Thomas Merton

What I've Learned From The Spiritual Masters

Steve McSwain | Posted 12.19.2011

Read More: Meditation, Thomas Merton, Inter-Spirituality, Spiritual Teachings, Catholicism, Christianity, Prayer, Interfaith Engagement, Spiritual Masters, Buddhism, Religious Tolerance, Spirituality, Religion News
Steve McSwain

My own tradition has mistakenly taught that meditation is an eastern practice and that Christians pray instead. What many do not know, however, is that meditation is the highest form of Christian prayer, too.

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Cover Bands Don't Change the World

Todd Henry | Posted 09.10.2011

Read More: Bands, Accidental Creative, Music Business, Thomas Merton, Cover Bands, Books News
Todd Henry

Whatever your role and sphere of influence, don't be a cover band. Find your voice.

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How To Know God Beyond Organized Religion

Steve McSwain | Posted 08.16.2011

Read More: Synchronous Events, Enlightenment, Carmelite Monk, Einstein, Enoch Factor, Brother Lawrence, Thomas Merton, Eckhart Tolle, Transcendence, Knowing God, Contemporary Religion, Meditative Practice, Lao Tzu, Religion News
Steve McSwain

Knowing God is the purpose of human existence. It's why you showed up. It took me half a lifetime before I got this.

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It's the Age of Metaphor -- Literally

Robert E. Murphy | Posted 08.15.2011

Read More: Schadenfreude, Literally, John Demjanjuk, Thomas Merton, English Language, Paul Krugman Metaphor Use, New York Times Metaphors, Trendy Words, Trendy-Words-and-Phases, Metaphor Use, The New Yorker Metaphors, Media News
Robert E. Murphy

The trendy word that I've noticed most lately is "metaphor." This used to be confined mainly to academia, but in the past few years it has broken out like a rash among the general population. I am curious about how such trends get started.

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Who Was Thomas Merton? Film Explores Influential Catholic Writer

Posted 08.01.2011

Read More: Catholic Saints, Catholic Church, Video, Thomas Merton, Thomas Merton Biography, Catholic Writers, Religion News

The documentary film "Who Cares About The Saints?", released by Loyola Productions, explores the lives and legacies of saints from the time of Peter t...

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Colbert: Try Hinduism For Lent

Philip Goldberg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Stephen Colbert, Christianity, Hinduism, Colbert Report, Hinduism and Christianity, Colbert Lent, Stephen Colbert Catholic, Jesus and Hinduism, Lent Observance, American Veda, Thomas Merton, Religion News
Philip Goldberg

On Ash Wednesday, you announced that you were giving up Catholicism for Lent and would try out other religions during the season. May I suggest Hinduism?

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Julia the Hindu, and the Pray in Eat Pray Love

Philip Goldberg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: T.S. Eliot, Yoga, India, Sting, Mary Tyler Moore, Eat Pray Love, Somerset Maugham, Ram Dass, Madonna, Elizabeth Gilbert, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Hindu, The Beatles, Hinduism, J.D. Salinger, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Julia Roberts, William Butler Yeats, Meditation, Eat Pray Love Movie, Transcendental Meditation, Marlon Brando, Thomas Merton, Religion News
Philip Goldberg

The powerful forces of celebrity and popular culture have thrust India's Vedic heritage into the spotlight. All the media attention inspires some to cynicism and others to a genuine spiritual enquiry.

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A Consumer Is a Subject, A Citizen Is a Verb

Rev. Chuck Freeman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Citizenship, Consumerism, Corporate Media, William Ellery Channing, Thomas Merton, Freedom, Thomas Jefferson, Politics News
Rev. Chuck Freeman

The American corporate media culture challenges our freedom in a sophisticated and seductive fashion. We are saturated with images and rhetoric by which we willingly morph our identity.

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Thomas Merton, Mark and Miracles

Mark Shaw | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Shaw, Knight, Books, Miracles, Thomas Merton, Merton, Henri Nouwen, Mark Shaw, Bobby Knight, Adoption, Nouwen, Healthy Living News
Mark Shaw

For me, hitting the ripe young age of 65 meant that having my own kids was near impossible. To have a child and grandchildren I never knew existed is a dream come true.

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Thomas Merton, Rock Stars, and the Enablers that Serve Them

Mark Shaw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Rush Limbaugh, Benedict, Limbaugh, President Obama, Catholic Cover-Up, St. Louis Cardinals, Phil Michelson, Obama, Pope Benedict, Glen Beck, Fox Television, Mark Shaw, Catholic Church, Shaw, Merton, Child Abuse, Enablers, Slavery, Tiger Woods, Beck, Masters, Tony Larussa, Mark McGuire, Catholic Child Abuse, Beneath the Mask of Holiness, Thomas Merton, Religion News
Mark Shaw

Let's see who the enablers are, and who those are who stand up and condemn their words.

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The Catholic Church: A Church In Denial

Mark Shaw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Catholic Church, Sexual Abuse, Catholic Sexual Abuse, Catholic Cover-Up, Russell Shaw, Thomas Merton, Merton, Mark Shaw, Beneath the Mask of Holiness, Irish Sex Abuse Scandal, Catholic Priests, Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI, Priests, Books News
Mark Shaw

Pope Benedict has the opportunity to start a cleansing process in his Church. Will he be courageous and act with authority, or simply attempt to sweep this latest scandal under the rug?

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Not Throwing Stones: A Protestant Remembers The Best Of The Catholic Church

Serene Jones | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Cesar Chavez, Religion, Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal, Roman Catholic Church, Dorothy Day Catholic Workers, Oscar Romero, Catholic Social Justice, Catholic Workers, Christianity, Christianity Social Justice, Thomas Merton, Christianity and Charity, Christian Social Justice, Religion News
Serene Jones

As a Protestant, I refuse to throw self-righteous stones against Catholics. It is not only in politics that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No church is immune. No person is.

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Famous Merton Book Must Be Recalled Due to Censorship

Mark Shaw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Censorship, www.markshawbooks.net, A Million Little Pieces, Robert Giroux, Harcourt Brace, Russell Shaw, International Thomas Merton Society, Gethsemani, Mark Shaw, John Eudes, Catholic Church, Catholics, Merton Legacy Trust, James Frey, Merton, Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain, Books News
Mark Shaw

Thomas Merton's story, as portrayed in The Seven Storey Mountain, was an intentionally watered-down version of what really occurred during his pre-Gethsemani years- the result of a concerted effort to disguise a tormented sinner as some sort of a plastic saint rehabilitated through monastic practices.

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Tiger Woods, Thomas Merton, and the Consequences of Wearing a Mask

Mark Shaw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Tiger Woods Mistress, Catholic Church, Sports, Marriage, Adultery, Car Accident, Pga, Tiger Woods, Celebrity Scandal, Seven-Storey-Mountain, Thomas Merton, Celebrity, Tiger, Priest, Eliot Spitzer, Tiger Woods Affair, Merton, Books News
Mark Shaw

"We have a choice of two identities: the external mask which seems to be real and which lives by a shadowy autonomy for the brief moment of earthy existence."

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Thomas Merton and the Catholic Church Ban on Marriage

Mark Shaw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Religion, Catholic Church, Conjectures of a Guilty Pleasure, Alberto Cutie, Chastity, Books, Thomas Merton, Beneath the Mask of Holiness, Monastery, Catholicism, Priests, Books News
Mark Shaw

Merton faced the same sticky issue in the 1960s that is debated yet today: should Catholic priests be able to be unchaste and marry?

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The Thomas Merton Book 'They' Don't Want You to Read

Mark Shaw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Kerouac, Censorship, Grisham, Zola, Hemingway, Henry Nouwen, Mark Shaw, Merton Love Affair, Catholic Church, Rowling, Merton, Amazon, Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain, Monks, Ruether, Gethsemani, Books News
Mark Shaw

Every author risks unfavorable review when he or she writes a book. Hemingway received poor reviews and contemporary writers have also not been immune to such undesirable reception.

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Proof of God Never Stands Still

Deepak Chopra | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Thomas Merton, God, Richard Dawkins, Healthy Living News
Deepak Chopra

Science has steadily eroded religion by saying, in essence, that there is no proof that satisfies experimental inquiry.

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G-20 Diary: My Friendly Neighborhood Anarchists

Michelle Pilecki | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Protests, Anarchists, Pittsburgh, G-20, Police, Thomas Merton, Politics News
Michelle Pilecki

The anarchists in my neighborhood -- just about four straight, uphill miles from the site of the G-20 summit meeting -- have set up shop. And they have made many of us nervous.

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Thomas Merton: A Man For This (And All) Seasons

Cathleen Falsani | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Soul Searching, Monastery, Gethsemani Abbey, Trappist Monk, Pbs Documentary, Seven Storey Mountain, Spirituality, Thomas Merton, Morgan Atkinson, Video, Healthy Living News
Cathleen Falsani

I first read Merton, a cloistered monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in rural Kentucky for most of his life, as a student and was instantly besotted with his unique mix of humanity and holiness.

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Let Us Give Thanks

Roger Fransecky | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: John Ciardi, Saying Thanks, American Psychological Association, Recession-Related Depression, Thanksgiving, Gallup Polls, Recession Fears, Financial Crisis, Carol Stocker, Being Thankful, Gratitude and Happiness, Gratitude, Thomas Merton, Recession, Happiness, Healthy Living News
Roger Fransecky

I would hope that this Thanksgiving we might all pause to do more than say thanks, but instead be the grateful selves that can fuel and inform a new way of being in our lives.

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