37 pages • 1 hour read
Thomas MertonThe Seven Storey Mountain
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1948A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary: “With a Great Price”
Merton describes the ultimate gift God gives everyone: grace. In February 1937, the young Merton visits a bookstore with only a few dollars and buys a few books, including The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy by Etienne Gilson which he starts reading on the train ride home. He feels duped when he finds out Gilson is a Catholic philosopher. Looking back, he acknowledges that reading Gilson’s book made him realize that the concept of God was much more sophisticated and mysterious than the superstitious notions he was familiar with. The later Merton attributes his faith to the friendships he formed at Columbia, like his friendship with the pensive Robert Lax, and also to reading books like Aldous Huxley’s Ends and Means.
He meets a Hindu monk who inspires him on his Christian journey, surprising Merton by recommending that he read the Imitation of Christ and other works of Christian spirituality. He considers the meaning of asceticism. Merton begins writing his thesis in September 1938. Merton goes to the Catholic church and fully connects with the idea of the Trinity. He tells the girl he is seeing that he is contemplating going to the Union Theological Seminary.
As World War II looms and talk of Hitler increases, Merton’s interest in worldly affairs diminishes and is replaced by a deep sense of calling that compels him to begin his journey. Despite his fears, Merton is baptized as a Catholic.
Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary: “The Waters of Contradiction”
Although Merton has finally crossed the threshold into Catholicism, he continues to struggle with what this means in terms of his daily life. He tries to continue his life as it was prior to his baptism, which means living in such a way that he does what he wants while avoiding sin. Looking back, Merton reflects that he failed to pay the Holy Virgin her due. He saw her as a symbol and not as the incredible Mother of the supernatural she was. In 1939, Merton starts his PhD at Columbia and seeks to publish his poetry to prove his status as a writer. He reflects that he didn’t want to be famous or to live in people’s minds, which he realized was selfish, but to prove his ability to himself.
He has a conversation with Robert Lax, who urges him to strive to be a saint, not merely a good Catholic. Merton resists this notion, but in follow-up conversations with his peers, he realizes that he is wrong once again and that he has much to learn on his Christian journey. In the summer, he sublets his apartment and spends time in a cottage with his friends, Lax and Edward Rice. They all write novels.
He learns that Christianity isn’t as simple as dividing actions into moral or not. He goes to a carnival with his friends to play games. They fall trap to a game which the host promises they’ll win, and they keep betting increasingly large sums of money until they are completely broke. When he returns to New York in August of 1939, war looms on the horizon, and he feels more and more the calling to enter a monastery. He states his desire to be a priest.
Part 2, Chapters 5-6 Analysis
This section charts Merton’s transition from the lowest points of his life to his spiritual renewal. He becomes a devout Catholic, but the transformation wasn’t miraculous. In fact, he tries at first to go about living exactly the same way he had previously lived but with the added idea that he should avoid sin. This approach didn’t work, and he describes his shaky steps forward as he works through what it means to be Catholic (a question that he will turn over for a long time). He also wonders about his purpose. Merton allows a clearer portrait of him to form through the anecdotes he tells while refining the spiritual ideas he’s laid the groundwork for with new sophistication and simplicity.
One such instance of rendering a complex idea simple with an elegant image is when he explains the concept of God’s love as infinite, without want, and uninvolved in human affairs:
When a ray of light strikes a crystal, it gives a new quality to the crystal. And when God’s infinitely disinterested love plays upon a human soul, the same kind of thing takes place. And that is the life called sanctifying grace (186).
Although “disinterested love” may sound like a cold expression, Merton argues that God’s lack of need to gain anything from humans makes His love the highest form of love. As Merton sees it, humanity is a vessel through which God can shine grace. This is a rather challenging subject to explain clearly, but as he does with Holy Trinity, Merton manages to capture these concepts in images that are tangible for readers. These metaphors also recall the theme of art as a spiritual act. Without perhaps even realizing it, Merton is using his literary gifts in expression of his spiritual notions. These moments could make Merton feel like an untouchable guru, but he takes care to offer a balanced portrait of himself, like when he co-opted his friends’ graduation “and sat with all the rest, mocking the speeches, with the edge of [his] sobriety slightly dulled by the celebration that had just taken place with the champagne” (218). Even when portraying his antics that render him relatable to readers, he still manages to sneak in some vivid language, like the idea of soberness being dulled by alcohol. Usually, language associated with sobriety is serious and, therefore, somewhat dull, but he turns the image, making alcohol the dull substance because it dulls his spirit. This clever sentence achieves all his aims in this section: humanizing himself by realizing his flaws and portraying his spiritual journey by showing how he fumbles and his awareness of that.
While someone like Merton might seem terribly serious despite his antics, he shows his full personality through his language in this section, playing with sarcasm, like when he tells the story of how he got caught up in gambling away his money at a carnival. Throughout the scene, as readers and Merton-looking-back are painfully aware of how a younger Merton is being taken advantage of, Merton refers to the game’s supervisor as “the philanthropist” and “the prince of charity” (268). This biting sarcasm makes Merton’s sense of humor come through and, because it’s so over-the-top, also raises the possibility that perhaps he’s not entirely sarcastic. After all, this game was one of many significant moments that made him realize baptism wasn’t the end of his spiritual journey: It was his rebirth.
