My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I first read Merton’s ‘Wisdom of the Desert’ many years back and learnt a lot about how the early Christians saw and thought about God. I found it both intriguing and concise. Since then I have always had a form of respect for Thomas Merton and my intention to read any other works he had produced lingered in the recesses of my mind. Reading ‘Thoughts in Solitude’ was a fulfilment of that desire.
‘Thoughts in Solitude’ is a work written in the mid 50s when Thomas Merton was able to spend deep time alone with only himself and his thoughts to keep him company. If you know anything about Merton, it goes without saying that this is a very Christian book. Christian ideas and beliefs are scattered throughout. As a Muslim, I don’t believe in much of the specifics of theology discussed, but others resonated with me. I was still able to resonate with the original message and benefit from the overall idea.
One of my favourite ideas from the book is the notion that for the one who spends time in solitude, words become unnecessary because there is no one there to audibly hear you (of course). This means that you are able to interact with the world around you without referring to things by their given names.
As Merton writes:
“…Silence teaches us to know reality by respecting it where words have defiled it.”
In other words, since speech is not required, objects are no longer bound within the limits of their literal names, you can freely experience objects as they are in reality without any intermediary. I found this to be quite insightful and made me think about the connection we all experience with the world and how often we can feel things more intimately without any words being said. Think about relationships with loved ones or even pets, words are quite often entirely unnecessary, so why should this not extend to ‘things’ too?
Other points I found interesting were regarding Merton’s views on poverty, he saw it as the ultimate expression of freedom where a man realises that no one can truly provide for him except God. The natural result of this is to bear his poverty with contentment, for is the one who completely relies on God ever left disappointed? Perhaps an obvious point, but I found the inverting of poverty from a bad situation into an opportunity to love God more an interesting one. Poverty after all implies needing something, and if a man if free from all excessive wants, is he really poor?
Aside from these, other scattered points on the timelessness of nature attracting those men who seek to remain stable and solid in the world in their own write struck a chord with me. Other ideas surprised me such as Merton’s insistence that a purely mental life (one encouraged by the solitary life no doubt) may lead one to destruction. The destiny of man is to act upon what he knows and who he is. He clearly wasn’t biased and saw even the dangers of that which he was doing.
Overall, ‘Thoughts in Solitude’ is a short read, but one that contains many useful ideas which you can feel came from a man deep in thought, spurred on by his own journey living in solitude. Merton wasn’t writing passively, he was living the ideals he called to.
I recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the journey of solitude undertaken and written about by anyone. Being alone with oneself is a way for deep truths to come to light and the endeavour is almost always respectable. While this is less of a book and more of the collected thoughts of a man on his own journey, I still found much to relate to and much more to think about.
To conclude, I enjoyed this book and Merton has solidified himself as someone who acts upon what he writes and who respects knowledge and seeks to attain wisdom. My firm disagreements with his specific religious beliefs do not prevent me from acknowledging some of the universal truths on solitude he so very well described.