I'm so enjoying this book.  And I will write more about it later.  This morning though, on page 82 I find the following:

There are so many words that one cannot get to God as long as He is thought to be on the other side of the words…That is where the silence of the woods comes in.  Not that there is something to be thought and discovered in the woods, but only that the trees are all sufficient exclamations of silence, and one works there, cutting wood, clearing ground, cutting grass, cooking soup, drinking fruit juice, sweating, washing, making fire, smelling smoke, sweeping etc.  This is religion.  The further one gets away from this, the more one sinks in the mud of words and gestures.  The flies gather.

I guess I won't add any words to this!  Maybe OM

(March 6th, 2007)  Finished this book this morning.  Thought I would put a few more of my thoughts on it here and wrap this up.  I really enjoyed this book.  Merton's writings here touched me just about all the way through.  I'm not a catholic or any other religion, but I always appreciate the call to unity and peace.

One of the gotchas for me right away was found in the Introduction where The Dalai Lama refers to Thomas Merton “More striking than his outward appearance, which was memorable in itself, was the inner life that he manifested.  I could see he was a truly humble and deeply spiritual man.  This was the first time I had been struck by such a feeling of spirituality in anyone who professed Christianity… It was Merton who first introduced me to the real meaning of the word 'Christian'”.  I must respectfully agree with HH.

I have a couple of quotes from the book that I will add in the Quotes section.  I recommend the book highly.  If for no other reason to listen to Merton's own quest for truth within the framework of Christianity.  Refreshing to me too.

For power can guarantee the interests of some men but it can never foster the good of man.  Power always protects the good of some at the expense of all the others.  Only love can attain and preserve the good of all.  Any claim to build the security of all on force is a manifest imposture.

If there is no silence beyond and within the many words of doctrine, there is no religion, only a religious ideology.  For religion goes beyond words and actions, and attains to the ultimate Truth only in silence and Love.