NOV 08: Following
Richard Rohr’s visit to
Norwich earlier on in the year, The
Norwich Christian Meditation Centre has celebrated the poet and mystic,
Thomas Merton.
Thomas Merton was one of the most influential spiritual writers of the 20th Century.
2008 is the 40th anniversary of his death and we are delighted to be able to celebrate his life with a two day intensive conducted by someone who knew him best - his student of 6 years James Finley.
Merton was a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in America. He was a spiritual writer, poet, author and social activist who pioneered the re-discovery of Christian Meditation and brought it to a wide audience.
He died tragically in 1968, electrocuted while travelling in Thailand.
James Finley entered the Trappist Monastery of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in 1961. He then spent 6 years with Thomas Merton who acted as his Spiritual Director, giving him a unique insight into the life of the man who has defined the practice of Meditation and Contemplation for many people today.
After being released from the order he has become a renowned spiritual teacher in his own right, writing books and conducting retreats all over the world.
This 2 day intensive in November looked at the spiritual contribution made by Thomas Merton. The spiritual life for Merton is a journey in which we discover ourselves in discovering God, and discover God in discovering our true hidden self in God.
James Finley will use this to explore Merton's relevance for our age, particularly to those seeking to live a more contemplative way of life in the midst of today's world. We "fall into silence" in learning to live in habitual awareness of the ultimately unspeakable holiness of life itself, then bear witness to that by the way we love ourselves, others and all things. James will lead us into this understanding through a series of talks, dialogues and meditations firmly rooted in the teachings of Thomas Merton.
As Merton puts it: “The way to find the real ‘world’ is not merely to measure and observe what is outside us, but to discover our own inner ground. For that is where the world is, first of all: in my deepest self…..It is a living and self-creating mystery of which I am myself a part, to which I am myself my own unique door”.
On this intensive we will be finding our way to that door.”
For more information about James Finley Click here
For more information about the Norwich Christian Meditation Centre, click here
