This is another book I read years ago, and now cannot recall what it was like. ( )

from cover

This edition is a much-enlarged and revised versions of Seeds of Contemplation, one of the late Father Thomas Merton's most widely read and best-beloved works. In its original form, the book was reprinted ten times in this country alone, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Chinese and Japanese. Christians and non-Christians alike have joined in praising it as a notable successor in the meditative tradistion of St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the medieval mystics, while others have compared Merton's reflections with those of Thoreau.

New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western man, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our spiritual lives. For Father Merton, 'Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.'

Contents

Preface
Author's Note
What is contemplation?
Wkhat Contemplation is not
Seeds of Contemplation
Everything that is, is holy
Thngs in their identity
Pray for your own discovery
Union and division
Solitude is not separation
We are one man
A body of broken bones
Learn to be alone
The pure heart
The moral theology of the devil
Integrity
Sentences
The root of war is fear
Hell as hatred
Faith
From faith to wisdom
Tradition and revolution
The mustery of Christ
Life in Christ
The woman clothed with the sun
He who is not with me is against me
Humility against despair
Freedom under obedience
What is liberty?
Detachment
Mental prayer
Distractions
The gift of understanding
The night of the senses
Journey through the wilderness
The wrong flame
Renunciaiton
Inward destitution
Sharing the fruits of contemplation
Pure love
The general dance

New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western man, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. For Merton, "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.

Written in 1961, this book contains personal reflections as Merton contemplates his spiritual life. From the preface: "It is impossible for one man to teach another 'how to become a contemplative.' One might as well write a book 'how to be an angel.'" Second chapter title: What Contemplation Is Not. SS

I picked this up in September after seeing Pope Francis's speech before Congress. As a Catholic I had some passing knowledge of Merton, but I had not read anything he had written. Seeds is a powerful book. It is not something one reads start to finish. Instead, one reads it slowly a paragraph at a time. I have spent weeks contemplating a single paragraph in this remarkable book. ( )