Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was an American Trappist monk, theologian, writer, mystic, activist and specialist in comparative religion. In 1949 he was ordained as a priest, receiving the name "Father Louis".
Thomas Merton wrote this book with deep and moving reflections in a small tool shed at the Abbey of Gethsemani, which later became the hermitage where he spent the last years of his life. It includes recurring topics in Merton's work, promoting dialogue and contemplation as paths to personal and world peace.
This book was written after his famous work "The Mountain of Seven Circles" He offers us here wise advice for entering into the contemplative life:
"If one wants to have a spiritual life one must unify one's life. A life is all spiritual or it is not spiritual at all. No one can serve two masters. Life is shaped by the purpose for which it is lived. We are made in the image of that which we desire. If you seek to unify your life, unify your desires. To spiritualize your life, spiritualize your desires. To spiritualize desires, you must master desires. To live in the spirit is to live for a God in whom we believe, but whom we cannot see. To desire him is therefore to renounce the desire for all that can be seen."