Turning Toward the World: The Pivotal Years (The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 4: 1960-1963)

The enjoyable thing about reading Thomas Merton's diaries is that you get to see the humanity of the man. He is here in all his passion, his struggles with life and the Christian faith, and all that means so much to both Merton and those of us who read him.My only regret in regards to Merton is that I did not get to meet the man.

The Best and most interesting and insightful of the first four Journals. A sensitive, spiritual approach to dealing with/understamding/accepting oneself in the world.

I love everything Thomas Merton ever wrote and this is nno exception.

This book illustrates vividly the calms and the storms of living out a life of commitment.There is enough content in the book to effectively encourage the persevering christian who seeks to deepen his or her relationship with Jesus Christ.Notations on the daily life in the monastary,and the relationship Merton had with his fellow monks and superiors,serves to illuminate the fact that here we have no "plaster saint", but man in all his frailty! Merton calls us,through this book,to live out our indiviuality with respect to the tradition from which we come. There is suberb referencing to all literature mentioned throughout the text,and the introduction summarises well the events in Merton's life to which these journals belong.If you are a Christian ,then this book will surely give you the thirst to deepen your relationship with Jesus,through prayer.