meet my expectations.
April 25, 2013
Just one listen and that's not enough. Like Contemplative Prayer I am going to need to listen to this again ... and probably again and again before I can write a review. He's not easy! But taking a break in between to listen to The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals, while I read a bio about him as well.
January 29, 2009
I have been reading this forever. At first, I couldn't get past the all male language that he uses throughout. The only feminine language used is when referencing the Church, although in both negative and positive lights, the Church, in this book, is in direct conversation with God. Of the conversation partners, God, is always male.
So after I got over that - this book is AMAZING! Theology is inspiring and clearly comes from a place of experience and practice. Merton is both a practitioner, academic and contemplative (a fine combination).
I haven't gotten though everything yet, and have yet to critique his actual ideas. So far, I find this a very...good read.
So after I got over that - this book is AMAZING! Theology is inspiring and clearly comes from a place of experience and practice. Merton is both a practitioner, academic and contemplative (a fine combination).
I haven't gotten though everything yet, and have yet to critique his actual ideas. So far, I find this a very...good read.
July 8, 2025
A collection of probing reflections on personhood, spirituality, and the Christian life. Merton offers here perhaps the most insightful treatment on the essence of Christian spirituality that I have read.
November 19, 2025
Mi-a dezvoltat mult lobul frontal, trebuie sa mai revin din cand in cand asupra ei. "Imitatio Christi" style.
August 27, 2016
A good read, but might be more frustrating than enlightening depending on where you're coming from. Merton does a great job of describing the spiritual plight of humanity (particularly the plight of humans who cultivate no sense of the spirit), but his prescriptive assertions are too narrow to be of much use to anyone who isn't already a devout Christian. As a quasi-skeptic (and seeker of truth) with a history with religion, I found plenty to think about and relate to here, but also plenty to question and scratch my head over--Merton takes the mythology and language of Christianity for granted, for example, which precludes a deeper exploration of the human condition outside of that framework; also, out of nowhere there's a lot of focus on monkhood at one point, which for most readers is probably a bit too specific to be relevant. Overall, it has its dry patches, but it also has some really important things to say about human life, so definitely check it out if you're interested in religion and spirituality.
March 1, 2013
I believe that love is the highest human aim. What Merton has done here is talk about love well. He exposes false love, and examines the mechanics of proper and pure love. For that, I would like to give him 5 stars, but that would do more to betray the relevance and timeliness of his message in my life than to attest to the work's literary merit. Not that the writing is lacking- Merton is a pleasure to read.
Many topics are covered in these essays, some of them more religiously specific than others, but there is something to be gained in all of them for the person of faith who seeks to remain thoughtful and grounded about important things. When the waters of loving and serving others, God, and myself become muddy, I am sure that I will be revisiting these words to see again how all of those things are interrelated.
Many topics are covered in these essays, some of them more religiously specific than others, but there is something to be gained in all of them for the person of faith who seeks to remain thoughtful and grounded about important things. When the waters of loving and serving others, God, and myself become muddy, I am sure that I will be revisiting these words to see again how all of those things are interrelated.
March 4, 2025
This may be the best spiritual read I have ever read. Throughout his book, Merton eloquently connects many of the lessons he learned from his life as a monk to the realities of pure intention/surrender, vocation, the virtues, and the importance of silence and recollection in the spiritual life. This book took me a while to get through because there was always something applicable to my faith life on every page that made me stop and have to journal. For any Catholics or even Christians out there, No Man Is An Island is worth the read. What a beautiful and powerful book!
January 1, 2010
An incredibly dense set of essays that need to be taken slowly, else you risk missing the full impact of Merton's wisdom. His words build, circle back, progress, and then hit a point of paradox that feels so true-to-life I sat there and reveled in the fact that someone had managed to express it with mere language. My favorite chapters were Silence, Being and Doing, and The Inward Solitude. I kept forgetting that I was borrowing a friend's copy of the book, so I would fumble for a pen to notate all the epiphanies I came across, only to be frustrated at the fact that I had to leave the pages blank! Definitely buying myself a copy; I know this is a book I will need ready access to in the future.
May 10, 2018
I didn't agree with everything in this book, but I found it interesting. A few passages really helped me.
October 24, 2016
I transcribed the thoughts of Merton in this spiritual handbook to understand his journey and message for myself. There are sections and passages in Merton’s work that I found difficult and obscure and I specified when I came across such. I don’t propose that my notes will make the overall experience any simpler or easier. I suggest reading the original No Man Is an Island to get the full message and see for yourself perhaps what I did not fully comprehend.
I found "No Man Is an Island" difficult. I understood bits and pieces but it was not easy to put the puzzle together. I read to the middle of the book hoping for better light to come shining until I found paragraphs and longer sections of “bright moments”. I slowed down my reading considerably to reflect more on the message. I learned that Merton’s earlier work “Seeds of Contemplation” covered some of the ground and he further developed things in “No Man Is an Island”. I decided to read “Seeds of Contemplation” first and read "No Man Is an Island" very slowly, concentrating on every paragraph. It was a slow but worthwhile effort. These notes are from my second reading.
Preface
Merton gives his intentions in the book: “to share … certain aspects of the spiritual life”. That spiritual life is the life of man’s “real self … the interior life … oriented towards God”. It will get us in touch with the “reality as it really is”. He intends to go over some ground that was discussed in the previous Seeds of Contemplation in a more fundamental and detailed manner. (p. ix-x)
Prologue
Man tends to rebel against himself to find life’s meaning, has a great difficulty to see the meaning of life. We need to find our own individual meaning of our existence from within. Learning it from watching others can lead us to easy solutions not necessarily a virtuous thing. We may have become coarse to resist the fear and trembling and anxiety. We need to ask questions to find answers and be unafraid to ask them.
There are lazy diseases like despair. It resorts to science and philosophy. “Clever answers to clever questions” have nothing to do with the problems of life. (p. xiii)
Merton says he wants to meditate in this book on the Catholic tradition, to understand it as a man of faith to make the faith part of his own life and live it.
The unifying idea he wants pursue is that as every man looks for his own salvation in life he wants to discover first “who he himself really is”. (p. xv) The second idea is as the title of the book suggests no man can find who he really is “in himself alone, but that he must find himself in and through others.” (p. xv)
The Gospel sums this up: If any man would save his life, he must lose it” and “Love one another as I have loved you”. (p. xv) St. Paul said “We are all members one of another.” Discover of ourselves in others in not subjective or psychological but an objective and mystical self-realization of losing and discovering ourselves in Christ. It is finding God who “built us together in Him unto a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22) (p. xvi)
Discovery of Christ must be real, not an escape from ourselves but an acceptance of ourselves, and others as we are with all our limitations.
Chapter 1: “Love Can Be Kept Only by Being Given Away”
1. Love brings you happiness only if you share it and it is reciprocated. Your own self-satisfaction that is selfish can only be temporary. You are not satisfied when you love someone who is selfish and receives your love selfishly and does not reciprocate.
2. Love does not look for the effect of bestowing it on others and is not interested in the joy that it affects. It only seeks the good of the beloved.
3. Loving another must be true and not blind. Loving blindly that does not distinguish between good and evil is hatred and it is selfish, a love for its own sake. When bodily passion exists it is what it is. You follow your passions and do not even bother to acknowledge that you are deceiving yourself.
4. The virtue of charity is strong and clear-sighted. We must examine that our love for others is not insincere, or selfish. We must not seek it for pleasure of our own.
5. We must first love truth that comes from God and enter into the mystery of God’s love for our brothers. It is not a philosophical or abstract truth but concrete and practical living truth.
Chapter 2: “Sentences of Hope”
1. We will not be perfectly free until we realize our end not in visible things but in God. We must be free of material things to appreciate them for what they are but it is all through God.
We belong to God by faith and supernatural hops. We become confident and aware that He possesses our soul.
We can measure our hope by the degree of our detachment by hope. Perfect detachment gives us free hands to work. It shows us the what and the how. God becomes present in our lives and we will His mercy.
2. I must trust in God of my own free will and believe in His grace. I must believe I can love Him. If I do not believe that I do now follow His first commandment: “Thou shall love thy Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy neighbor as thyself.” (p. 17)
3. We may begin with loving God first and hope in knowing He loves us. Hope and charity work together.
4. Loving God is the one desire that cannot fail. Even a desire to love Him is a beginning towards perfect freedom of loving nothing else first. We ask Him anything provided we love Him first.
5. Any limit on our love for and hope in God is a sin because by sin we withdraw from God and hope in and serve some other master.
6. Our hope must be supernatural above things and time of this world. We must detach ourselves from them. Our hope is in the promise of heaven and new earth.
7. The devil has no God, no hope, only has pride that refuses to love.
8. God is Lord of the poor, Father of mercy, and a jealous God of His prerogative as the supreme forgiver and of those who can hope even as the thief on the cross who believed.
9. We must want mercy even in despair and recognize the need for forgiveness. Hoping is better than oblivion to problems.
10. If we live with hope we are by the grace of God predestined to Heaven. We hope by our free will and God’s grace. Our Free Will becomes a grace from God.
11. Hope and faith that will to save all men to be saved must also be individual as it pertains to me. Hope and Faith tell me Jesus loves me.
12. Hope seeks God’s glory revealed in ourselves when we say “Thy Kingdom come.”
Chapter 3 “Conscience, Freedom, and Prayer”
1. We are prisoners of our own blindness if we look to other people or situations for how we should live. We deceive ourselves believing we are free or that we can make others or even our own body obey us.
Our free will does not allow us to be self-sufficient. We make choices too often directed by our “psychological compulsions” by our false selves not by our inner selves that would perfect us and fulfill our “real selves”. (p. 25)
Pleasing ourselves will only keep us miserable most of the time. Yet there is something in my free will that tells me to love and do good to others. Others fulfill my freedom but we must not subject ourselves to a tyrant and serve him. That would be disorder. We will realize our freedom only if we serve the will of God.
2. Freedom must be used to a good end. Our conscience measures our actions. Blind love that finds no fulfillment brings no happy end.
We must develop a mature conscience to make good choices. Our conscience cannot be formed on other people’s dispositions towards us. We must be our own master of our conscience and have our own moral intentions. I must give my own love to another to be true.
3. Our freedom is a talent given to us by God to trade to have more than we had and become more than we were. Merton makes an analogy between freedom and money. You are free with your freedom but like a wise rich man you don’t’ throw your freedom away like money out the window. You invest your freedom, not destroy it. You dedicate it as you grow, and see more purpose to use your freedom because you see wider horizons, charity, and closer union with God.
4. Our conscience gives a reflection of who we are. It tells us what we do, how and how well we act morally. It shows on our outward appearance but it manifests the soul within.
5. We develop our moral conscience by prayer but not our consciousness. It is healthier not to be always conscious of ourselves, to constantly examine our feelings and thoughts—it will paralyze us—we will be unable to act normally. Meditation should not be the time to look for religious emotions.
6. Perception of beauty in what is real and responding to the splendor of God’s creation that is all around us can bring us to an awareness of what we withdraw away from and become insensible to in a world in which we are constantly bombarded by stimulations of every kind.
We need to learn new ways of seeing things, not merely to withdraw from them to discover and respond to values that are hidden and find “ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. (p. 34)
We can lift ourselves through an aesthetic experience by contemplating a work of art, a poem, or a piece of music. We discover our capacity to a level of being we did not know we could achieve.
7. Such an awareness as through discovering higher level of consciousness should serve us to view things in a new way and to act above our normal level. We should look and respond to such “flashes of aesthetic intuition” in a prayer. (p. 35) Church art and music of Gregorian chant have been present in the Church as means of introducing the souls to lift them above towards a higher spiritual order. It draws the soul to God. Art that does not produce some kind of an uplifting effect is not art.
8. We must not ignore our subconscious mind. It’s a storehouse of our life’s “experiences” and it works in forming our knowledge of life’s realities. We must therefore at the least acknowledge that our subconscious does exist and that there are areas we must open our ears to with humility. (p. 37)
9. Our consciousness is secondary in our spiritual life. Our moral conscience has access to the ultimate realm beyond our conscience.
The scribes who knew the law in the time of Jesus observed the law externally but did not understand Jesus when he was preaching to them that man must be born again “of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”. (John 3:5) St. Paul reiterated Christ when he wrote to the Corinthians “You are the epostles of Christ … ministered by us and written not in ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” (II Corinthians 3:3)
10. Prayer strengthens our conscience and brings to light God’s law and unites our conscience with the Holy Spirit.
11. We are born with conscience and it is not possible to deny it nor our spiritual freedom and moral responsibility. We must seek enlightenment to mature spiritually and live by the light of “prudent and mature conscience”. (p. 42)
12. The way we address God in prayer makes us what we are. We try to run away from God if we never pray. Praying to God with a “false and lying heart” (p. 42) is worse than sinning and never praying. A sinner is afraid of God. A proud man who sins and stands before God thinking he is better than other men lies to himself and to God.
13. Our praying is inspired by God Who wants us to pray, to trust Him, thank and adore Him, express our sorrow, and ask Him for mercy and courage and strength to grow in spiritual life.
“Most of the world is either asleep or dead” to the coming of the bridegroom as in the parable of the Virgins. It is better to have the oil in the lamps even though we may occasionally fall asleep during our wait. (p. 44)
14. Our prayer is a gift of God. We should be grateful if we have it, and are able to address God in prayer, that we are thus privileged.
The lowest level of praying is words without attention or thought about their meaning.
We may also be praying and thinking about God or speculating about spiritual matters but our thoughts are not about our praying and trying to establish contact with God. This type of prayer is short of addressing Him.
When we address God with our problems and those of our family and others we may find little satisfaction from such praying but if we are humble we will appreciate what little light we receive from so great a God.
The way to purest prayer is through first entering into the great mystery, which cannot be explained but experienced. But it will also bring on unrest by reflecting on ourselves, then fear, doubt, and sorrow. We will realize our past sins and selfishness. We begin to revaluate all that is in us. But our prayer will become more sincere and grateful for the least amount of consolation. God will be present deep within us. The Spirit of God will move us secretly toward an internal solitude whether we are alone on in a busy environment. We will no longer seek consolation for ourselves and pray “without any thought of our own satisfaction”. (p.50)
Purest prayer cannot be reflected upon and we no longer will seek to do so. The soul only “seeks to keep itself hidden in God” in silence.
Chapter 4: “Pure Intention”
1. Our happiness comes from union with God and doing His will.
2. God’s will is a great mystery and holiness. When we are doing His will we are “joined to the Lord” and “are one Spirit” (I Corinthians 6:17).
3. Pure intention consists in doing God’s will not for our own good and happiness but doing good to all of God’s men. In seeking good beyond ourselves we will find our own happiness.
4. We put into doubt whether God wills what is best universally if we fall into an illusion of preferring our won will even while yielding to God’s will. We must recognize that God’s will is always good. We must do so with perfect generosity and yield without doubt. God’s will is best for us when He wills what is universally best.
5. Man who is in conflict between doing his won will and the will of God is not free and happy. It is best to “take pleasure in nothing but the will of God” (p. 56).
6. Man who tries to follow his own will is confused and blind, overwhelmed by endless possibilities. If he examined some of his choices he would perhaps find that the best alternative is to do the will of God. This he does not want to do.
7. We must be willing to do the will of God, not merely doing it. This means following God’s commandments, do nothing that is forbidden.
8. God has first willed me to be. I an obligated in homage to God to be what He wants me to be and consent to live as a son of God. “If we are sons, heirs also and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
The Holy Spirit enlightens us how to live by the commandments and to understand the Gospels about Jesus. Holy Spirit comes to us through the Church and the sacraments to live in charity and self-sacrifice like Jesus.
9. The Spirit of God awakens in us knowledge of God and His love for us, which God showed to us through Jesus who He sent to us. The Holy Spirit also teaches us not to live by flesh but to mortify its deeds. The Spirit of God will teach us how to live by His law of charity, peacefully, humbly, simply, and wisely so that we love others more that ourselves as Jesus loved us (John 15:12).
Prayer is the means to discover God’s will and gain grace to carry out our desire.
10. We can desire to know the will of God but must recognize that His will is a great mystery and we can only hope to recognize certain signs of His will. These are like roadside signposts that point to a distant city.
The prophets saw more of the diving light than ordinary men. We look for the signs with a right attitude towards life, what it is, and what is the purpose of our existence. God asks that we give ourselves to Him. This is more than our doings, our unselfish charity and obeying His commandments. To find our true selves in Christ we must lose our lives. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “He that would save his life will lose it, and he that would lose his life for my sake shall find it” (p. 64).
11. Our intention must be pure in conforming to any sign of God’s will throughout our whole life and during times of uncertainly and darkness.
12. We cannot know perfectly here on earth what God’s will is and therefore must only follow what becomes known to us and will that perfectly. We must love doing it not do it because we have to follow what is unavoidable.
13. The dying thief on the cross led a life contrary to God’s commandments but in the end listened to Jesus and was saved. The Pharisees pursued perfection in keeping the law but did not see God in Jesus when He manifested Himself.
14. This section seems to address the title of this chapter “Pure Intention”: I wish to do God’s will not because I have to and not of my own will. Such worship is hollow. I know God’s will is wise and I want to adore God and do Him homage of my own will because I know though I do not see His infinite love and wisdom.
15. “Pure intention” is a “secret and spiritual word of God” that we seek and give back to God (p. 89-90). We look for his voice in our contemplation and it becomes our spiritual “food”.
16. Contemplation is not only an occasion for peace and recollection. Action grows out of it in charity to other men. We must care for what actions God will direct us towards.
17. We become spiritually mature when we unite contemplation with action. Life of prayer and sacrifice can become difficult and incomprehensible. We must also do and live in God. Our actions do not rest on satisfying our own end. We work “in God and with Him... and in whatever weather He may bring” (p. 72).
18. Our intention must be completely poor which includes our spiritual being. We must renounce all things and not expect anything in return.
19. We seek God but do not expect to find Him right away. We find Him already by seeking Him. He is the “abyss of divine peace and fills our whole life with His gentleness and His strength and His purity and His prayer and His silence” (p. 75).
Chapter 5 “The Word of the Cross”
1. “The word of the Cross is foolishness to them that perish”, says St. Paul, “but to them that are saved “it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18, p. 77).
2. We need to accept suffering with humility as an evil in us and not with pride stoically for that would be an illusion.
3. Jesus died on the Cross because of the infinite love of God for men. He rose from death because God is stronger than all evil.
4. Suffering is never a vocation. It is a test. But the saints did not accept if because they like it. They answered “the demand of love by a love that matches that of Christ” (p. 80).
5. Our identity was stamped at baptism. We got a name and through the sacrament were identified as Christians and began to work out our destiny.
6. The identity that we got at baptism is in Christ, conforming spiritually to Christ “in his suffering” (p. 82). We come into the communion of the saints. But baptism though it brings to membership of others it also distinguishes us and our lives of “suffering and charity of Christ” that is unlike anyone else’s life (p. 82).
7. Our suffering and trials are part of our personal destiny. “It is the Passion of Christ, stretching out its tendril into my life” (p. 83).
(I ran out of space on goodreads: 20,000 characters.)
I found "No Man Is an Island" difficult. I understood bits and pieces but it was not easy to put the puzzle together. I read to the middle of the book hoping for better light to come shining until I found paragraphs and longer sections of “bright moments”. I slowed down my reading considerably to reflect more on the message. I learned that Merton’s earlier work “Seeds of Contemplation” covered some of the ground and he further developed things in “No Man Is an Island”. I decided to read “Seeds of Contemplation” first and read "No Man Is an Island" very slowly, concentrating on every paragraph. It was a slow but worthwhile effort. These notes are from my second reading.
Preface
Merton gives his intentions in the book: “to share … certain aspects of the spiritual life”. That spiritual life is the life of man’s “real self … the interior life … oriented towards God”. It will get us in touch with the “reality as it really is”. He intends to go over some ground that was discussed in the previous Seeds of Contemplation in a more fundamental and detailed manner. (p. ix-x)
Prologue
Man tends to rebel against himself to find life’s meaning, has a great difficulty to see the meaning of life. We need to find our own individual meaning of our existence from within. Learning it from watching others can lead us to easy solutions not necessarily a virtuous thing. We may have become coarse to resist the fear and trembling and anxiety. We need to ask questions to find answers and be unafraid to ask them.
There are lazy diseases like despair. It resorts to science and philosophy. “Clever answers to clever questions” have nothing to do with the problems of life. (p. xiii)
Merton says he wants to meditate in this book on the Catholic tradition, to understand it as a man of faith to make the faith part of his own life and live it.
The unifying idea he wants pursue is that as every man looks for his own salvation in life he wants to discover first “who he himself really is”. (p. xv) The second idea is as the title of the book suggests no man can find who he really is “in himself alone, but that he must find himself in and through others.” (p. xv)
The Gospel sums this up: If any man would save his life, he must lose it” and “Love one another as I have loved you”. (p. xv) St. Paul said “We are all members one of another.” Discover of ourselves in others in not subjective or psychological but an objective and mystical self-realization of losing and discovering ourselves in Christ. It is finding God who “built us together in Him unto a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22) (p. xvi)
Discovery of Christ must be real, not an escape from ourselves but an acceptance of ourselves, and others as we are with all our limitations.
Chapter 1: “Love Can Be Kept Only by Being Given Away”
1. Love brings you happiness only if you share it and it is reciprocated. Your own self-satisfaction that is selfish can only be temporary. You are not satisfied when you love someone who is selfish and receives your love selfishly and does not reciprocate.
2. Love does not look for the effect of bestowing it on others and is not interested in the joy that it affects. It only seeks the good of the beloved.
3. Loving another must be true and not blind. Loving blindly that does not distinguish between good and evil is hatred and it is selfish, a love for its own sake. When bodily passion exists it is what it is. You follow your passions and do not even bother to acknowledge that you are deceiving yourself.
4. The virtue of charity is strong and clear-sighted. We must examine that our love for others is not insincere, or selfish. We must not seek it for pleasure of our own.
5. We must first love truth that comes from God and enter into the mystery of God’s love for our brothers. It is not a philosophical or abstract truth but concrete and practical living truth.
Chapter 2: “Sentences of Hope”
1. We will not be perfectly free until we realize our end not in visible things but in God. We must be free of material things to appreciate them for what they are but it is all through God.
We belong to God by faith and supernatural hops. We become confident and aware that He possesses our soul.
We can measure our hope by the degree of our detachment by hope. Perfect detachment gives us free hands to work. It shows us the what and the how. God becomes present in our lives and we will His mercy.
2. I must trust in God of my own free will and believe in His grace. I must believe I can love Him. If I do not believe that I do now follow His first commandment: “Thou shall love thy Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy neighbor as thyself.” (p. 17)
3. We may begin with loving God first and hope in knowing He loves us. Hope and charity work together.
4. Loving God is the one desire that cannot fail. Even a desire to love Him is a beginning towards perfect freedom of loving nothing else first. We ask Him anything provided we love Him first.
5. Any limit on our love for and hope in God is a sin because by sin we withdraw from God and hope in and serve some other master.
6. Our hope must be supernatural above things and time of this world. We must detach ourselves from them. Our hope is in the promise of heaven and new earth.
7. The devil has no God, no hope, only has pride that refuses to love.
8. God is Lord of the poor, Father of mercy, and a jealous God of His prerogative as the supreme forgiver and of those who can hope even as the thief on the cross who believed.
9. We must want mercy even in despair and recognize the need for forgiveness. Hoping is better than oblivion to problems.
10. If we live with hope we are by the grace of God predestined to Heaven. We hope by our free will and God’s grace. Our Free Will becomes a grace from God.
11. Hope and faith that will to save all men to be saved must also be individual as it pertains to me. Hope and Faith tell me Jesus loves me.
12. Hope seeks God’s glory revealed in ourselves when we say “Thy Kingdom come.”
Chapter 3 “Conscience, Freedom, and Prayer”
1. We are prisoners of our own blindness if we look to other people or situations for how we should live. We deceive ourselves believing we are free or that we can make others or even our own body obey us.
Our free will does not allow us to be self-sufficient. We make choices too often directed by our “psychological compulsions” by our false selves not by our inner selves that would perfect us and fulfill our “real selves”. (p. 25)
Pleasing ourselves will only keep us miserable most of the time. Yet there is something in my free will that tells me to love and do good to others. Others fulfill my freedom but we must not subject ourselves to a tyrant and serve him. That would be disorder. We will realize our freedom only if we serve the will of God.
2. Freedom must be used to a good end. Our conscience measures our actions. Blind love that finds no fulfillment brings no happy end.
We must develop a mature conscience to make good choices. Our conscience cannot be formed on other people’s dispositions towards us. We must be our own master of our conscience and have our own moral intentions. I must give my own love to another to be true.
3. Our freedom is a talent given to us by God to trade to have more than we had and become more than we were. Merton makes an analogy between freedom and money. You are free with your freedom but like a wise rich man you don’t’ throw your freedom away like money out the window. You invest your freedom, not destroy it. You dedicate it as you grow, and see more purpose to use your freedom because you see wider horizons, charity, and closer union with God.
4. Our conscience gives a reflection of who we are. It tells us what we do, how and how well we act morally. It shows on our outward appearance but it manifests the soul within.
5. We develop our moral conscience by prayer but not our consciousness. It is healthier not to be always conscious of ourselves, to constantly examine our feelings and thoughts—it will paralyze us—we will be unable to act normally. Meditation should not be the time to look for religious emotions.
6. Perception of beauty in what is real and responding to the splendor of God’s creation that is all around us can bring us to an awareness of what we withdraw away from and become insensible to in a world in which we are constantly bombarded by stimulations of every kind.
We need to learn new ways of seeing things, not merely to withdraw from them to discover and respond to values that are hidden and find “ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. (p. 34)
We can lift ourselves through an aesthetic experience by contemplating a work of art, a poem, or a piece of music. We discover our capacity to a level of being we did not know we could achieve.
7. Such an awareness as through discovering higher level of consciousness should serve us to view things in a new way and to act above our normal level. We should look and respond to such “flashes of aesthetic intuition” in a prayer. (p. 35) Church art and music of Gregorian chant have been present in the Church as means of introducing the souls to lift them above towards a higher spiritual order. It draws the soul to God. Art that does not produce some kind of an uplifting effect is not art.
8. We must not ignore our subconscious mind. It’s a storehouse of our life’s “experiences” and it works in forming our knowledge of life’s realities. We must therefore at the least acknowledge that our subconscious does exist and that there are areas we must open our ears to with humility. (p. 37)
9. Our consciousness is secondary in our spiritual life. Our moral conscience has access to the ultimate realm beyond our conscience.
The scribes who knew the law in the time of Jesus observed the law externally but did not understand Jesus when he was preaching to them that man must be born again “of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”. (John 3:5) St. Paul reiterated Christ when he wrote to the Corinthians “You are the epostles of Christ … ministered by us and written not in ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” (II Corinthians 3:3)
10. Prayer strengthens our conscience and brings to light God’s law and unites our conscience with the Holy Spirit.
11. We are born with conscience and it is not possible to deny it nor our spiritual freedom and moral responsibility. We must seek enlightenment to mature spiritually and live by the light of “prudent and mature conscience”. (p. 42)
12. The way we address God in prayer makes us what we are. We try to run away from God if we never pray. Praying to God with a “false and lying heart” (p. 42) is worse than sinning and never praying. A sinner is afraid of God. A proud man who sins and stands before God thinking he is better than other men lies to himself and to God.
13. Our praying is inspired by God Who wants us to pray, to trust Him, thank and adore Him, express our sorrow, and ask Him for mercy and courage and strength to grow in spiritual life.
“Most of the world is either asleep or dead” to the coming of the bridegroom as in the parable of the Virgins. It is better to have the oil in the lamps even though we may occasionally fall asleep during our wait. (p. 44)
14. Our prayer is a gift of God. We should be grateful if we have it, and are able to address God in prayer, that we are thus privileged.
The lowest level of praying is words without attention or thought about their meaning.
We may also be praying and thinking about God or speculating about spiritual matters but our thoughts are not about our praying and trying to establish contact with God. This type of prayer is short of addressing Him.
When we address God with our problems and those of our family and others we may find little satisfaction from such praying but if we are humble we will appreciate what little light we receive from so great a God.
The way to purest prayer is through first entering into the great mystery, which cannot be explained but experienced. But it will also bring on unrest by reflecting on ourselves, then fear, doubt, and sorrow. We will realize our past sins and selfishness. We begin to revaluate all that is in us. But our prayer will become more sincere and grateful for the least amount of consolation. God will be present deep within us. The Spirit of God will move us secretly toward an internal solitude whether we are alone on in a busy environment. We will no longer seek consolation for ourselves and pray “without any thought of our own satisfaction”. (p.50)
Purest prayer cannot be reflected upon and we no longer will seek to do so. The soul only “seeks to keep itself hidden in God” in silence.
Chapter 4: “Pure Intention”
1. Our happiness comes from union with God and doing His will.
2. God’s will is a great mystery and holiness. When we are doing His will we are “joined to the Lord” and “are one Spirit” (I Corinthians 6:17).
3. Pure intention consists in doing God’s will not for our own good and happiness but doing good to all of God’s men. In seeking good beyond ourselves we will find our own happiness.
4. We put into doubt whether God wills what is best universally if we fall into an illusion of preferring our won will even while yielding to God’s will. We must recognize that God’s will is always good. We must do so with perfect generosity and yield without doubt. God’s will is best for us when He wills what is universally best.
5. Man who is in conflict between doing his won will and the will of God is not free and happy. It is best to “take pleasure in nothing but the will of God” (p. 56).
6. Man who tries to follow his own will is confused and blind, overwhelmed by endless possibilities. If he examined some of his choices he would perhaps find that the best alternative is to do the will of God. This he does not want to do.
7. We must be willing to do the will of God, not merely doing it. This means following God’s commandments, do nothing that is forbidden.
8. God has first willed me to be. I an obligated in homage to God to be what He wants me to be and consent to live as a son of God. “If we are sons, heirs also and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
The Holy Spirit enlightens us how to live by the commandments and to understand the Gospels about Jesus. Holy Spirit comes to us through the Church and the sacraments to live in charity and self-sacrifice like Jesus.
9. The Spirit of God awakens in us knowledge of God and His love for us, which God showed to us through Jesus who He sent to us. The Holy Spirit also teaches us not to live by flesh but to mortify its deeds. The Spirit of God will teach us how to live by His law of charity, peacefully, humbly, simply, and wisely so that we love others more that ourselves as Jesus loved us (John 15:12).
Prayer is the means to discover God’s will and gain grace to carry out our desire.
10. We can desire to know the will of God but must recognize that His will is a great mystery and we can only hope to recognize certain signs of His will. These are like roadside signposts that point to a distant city.
The prophets saw more of the diving light than ordinary men. We look for the signs with a right attitude towards life, what it is, and what is the purpose of our existence. God asks that we give ourselves to Him. This is more than our doings, our unselfish charity and obeying His commandments. To find our true selves in Christ we must lose our lives. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “He that would save his life will lose it, and he that would lose his life for my sake shall find it” (p. 64).
11. Our intention must be pure in conforming to any sign of God’s will throughout our whole life and during times of uncertainly and darkness.
12. We cannot know perfectly here on earth what God’s will is and therefore must only follow what becomes known to us and will that perfectly. We must love doing it not do it because we have to follow what is unavoidable.
13. The dying thief on the cross led a life contrary to God’s commandments but in the end listened to Jesus and was saved. The Pharisees pursued perfection in keeping the law but did not see God in Jesus when He manifested Himself.
14. This section seems to address the title of this chapter “Pure Intention”: I wish to do God’s will not because I have to and not of my own will. Such worship is hollow. I know God’s will is wise and I want to adore God and do Him homage of my own will because I know though I do not see His infinite love and wisdom.
15. “Pure intention” is a “secret and spiritual word of God” that we seek and give back to God (p. 89-90). We look for his voice in our contemplation and it becomes our spiritual “food”.
16. Contemplation is not only an occasion for peace and recollection. Action grows out of it in charity to other men. We must care for what actions God will direct us towards.
17. We become spiritually mature when we unite contemplation with action. Life of prayer and sacrifice can become difficult and incomprehensible. We must also do and live in God. Our actions do not rest on satisfying our own end. We work “in God and with Him... and in whatever weather He may bring” (p. 72).
18. Our intention must be completely poor which includes our spiritual being. We must renounce all things and not expect anything in return.
19. We seek God but do not expect to find Him right away. We find Him already by seeking Him. He is the “abyss of divine peace and fills our whole life with His gentleness and His strength and His purity and His prayer and His silence” (p. 75).
Chapter 5 “The Word of the Cross”
1. “The word of the Cross is foolishness to them that perish”, says St. Paul, “but to them that are saved “it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18, p. 77).
2. We need to accept suffering with humility as an evil in us and not with pride stoically for that would be an illusion.
3. Jesus died on the Cross because of the infinite love of God for men. He rose from death because God is stronger than all evil.
4. Suffering is never a vocation. It is a test. But the saints did not accept if because they like it. They answered “the demand of love by a love that matches that of Christ” (p. 80).
5. Our identity was stamped at baptism. We got a name and through the sacrament were identified as Christians and began to work out our destiny.
6. The identity that we got at baptism is in Christ, conforming spiritually to Christ “in his suffering” (p. 82). We come into the communion of the saints. But baptism though it brings to membership of others it also distinguishes us and our lives of “suffering and charity of Christ” that is unlike anyone else’s life (p. 82).
7. Our suffering and trials are part of our personal destiny. “It is the Passion of Christ, stretching out its tendril into my life” (p. 83).
(I ran out of space on goodreads: 20,000 characters.)
March 23, 2019
I first picked up No Man Is an Island almost five years ago, after reading
New Seeds of Contemplation
, and was forced to abandon it when I moved to Europe. I have read hardly anything by Thomas Merton in the interval. But lately, seeking relief from spiritually-inflected depression, I chose No Man Is an Island to follow Addison Hodges Hart's
The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd
and started over from the beginning.
Five years ago I was newly married and minimally employed as an adjunct professor. Today I am a full-time high school teacher with a daughter almost three. Even now, not everything Merton says leaves a deep impression on me, but much that once seemed foreign to my experience now resonates. He quickens the ache of the heart while also offering direction and purpose—one words are not sufficient to express. But Merton is comfortable in that semi-silence, and that is what makes No Man Is an Island so rewarding. In a quiet way it orients the receptive reader to what the reader already knows in the depths of the heart. At this point in my life I need to be reminded what my soul requires, beneath the turbulence of mental confusion and frustration. Perhaps the most valuable thing I retrieved from Merton was that acknowledgment of my weakness and poverty is not sufficient to bring peace; I must also live in the assurance of God's mercy.
I write in the spring of Lent, on an especially beautiful morning. After reading the final chapter of this book, I took a walk in the cool sunlight with my wife and daughter, who picked flowers of clover, daisy fleabane, and false garlic. Remembrance, gratitude, hope.... This is one I will return to again.
Five years ago I was newly married and minimally employed as an adjunct professor. Today I am a full-time high school teacher with a daughter almost three. Even now, not everything Merton says leaves a deep impression on me, but much that once seemed foreign to my experience now resonates. He quickens the ache of the heart while also offering direction and purpose—one words are not sufficient to express. But Merton is comfortable in that semi-silence, and that is what makes No Man Is an Island so rewarding. In a quiet way it orients the receptive reader to what the reader already knows in the depths of the heart. At this point in my life I need to be reminded what my soul requires, beneath the turbulence of mental confusion and frustration. Perhaps the most valuable thing I retrieved from Merton was that acknowledgment of my weakness and poverty is not sufficient to bring peace; I must also live in the assurance of God's mercy.
I write in the spring of Lent, on an especially beautiful morning. After reading the final chapter of this book, I took a walk in the cool sunlight with my wife and daughter, who picked flowers of clover, daisy fleabane, and false garlic. Remembrance, gratitude, hope.... This is one I will return to again.
September 12, 2015
Excellent. I read this a few years ago and return to it again and again. It's a book you must own: finding yourself, knowing yourself; healing body, mind, Spirit. I also read. "Seeds of Contemplation", which I recommend. I had read Marianne Williamson's "A Return to Love", in 1993 and this sent me on a search for the source of inner healing. Love is the answer. Our subconscious at work, which is ever reinforced in Dr Joseph Murphy's book, "The power of your Subconscious Mind". see the website "Ichoosetoheal". Merton discusses the questions: Why do I exist? Why am I here? What is my mission or purpose?
April 28, 2020
Can be a bit flowery at times, but most of the time its a bop. I think he called me out for something I was doing or some mentality I had in just about every chapter.
November 21, 2025
10/10 Highly recommend.
Merton takes incredibly deep subjects and communicates his equally deep thoughts on them in a way that even a knuckle dragging mouth breather such as myself can connect with them, providing for many opportunities to have impactful and fruitful reflections.
Caveman philosopher think much good!
Merton takes incredibly deep subjects and communicates his equally deep thoughts on them in a way that even a knuckle dragging mouth breather such as myself can connect with them, providing for many opportunities to have impactful and fruitful reflections.
Caveman philosopher think much good!
March 23, 2023
This book is up there with New Seeds of Contemplation for the title of my favorite Thomas Merton book.
In reading No Man is an Island, I realized what it is about Merton that speaks to me. First, there's his earthiness. He understands that the spiritual is not somehow separate from physical and earthly life. Rather, our earthly life is the only means by which we can know God. For those of us who are not monks, priests, pastors, missionaries, living "spiritual" careers, this means that our lives can be as holy and supernatural as any ascetic.
"The saint is sanctified not only by fasting when he should fast but also by eating when he should eat. He is not only sanctified by his prayers in the darkness of the night, but by the sleep that he takes in obedience to God, who made us what we are. Not only his solitude contributes to his union with God, but also his supernatural love for his friends and his relatives and those with whom he lives and works."
Which naturally brings me to the second reason I love Merton: his understanding of other human beings. He brings out the fact that we, as human beings, can never fully know ourselves or God until we also understand one another. There's a mutuality and interdependence among humanity, such that we need to know one another to know ourselves. This means that solitude might bring us to God, but so might spending time trying to know others.
Last, I love Merton's emphasis on union with God. That is the end of faith. Not self-righteousness, not accomplishment, not "doing big things," union.
"He does not need our sacrifices, He asks for our selves. And if he prescribes certain acts of obedience, it is not because obedience is the beginning and end of everything. It is only the beginning. Charity, divine union, transformation in Christ: these are the end."
In reading No Man is an Island, I realized what it is about Merton that speaks to me. First, there's his earthiness. He understands that the spiritual is not somehow separate from physical and earthly life. Rather, our earthly life is the only means by which we can know God. For those of us who are not monks, priests, pastors, missionaries, living "spiritual" careers, this means that our lives can be as holy and supernatural as any ascetic.
"The saint is sanctified not only by fasting when he should fast but also by eating when he should eat. He is not only sanctified by his prayers in the darkness of the night, but by the sleep that he takes in obedience to God, who made us what we are. Not only his solitude contributes to his union with God, but also his supernatural love for his friends and his relatives and those with whom he lives and works."
Which naturally brings me to the second reason I love Merton: his understanding of other human beings. He brings out the fact that we, as human beings, can never fully know ourselves or God until we also understand one another. There's a mutuality and interdependence among humanity, such that we need to know one another to know ourselves. This means that solitude might bring us to God, but so might spending time trying to know others.
Last, I love Merton's emphasis on union with God. That is the end of faith. Not self-righteousness, not accomplishment, not "doing big things," union.
"He does not need our sacrifices, He asks for our selves. And if he prescribes certain acts of obedience, it is not because obedience is the beginning and end of everything. It is only the beginning. Charity, divine union, transformation in Christ: these are the end."
April 21, 2020
There are certain books that need to be read at certain points in your life. This is one of those books. The message throughout resonates with me today. If I would have read this 10 years ago, I don't know if it would have had the same impact. The spiritual reflection throughout is so needed in today's day and age. "Without a life of the spirit," Merton writes, "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."
October 1, 2020
Merton has such an approachable way of spelling out the spiritual dangers and pitfalls common to Christians.
I found myself again and again caught amidst these pages both convicted and relieved. Convicted that so often my prayer revolved around me; relieved that I now finally have new perspective to pursue God more honestly and with my whole self.
10/10 Would recommend this book to anyone desirous of giving his/her whole self to God!
I found myself again and again caught amidst these pages both convicted and relieved. Convicted that so often my prayer revolved around me; relieved that I now finally have new perspective to pursue God more honestly and with my whole self.
10/10 Would recommend this book to anyone desirous of giving his/her whole self to God!
July 16, 2020
It took me so long to read this book but it was worth it. The information is so rich and dense that I had to take hours to digest and meditate on the philosophy of a single paragraph. Nevertheless “No Man is an Island” has helped me so much and given me many things to think about and many ways to change. This book read me. And it is one I will have to read again.
June 27, 2024
"All desires but one can fail. The only desire that is infallibly fulfilled is the desire to be loved by God."
full of some really inspiring and helpful insights. will be reading more merton in the future
full of some really inspiring and helpful insights. will be reading more merton in the future
December 31, 2023
This is one of those books I thought I'd have a lot to say about, but now that it's time to write the review, I don't think I'll say much. I loved this book from the beginning. So many of Merton's words are powerful, and his expressions are beautiful. I'd read sentences and then stop and reread and go, "Whoa." Thought-provoking, evocative, and also gently corrective. I learned a lot from this book at this point in my life, lessons that I hope I take with me as I continue to grow in the Lord.
Some that stand out:
1. God's will for us is in our everyday lives. Our lives, as is, demonstrate what God wants us to learn and where we need to grow.
2. God's will for us is good, just like God's will in general is good.
3. We can't love our neighbor without loving ourselves. Jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves, which means we actually have to love ourselves first.
4. Walking with God includes any number of seeming contradictions, like #3.
5. Being little is great--it means we're being ourselves.
6. People don't like people who are okay being in solitude because our solitude reminds them that they can't stand their own solitude.
7. The unique suffering we go through is to grow us in the direction of being ourselves.
8. Being ourselves is highly important--we can't give anything if you don't know and like ourselves.
9. Things of the world aren't bad. God created them. If we reject them simply because they're bad, our rejection is false, and we won't grow.
10. Put God first, always and in everything, and this corrects everything else. Love is supreme (what Merton calls charity, referring specifically to agape)--love of God, striving to love Him and live and speak and act for His glory, love of ourselves, love of created things, love of other people.
There's so much more I could say about this book, but suffice it to conclude with the fact that I strongly recommend it if you need to read about suffering, love, solitude, silence, mercy and justice, being and doing (oh, he writes beautifully about what living really is, how we don't have to "live it all the way up" (to quote Hemingway) all the time, that what we don't get to do can be so much more powerful than what we do, that work and activity are two different things...), vocation, and so much more!
Some that stand out:
1. God's will for us is in our everyday lives. Our lives, as is, demonstrate what God wants us to learn and where we need to grow.
2. God's will for us is good, just like God's will in general is good.
3. We can't love our neighbor without loving ourselves. Jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves, which means we actually have to love ourselves first.
4. Walking with God includes any number of seeming contradictions, like #3.
5. Being little is great--it means we're being ourselves.
6. People don't like people who are okay being in solitude because our solitude reminds them that they can't stand their own solitude.
7. The unique suffering we go through is to grow us in the direction of being ourselves.
8. Being ourselves is highly important--we can't give anything if you don't know and like ourselves.
9. Things of the world aren't bad. God created them. If we reject them simply because they're bad, our rejection is false, and we won't grow.
10. Put God first, always and in everything, and this corrects everything else. Love is supreme (what Merton calls charity, referring specifically to agape)--love of God, striving to love Him and live and speak and act for His glory, love of ourselves, love of created things, love of other people.
There's so much more I could say about this book, but suffice it to conclude with the fact that I strongly recommend it if you need to read about suffering, love, solitude, silence, mercy and justice, being and doing (oh, he writes beautifully about what living really is, how we don't have to "live it all the way up" (to quote Hemingway) all the time, that what we don't get to do can be so much more powerful than what we do, that work and activity are two different things...), vocation, and so much more!
August 30, 2023
One of my English teachers recommended the works of Thomas Merton to me and so I thought I'd give it a go. Monks who give up traditional forms of living and choose to live a life of ascetiscim often with prolonged solitutde have always fascinated me.
Thomas Merton was an American Trappist monk and ordained catholic priest who spent his entire adult life mostly living in a monastery near Kentucky. He's written more than 50 books and he was very open minded, spending a great deal of his life on having an interfaith emphasis.
In "No Man is an Island" there are several virtues discussed in depth, including sincerity, solitude, humility, mercy, and recollection. He also explores the role of the church, marriage v. celibacy, why choose a consecrated life, the supremacy of the resurrection, and why we shouldn't fear death. I found this book to be extremely insightful and full of ancient mystic wisdom which I plan to begin implementing in my day to day quiet time with the Lord. Although we live in such a noisy busy world, we mustn't let this overwhelm our spirits. We must make time for silent recollection and devotion in order to allow our spirits to widen.
Two quotes I found particularly insightful were these below:
"The monastic life burns before the invisible God like a lamp before a tabernacle. The wick of the lamp is Faith, the flame is Charity, and the oil by which the flame is fed is Self Sacrifice."
"Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forest and the mountains and the sea. They bore through silent nature in every direction with their machines, for fear that the calm world might accuse them of their own emptiness."
Thomas Merton was an American Trappist monk and ordained catholic priest who spent his entire adult life mostly living in a monastery near Kentucky. He's written more than 50 books and he was very open minded, spending a great deal of his life on having an interfaith emphasis.
In "No Man is an Island" there are several virtues discussed in depth, including sincerity, solitude, humility, mercy, and recollection. He also explores the role of the church, marriage v. celibacy, why choose a consecrated life, the supremacy of the resurrection, and why we shouldn't fear death. I found this book to be extremely insightful and full of ancient mystic wisdom which I plan to begin implementing in my day to day quiet time with the Lord. Although we live in such a noisy busy world, we mustn't let this overwhelm our spirits. We must make time for silent recollection and devotion in order to allow our spirits to widen.
Two quotes I found particularly insightful were these below:
"The monastic life burns before the invisible God like a lamp before a tabernacle. The wick of the lamp is Faith, the flame is Charity, and the oil by which the flame is fed is Self Sacrifice."
"Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forest and the mountains and the sea. They bore through silent nature in every direction with their machines, for fear that the calm world might accuse them of their own emptiness."
October 11, 2023
"Why do we get angry about what we believe? Because we don’t really believe it."
I first read No Man Is an Island in 2016 in a very different phase of life. I was recently graduated from university, early in my career, and single. Merton spoke to me about the emptiness of comparing myself with others, the vanity of ambition, the importance of abandoning my selfish desires, and the lifelong search for a vocation. In Merton I had a companion who identified with the struggles I had with the world, myself, and with faith. He spoke directly to my confusion and life of intellectual contradiction.
Seven years later, almost a decade into my career, married, with two young children, I didn’t know how differently I would experience the book. While just like in 2016, I still compare myself to others, struggle with ambition, and really don’t understand vocation, in 2023 I am an exhausted parent whose prayer life is sporadic at best. Today Merton spoke to me about how little I understand love and how critical it is that I learn to love properly. He helped me realize the importance of intentionality and sincerity, and called me out for my purposeless wandering through life. But above all, he reminded me that God is there, no matter the season.
This book is a companion for life. I look forward to our next meeting.
I first read No Man Is an Island in 2016 in a very different phase of life. I was recently graduated from university, early in my career, and single. Merton spoke to me about the emptiness of comparing myself with others, the vanity of ambition, the importance of abandoning my selfish desires, and the lifelong search for a vocation. In Merton I had a companion who identified with the struggles I had with the world, myself, and with faith. He spoke directly to my confusion and life of intellectual contradiction.
Seven years later, almost a decade into my career, married, with two young children, I didn’t know how differently I would experience the book. While just like in 2016, I still compare myself to others, struggle with ambition, and really don’t understand vocation, in 2023 I am an exhausted parent whose prayer life is sporadic at best. Today Merton spoke to me about how little I understand love and how critical it is that I learn to love properly. He helped me realize the importance of intentionality and sincerity, and called me out for my purposeless wandering through life. But above all, he reminded me that God is there, no matter the season.
This book is a companion for life. I look forward to our next meeting.
January 13, 2024
A spiritual masterpiece, in which Merton unravels the tensions between action and contemplation; sincerity and falsity; fear and love; individuality and collectivity; interior and exterior love; right and simple intention; God’s will and our will; recollection and dissipation, and more. I have so many sections underlined for further reflection, and there are pages that I am reading and re-reading again every single day. I will likely keep coming back to this one over and over again this year, as it is so profoundly truthful and challenging, and needs soulful and loving examination of the truth about ourselves. This book makes me realise how far from truth and love I am, how far from genuine contemplation, how trapped in the anxiety of need and reputation. But it also shows me a better way forward.
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