Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, author, and student of Zen, remains one of the most important and beloved figures in the modern Christian contemplative movement. His writings, which bridge Eastern and Western spiritual thought, continue to inspire us with their real possibilities for immediate and direct experience of the divine.
Now James Finley, who for six years lived, prayed, and studied with Brother Louis, as Merton was known at the Abbey of Gethsemani, shares with us the gifts passed on to him by this towering figure on Thomas Merton's Path to the Palace of Nowhere.
First presented at a series of popular retreats, this full eight-CD program takes a participatory approach to Merton's most useful teachings, helping us to discover our true self … to disappear into God; to be submerged into his peace; to be lost in the secret of his face, as Merton said, through daily practices including contemplation, prayer, and faith. In the end we find ourselves in what the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu called the Palace of Nowhere, where all the many things are one.
There is an Eastern teaching called transmission of mind, in which the enlightened mind embodied in the master is manifest in the student's awakening. It is in this spirit that James Finley invites us to follow Thomas Merton's Path to the Palace of Nowhere.
James Finley
James Finley left home at the age of 18 for the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky, where Thomas Merton lived as a contemplative. He later earned degrees from the University of Akron, Saint John College, and the Fuller Theological Seminary. Today James Finley is a husband, father, writer, and psychotherapist in private practice. His books include Merton's Palace of Nowhere and The Contemplative Heart.
