This book, edited & introduced by Kathleen Deignan,* is a curation of extracts from 20th-century mystic monk Thomas Merton's voluminous writings - specifically those that ruminate on the spiritual life we have in & with the natural world. These extracts are split into eight chapters: firstly, general reflections on what it means to know living things; then the seasons [autumn, winter, spring, summer]; the elements [earth, air, fire, water]; the firmament [sky & clouds, sun & moon, planets & stars]; creatures [butterflies & birds, rams & lambs, rodents & rabbits, horses & cattle, snakes & frogs, deer & dogs, bees & bugs]; festivals [rain, flowers, trees]; then finally the presence of mountains & the sanctuary of forests. I really enjoyed this book - it's a doxology of experience rather than any kind of systematized argument or collection of points. If you're a Christian who doesn't take creation with the seriousness, reverence & joy it deserves, this book will nudge you in a healthier direction - and vice versa if you're a non-Christian nature-lover who doesn't take the God who is present in all creation with the seriousness, reverence & joy He deserves! Overall a very pleasant & spiritually-edifying read, and it's made me hungry to seek out some of Merton's other works.
* And illustrated by John Giuliani - though I have to say, while the pictures are nice, there isn't many of them, and the prose is already so beautifully descriptive & thus immersive that they don't really serve to add much.
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