In 1967 and again in 1968, Thomas Merton invited a group of contemplative nuns to the Abbey of Gethsemani for two retreats or what he called “non-workshops.” It was still only a short time after Vatican II and the Decree on the renewal of religious life. With the help of Sr. Mary Luke Tobin, then the Superior General of the Sisters of Loretto and the only American Sister who was Observer at the Vatican Council, Merton planned these days as a time for free sharing on issues pertinent to contemplative nuns.

The style of the book reflects this free sharing. It contains both the remarks and talks of Merton himself and also the comments and questions of the participants. On both sides there was an obvious spirit of freedom and openness to new approaches to the life and the role of contemplative women in the Church. Merton frequently spoke of the charismatic and prophetic elements of religious life and encouraged the Sisters to be prophetic in the way they approach their lives and vocation. One can only regret that such a spirit of openness to innovation and experimentation has been greatly diminished in the ensuing years. All too many Orders and Congregations seem content to feel that once their new Constitutions are approved by Rome, all is now once again fixed and set in place. While this may be beneficial to a certain extent, yet there remains a danger of overlooking that prophetic element which Merton highlighted and which must still remain an essential part of every religious vocation.

Merton shows that his own prophetic involvement in social issues of the day—such as war and peace, nuclear arms, race relations, and the war in Viet Nam—stemmed directly from his own contemplative vocation. He was not wildly encouraging the cloistered nuns to become involved simply for the sake of involvement, but showed the purpose of such awareness must stem from their right understanding and practice of true contemplation. The contemplative life is not an abstraction from the life of the world, but an insertion into the heart of the world itself.

For this reason, Merton also highlighted such issues as the meaning of community, vocation, presence to one another, respect for each person, diversity within community, practice of asceticism, silence and solitude, freedom and obedience, and contemplative reality in Christ. He also has a chapter on the “Feminine Mystique” in which he touched on issues which have only become more alive in the ensuing years. “Feminism” in the Church was just beginning at that time; yet Merton showed himself surprisingly sympathetic to the problems of women, given the time and his own background.

Merton emphasizes the fact that the “feminine mystique” of which he is speaking is unreal and can lead only to alienation, and this prevents each one from becoming the person we are in Christ. “Men stand to gain by the rehabilitation of women; men will be more whole when women are. What everyone has to be is a person. Wholeness is in the reciprocity between men and women as persons who have the same nature. Differences are there and these need to be taken into account, but differences are not decisive.” . . . “We need a whole new theological anthropology, a whole new understanding of what a human being is, what a woman is, what a man is.”

In this way Merton shows that such issues are at the heart of what religion is, what a contemplative is, and what a religious is. Even more fundamentally, it is at the heart of what is person is! Perhaps that is why we still find these same areas even more inflamed some twenty-five years after the words were spoken. Even when applying this to the question of priestly celibacy and the ordination of women, Merton shows himself perhaps more innovative than many who have approached the area in recent years. He said that he does not see the solution to be simply ordaining women as priests. This may risk simply perpetuating “a masculine form of hierarchical setup. I think the whole thing has to be changed, the whole idea of priesthood has to be changed. I think we need to develop a whole new style of worship in which there is no need for one hierarchical person to have a big central place, a form of worship in which everyone is involved” (p. 176).

In another part Merton spoke about Zen and the fact that some applicants may have been acquainted with it. Some of the superiors acknowledged this fact. He spoke in a very general way, saying: “Frankly, I would say that Zen is nothing but John of the Cross without the Christian theology. As far as the psychological aspect is concerned, that is, the complete emptying of self, it’s the same thing and the same approach.” It is this approach which seemed practical to him. The Zen koan is intended to allow one to disassociate from concepts and thoughts. “It’s an experience of some sort of inner truth that emerges as a result of grappling with this puzzle.” It frees one from the illusion of what we consider to be real. Merton said: “What matters is getting people to avoid tampering all the time with their own experience of life. The need is to experience life directly. Don’t mess with it; live it. If religious see Zen in that light and use it from that point of view, it’s going to be good.”

“Zen helps one to resolve doubts, not theological but self-doubts.” In other words, it leads one through the doubts of life in a way that shows one that what is important is to be in touch with things as they are. Things have to get down “from the head to the heart.” Only then can one let go of the need for all that alienates one from themselves. Only then can one begin to live in all truth.

In all of these talks, Merton was informal and spontaneous. It shows him in his human element, freely sharing with others in love.

The book is valuable in many respects, but perhaps particularly in the way it calls us to return to the freedom of heart and spirit which marked that period of history, when we realized that we didn’t have the answers and that we couldn’t look for simple answers from authorities. It calls us as individuals and as communities to seek that Lord Who has loved us and called us each by name and who resides within our own hearts as “Springs of Contemplation.”