A monk of the austere Trappist order, world famous 20th-century religious philosopher Thomas Merton evolved into an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace.
Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and Zen schlolar, taught that one can open oneself to contemplative thought at any moment. Dr. James Finley, who for six years lived, prayed, and studied with "Brother Louis", as Merton was known at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky, shares in this 8-hour, 8-CD set the gifts passed on to him by this towering figure.
The voice of author, social activist, poet, and monk Thomas Merton, who died suddenly at the age of 53, resonates in the recently released documentary Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton. Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Atkinson traces Merton's spiritual path from boozy jazz clubs in New York to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Merton lived as a Trappist monk for close to 30 years. Soul Searching is a meditation on Merton's life as seen through the eyes of Merton's friends and Merton scholars. This film is an intimate portrait of this courageous and prescient man.