Maverick Philosopher

Merton on the Monastic Journey

Thomas Merton, The Monastic Journey, p. 155: If a solitary should one day find his way, by the grace and mercy of God, into a desert place in which he is not known, and if it is permitted to him by the divine pity to live there, and to...

Thomas Merton's Hostility to Scholastic Manualism and the Forgotten Fr. Hickey

As much of a flaky liberal as Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) is, both politically and theologically, I love the guy I meet in the pages of the seven volumes of The Journals of Thomas Merton. I am presently savoring Volume Six, 1966-1967. ...

Spiritual Mountebanks

The world is full of hustlers and charlatans who prey upon spiritual seekers. One ought to be suspicious of anyone who claims enlightenment or special powers. The acid test, perhaps, is whether they demand money or sex for their services...

Merton, Marilyn, and David Carradine

Today, August 5th, is the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. What follows is a post from 13 June 2009. .................... Thomas Merton, Journal (IV, 240), writing about Marilyn Monroe around the time of her death in 1962...

New Year's Eve Varia

Twilight Zone marathon is on Plenty of nonsense is being spewed about inequality. Pitchfork Pat talks sense. Hillary had an unlucky year, and thank God for that. I enjoyed Nebraska. ObamaCare is not Obama's Care. An alternative t...

Bob Dylan on Moby Dick

Bob Dylan finally gave his Nobel Prize for Literature lecture. I'm impressed. Besides his musical he mentions his literary influences. He cites many of the books I read as assigned readings in high school, books he claims to have read as...