Thomas Mertons Path to the Palace of Nowhere: The Essential Guide to the Contemplative Teachings of Thomas Merton

About this book

Thomas Merton Trappist monk author and student of Zen remains one of the most important and beloved figures in the modern Christian contemplative movement. His writings which bridge Eastern and Western spiritual thought continue to inspire us with their real possibilities for immediate and direct experience of the divine. Now James Finley who for six years lived prayed and studied with Brother Louis as Merton was known at the Abbey of Gethsemani shares with us the gifts passed on to him by this towering figure on Thomas Mertons Path to the Palace of Nowhere. First presented at a series of popular retreats this full eight-CD program takes a participatory approach to Mertons most useful teachings helping us to discover our true self to disappear into God; to be submerged into his peace; to be lost in the secret of his face as Merton said through daily practices including contemplation prayer and faith. In the end we find ourselves in what the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu called the Palace of Nowhere where all the many things are one. There is an Eastern teaching called transmission of mind in which the enlightened mind embodied in the master is manifest in the students awakening. It is in this spirit that James Finley invites us to follow Thomas Mertons Path to the Palace of Nowhere.