It is a human story above all else of a man who chose to deafen himself with liquor and noise and mindless interactions, to a man who found something meaningful to care about. But this is, instead, an exploration into the deep substance of life, from the frivolous games of college fraternity life. If he had always been a Christian, it would have been one thing. Reading about the sad fate of Merton's parents, and especially the artistic upbringing of Merton makes me love the monk and take pride in the fact that I walked in the territory of the offspring of similar birds.

Knowing Merton's personal background now has made him in my eyes the exact opposite of a harsh or dogmatic read. But I wanted to say all that in the previous paragraph so you understand it has been a strong resistance. I don't know if I can convince anyone that I have good reason for my resistance against Catholicism. It took until 2018 for me to read some Merton for myself. I thought about the nature as being connected to this guy Merton who everyone was talking about. We happened to be in Kentucky and took a visit to Gethsemane as well as Sister Loretto House. Many of the students were reading and referring to Merton, but I wrote it off as their religiosity. May Sarton and Gail Sher, Rilke and Rumi, and tons of self selected works of our choosing. When we spoke about Thomas Merton, I asked a rare question for me, 'Was this required reading?' To my happiness, the answer was no. I took a class in college in Contemplative Writing. As a Secular Humanist, I Gleaned a lot from This

The 7 storey mountain