Thomas Merton : selected essays / edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O'Connell.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 478-480) and index.

The white pebble -- St. John of the Cross -- Poetry and contemplation: a reappraisal -- Boris Pasternak and the people with watch chains -- The recovery of paradise -- Notes for a philosophy of solitude -- Theology of creativity -- Christian culture needs oriental wisdom -- Letter to Pablo Antonio Cuadra concerning giants -- Peace: a religious responsibility -- The humanity of Christ in monastic prayer -- Message to poets -- A tribute to Gandhi -- From pilgrimage to crusade -- Religion and race in the United States -- Rain and the rhinoceros -- The contemplative life in the modern world -- Day of a stranger -- Symbolism: communication or communion -- The other side of despair -- The time of the end is the time of no room -- Blessed are the meek -- Events and pseudo-events -- The spiritual father in the desert tradition -- Is the world a problem? -- A Christian looks at Zen -- Terror and the absurd -- The monastic renewal: problems and prospects -- "Baptism in the forest": wisdom and initiation in William Faulkner -- Ishi: a meditation -- Learning to live -- The wild places -- Final integration.