Thomas Merton and Contemplative Christianity in California

Explore Thomas Merton’s work through pranayama & the Jesus Prayer, engaging with Merton within an inter-spiritual & non-sectarian container.

In May and October of 1968, Trappist monk and spiritual author, Thomas Merton, offered two extended conferences at Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey, a Cistercian women’s monastic community located on Northern California’s “Lost Coast.” Comprising over twenty-six hours of previously unpublished material, Merton’s California conferences cover a variety of topics from ecology and consciousness, to yoga and Sufi spirituality. Throughout these enlivening informal talks, Merton challenges his listeners to ask questions about the nature of the self and offers penetrating insights into the complexities of contemporary human being from a monastic and contemplative perspective. 

One of the key themes that underscores Merton’s conferences is the rampant anxiety, alienation, and depression that he diagnoses at the root of “modern consciousness.” He then contrasts the alienated self with mystical forms of consciousness from across religious traditions which, to Merton, aid practitioners in accessing a contemplative “ground of being.” These alternate (or “altered”) forms of consciousness serve as an antidote to contemporary consumer consciousness – what Merton calls the “computer karma” of modern-day America. 

This interactive evening grounds Merton’s message in several of the spiritual practices he outlines in his conferences, notably in yoga (pranayama) and the eastern Christian hesychast tradition of the “Jesus Prayer.” After a brief historical orientation to these practices, attendees will be invited to experiment with their own forms of “centering prayer” with ample opportunities for dialogue. Participants will therefore be afforded the unique opportunity to engage with one aspect of the contemplative Christian tradition from within an “inter-spiritual” and non-sectarian container.

David M. Odorisio, PhD, is an Associate Core Faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, where he teaches in the Mythological Studies and Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness MA/PhD programs. David is editor of four volumes, including: Thomas Merton in California: The Redwoods Conferences and Letters; A New Gnosis: Comic Books, Comparative Mythology, and Depth Psychology; Merton & Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart; and Depth Psychology and Mysticism (co-editor). David teaches courses in the areas of psychology and religion, comparative mysticism, and contemplative spirituality. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Mysticism Unit for the American Academy of Religion.