Dialogues with Silence: Prayers and Drawings

When the dawn is still quiet, before the world comes crashing through the door, join Thomas Merton, as he prays, writes, questions, and walks through the woods always bumping into God. I still giggle at his distraction, a postulant wearing a shirt full of horses all heading in one direction, except one. During prayer, Merton mused thinking to himself about the one horse, "And where do you think you're going?" For the spiritual and the writerly, this book is indispensible. The kindle version enables one to take and find notes rapidly. Just loved it. Please put Seeds of Contemplation on the kindle too....

While many are familiar with the writings of Thomas Merton, "Dialogues with Silence" presents a different side of him. What struck me as the most touching portion of the book was the simplistic sketches that accompany each passage. Although the sketches may not have had a particular purpose when Merton drew them, they add a new perspective to the writings in this book since most of the writings were previously published in various books. This book would make an excellent coffee-table book, and serves as a great conversation piece. I came upon this book by chance, and have not seen it available in stores since that time. The sketches that accompany the prayers and writings alone make this book worth purchasing.

While he was alive, Thomas Merton dedicated his life as a monk to contemplative meditation, constantly seeking a closer and ideal relationship with God. After becoming a Trappist monk at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, he searched for solace in a monk's life of solitude. But the more Merton expressed himself through his writing, and became better known in the outside world, the solitude that he sought was harder and harder for him to find. Johnathan Montaldo has done a wonderful job of editing this collection of Merton's prayers and private thoughts and pairing them with sketches from Merton's own hand. Together both represent the soul of a man who offers inspiration and insight to this very day. "Dialogues with Silence" is a collection that is best read in small batches; while it is possible to read it through as one might a novel, the point of meditation and contemplation (especially on the prayers) would be lost. Some of the pictures and words go hand in hand and offer a look into Father Merton that many have never experienced before this book. The prayers are a candid glimpse into a struggling soul, and are juxtaposed with thoughts on nature and poems that are starkly beautiful. Every page is a testament to the magnificent talent that Merton had in transferring his thoughts into words. There are many prayers I could single out to include as an example of the power of Merton's writing, but this prayer to Etienne Gilson struck me as most appropriate to one of the struggles that Merton underwent: "Please pray for me to Our Lord that, instead of merely writing something, I may 'be' something, and indeed that I may so fully be what I ought to be that there may be no further necessity for me to write, since the mere fact of being what I ought to be would be more eloquent than many books." It is extremely fortunate for us that Merton did feel the need to write so that his love of God might be an inspiration to all who read his works.