AUDIOBOOK
About
Join Thomas Merton in spellbinding lectures on two essential philosophical topics.
In this audio program, you will learn about the meaning of life and the essence of beauty with Thomas Merton, one of the twentieth century’s great thinkers. Delivered with unrivaled brilliance and insight, these remastered recordings of Merton himself will transport you into the abbey where he taught and imparted his spiritual wisdom.
In the first part, you will explore man’s search for meaning. Merton draws from such diverse wisdom as the psychoanalysis of Viktor Frankl, the mysticism of Sufism, Hasidic lore, and the poetry of William Wordsworth to demonstrate how the search for meaning is essential to our existence. Meaning, he says, dwells deep within all of us, and we only need to root ourselves in spirituality to discover this.
Next, you will look at the philosophical concept of beauty. As humans, we are naturally drawn to the beautiful, whether in art or in nature. True beauty is transcendent, extending beyond the merely aesthetic, and it is essential to the spiritual life. Art and contemplation bring us to the highest form of pleasure, that is, the beauty of God. By understanding beauty, then, we thus move towards spiritual perfection and fulfillment.
These moving conferences delivered by Merton challenge the intellect and move the spirit. Listen to his timeless words today.
In this audio program, you will learn about the meaning of life and the essence of beauty with Thomas Merton, one of the twentieth century’s great thinkers. Delivered with unrivaled brilliance and insight, these remastered recordings of Merton himself will transport you into the abbey where he taught and imparted his spiritual wisdom.
In the first part, you will explore man’s search for meaning. Merton draws from such diverse wisdom as the psychoanalysis of Viktor Frankl, the mysticism of Sufism, Hasidic lore, and the poetry of William Wordsworth to demonstrate how the search for meaning is essential to our existence. Meaning, he says, dwells deep within all of us, and we only need to root ourselves in spirituality to discover this.
Next, you will look at the philosophical concept of beauty. As humans, we are naturally drawn to the beautiful, whether in art or in nature. True beauty is transcendent, extending beyond the merely aesthetic, and it is essential to the spiritual life. Art and contemplation bring us to the highest form of pleasure, that is, the beauty of God. By understanding beauty, then, we thus move towards spiritual perfection and fulfillment.
These moving conferences delivered by Merton challenge the intellect and move the spirit. Listen to his timeless words today.
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Reviews
"The Merton talks (any and all) are special because in addition to the sound quality being acceptable and the content being as rich as is found reading his books, one can get a sense of the kind of person Merton was that is hard to get just from reading: warm, down-to-earth, funny."
Stephen Cook, Mansfield, TX, US
"We are privileged to be ,flies on the wall, of his classroom as Merton leads the novices into the deeper insights of the Benedictine tradition. Highly recommended. "
Richard Bell
"I've read many published works of Merton and, even though his work is now decades old, more than ever, they speak to our world today. To hear him speaking in his own voice adds a dimension of humanness to him that writings alone cannot convey. Also, his sense of humor, something we seem to never catch a glimpse of in print, clearly comes to us."
Therese McAteer, Winterville, NC, USA