Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was an American writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of
Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown, Kentucky. He is the author of more than seventy
books (including the classic "The Seven Storey Mountain", still in print after more than 50
years) that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism and
writings for peace, social justice and ecumenism
.
Kentucky is divided into six primary physiographic provinces : Bluegrass, Knobs,
Pennyroyal, Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, Western Kentucky Coal Field, and the
Jackson Purchase Regions. Each of these six regions reflects the underlying geology of
that particular area. The monastery is situated at the edge of the Knobs, in an intensively
farmed wooded valley. In his journal 'The Sign of Jonas' Merton tells of how the farmed
landscape and the views of the semi-wild surrounding hills interacted with his search for
the love of God in eternity.
This testimony is important because he communicates in everyday language what must
have been in the minds of Cistercians through the ages regarding the beauties and
silence of their chosen environment.