Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton (1915 –1968) is arguably one of the most influential American religious authors of the twentieth century. He wrote over sixty books including his autobiography ”The Seven Storey Mountain” and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to civil rights, non-violence, ecumenism and the nuclear arms race.

Merton was a strong supporter of the nonviolent civil rights movement. He endured severe criticism for his social activism from those who complained that his political writing was unbecoming of a monk. During his last years, he became deeply interested in Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, and in promoting East-West dialogue. After several meetings with Merton during the American monk's trip to the Far East in 1968, the Dalai Lama praised him as having a more profound understanding of Buddhism than any other Christian he had known.

Many esteem Thomas Merton as a spiritual master, a brilliant writer, and a man who embodied the quest for God and for human solidarity. Merton died in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1968, the victim of an accidental electrocution.

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He explained that to be a saint was to be oneself and to find one's true self because this is what God wants of all of us.

In the painting Merton is holding in his hands what could be the pearl of great price (see the Gospel of Matthew chapter13, verses 45 onwards) which symbolises finding his own self and thus the finding of God.