Quest For Certainty

"The Quest for Certainty"

The Seven Storey Mountain

By Thomas Merton

Kristina Swartz

History 324

Summer 2000

In the autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton explains how he sought to find certainty in his life through religion. Merton began the book by giving an overview of his early childhood. His father was from New Zealand and his mother was an American who lived in France. Both his father and mother were artists and did not earn much money. When his parents needed extra money, Merton's father would do various jobs in order for the family to survive. For example, he would garden occasionally and he even played the organ at the local Episcopalian church for a short period of time. This church was the first that Merton would attend. He did not understand the rituals or the concept of prayer. This lack of understanding about churches or religion, for that matter, was contributed to the fact that he never received any formal religious training from his parents. It is evident that Merton's mother was a Quaker, but she did not choose to involve her family in the faith. Early in Thomas's life, his mother died from stomach cancer. From this point on, Thomas would spend some of his time living with his grandparents in New York and he would travel part-time with his father to France. Merton had a fascination with the numerous cathedrals in France. Although he knew nothing about the monastic vocations or religious rules connected to the pictures in the cathedrals, his heart was filled with curiosity. Merton's early life did not include religion. I believe that he was deeply confused by this fact and he wanted to learn more about what religion was and how it affected people.

One of the turning points in Merton's life was his discovery of the book, The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy, by Etienne Gilson. Before reading this book, Merton said that, "while I admired the Catholic culture, I had always been afraid of the Catholic Church" (p.172). Merton still read the book and he discovered some concepts that revolutionized his entire life. He learned the transliteration of God and that "faith was something that had a very definite meaning and was a most cogent necessity" (p.175). Shortly after reading the book, Merton had the sudden urge to go to Mass. He was astounded by the congregation of people that were intimately familiar with the Scripture of God's word. Although he felt a little out of place, he yearned to understand and to be a part of something so wonderful. Merton did not stay throughout the entire Mass. Reflecting upon his visit, he wondered whether his life would have been different if he had known God's grace as a child. Especially when he viewed the mosaics in the Roman Churches, perhaps they would have had more spiritual meaning