What is The Seven Storey Mountain about?

The Seven Storey Mountain is Thomas Merton's spiritual autobiography chronicling his journey from a restless, aimless youth to becoming a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Published in 1948, the book details his childhood losses, struggles with materialism and identity, conversion to Roman Catholicism, and ultimate commitment to monastic life. The narrative follows Merton's quest to find both his true self and God, suggesting these searches are intrinsically connected.

Who should read The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton?

The Seven Storey Mountain resonates with readers seeking spiritual transformation, those questioning faith, and anyone navigating life's purpose amid modern distractions. The autobiography particularly appeals to individuals interested in religious conversion narratives, contemplative living, and Catholic monasticism. Following World War II, the book inspired countless veterans, students, and teenagers to explore monastic offerings across the United States. It speaks to those experiencing restlessness and searching for deeper meaning beyond material pursuits.

Is The Seven Storey Mountain worth reading?

The Seven Storey Mountain is widely recognized as one of the most influential religious works of the 20th century, appearing on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century. Translated into more than twenty languages, Merton's autobiography has touched millions of lives with its honest portrayal of spiritual struggle and transformation. The book offers profound insights into the ordinary pathways through which grace operates—through friendships, books, and everyday experiences. However, some critics note an unresolved bitterness pervading the narrative.

Who is Thomas Merton and why is he significant?

Thomas Merton was a prominent 20th-century Catholic writer, mystic, and Trappist monk who authored over 50 books during 27 years, focusing on spirituality, social justice, and pacifism. Born in France in 1915, he entered the Abbey of Gethsemani at age 26 and became a pioneering voice in interfaith dialogue. Merton engaged deeply with Eastern religions, conversing with the Dalai Lama, D.T. Suzuki, and Thich Nhat Hanh. His writings on contemplation and social engagement profoundly influenced spiritual seekers worldwide.

What are the main themes in The Seven Storey Mountain?

The Seven Storey Mountain explores several interconnected themes: Merton's conversion to Roman Catholicism and theological awakening, the discovery of God through self-discovery, and the critique of Western materialism that creates spiritual voids. The autobiography examines monastic life in the 20th century and the significance of ordinary experiences—friendships, books, places—as vehicles for divine grace. Merton emphasizes that true spiritual growth requires not just good deeds but living in proximity to God, portraying faith as an ongoing journey rather than a destination.

Why is The Seven Storey Mountain structured like Dante's Divine Comedy?

Thomas Merton structured The Seven Storey Mountain to mirror Dante's Divine Comedy, dividing his narrative into three parts representing Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The title references Dante's Mount Purgatory with seven tiers corresponding to sins purged during the spiritual journey toward earthly paradise. Merton labels his childhood as "Hell"—a period when God seemed absent—his awakening as "Purgatory," and his entrance into monastic life as reaching an earthly paradise. This allegorical structure emphasizes that spiritual transformation is a continuous ascent.

What does the title The Seven Storey Mountain symbolize?

The Seven Storey Mountain refers to Mount Purgatory in Dante's Divine Comedy, featuring seven tiers representing sins to be purged during the Christian spiritual journey. For Thomas Merton, the mountain metaphor symbolizes his ongoing spiritual ascent toward God, acknowledging he remains "in via"—still on the path. The title conveys that while Merton found faith and vocation, his spiritual development continues beyond the book's pages. He concludes with "Sit finis libri, non finis quarendi"—"Let this be the end of the book, not the end of the searching".

How does Thomas Merton describe his conversion to Catholicism in The Seven Storey Mountain?

Thomas Merton portrays his conversion to Catholicism as a gradual awakening facilitated by friendships, books, and everyday experiences rather than dramatic visions or extraordinary phenomena. He emphasizes that "all our salvation begins on the level of common and natural and ordinary things". Merton describes becoming Catholic as being reborn spiritually—like a newborn in the religious realm who must learn to walk. His conversion narrative reveals stumbles and continued struggles, acknowledging that finding faith doesn't mean achieving spiritual perfection but beginning an ongoing journey of transformation.

The seven storey mountain

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Overview of The seven storey mountain

Thomas Merton's spiritual masterpiece sold 600,000 copies in 1948 alone, yet mysteriously never appeared on The New York Times bestseller list. Championed by Evelyn Waugh, this atomic-age antidote to Cold War anxiety continues offering what one critic called "a countercultural option" to modern living.

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Chapter 1

The Spiritual Odyssey of Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton's "The Seven Storey Mountain" stands as one of the most influential spiritual autobiographies of the 20th century. Published in 1948, this remarkable memoir sold over 600,000 copies in its first year alone and continues to resonate with readers decades later. Celebrities from Martin Sheen to Bob Dylan have cited it as transformative in their spiritual journeys. The book arrived at a pivotal moment in American history-after World War II when people were searching for deeper meaning amid disillusionment. What makes this work so compelling is Merton's raw honesty about his journey from a worldly, ambitious young man to a contemplative Trappist monk, a transformation that continues to speak to those seeking authenticity in our distracted, achievement-oriented culture.

Chapter 2

From Wandering Child to Restless Youth

Born on January 31, 1915, near the French-Spanish border during World War I, Thomas Merton entered a world he would later describe as "resembling Hell." His parents were artists-his father Owen, a New Zealand painter with a "religious, clean vision," and his American mother, a woman driven by "insatiable dreams of perfection." From them, Merton inherited both artistic sensibility and a profound dissatisfaction with the world's disorder. Merton's early childhood was marked by constant movement. After his mother died of cancer when he was six, his father took him to live with his grandparents in Douglaston, New York. This transition from a life of freedom to one of structure and convention marked the end of his early childhood innocence. His father, meanwhile, traveled extensively for his painting, occasionally taking young Thomas with him to places like Bermuda and France. In France, Merton encountered Catholicism through the Privat family, simple people who lived "ordinary lives in a supernatural manner." Though he argued that all religions were equally good paths to God, their quiet faith made him aware of his own spiritual emptiness. He also visited Rocamadour, a shrine built into a cliff where an image of the Virgin Mary was venerated-places that would later resurface in his spiritual consciousness. At age thirteen, Merton's father fell gravely ill with a brain tumor. During hospital visits, Merton observed his father drawing "strange Byzantine-looking saints with beards and halos." Owen Merton died when Thomas was fifteen, leaving him an orphan. This loss marked another profound transition in Merton's life, as he now faced the world without parental guidance. At Oakham School in England, Merton developed into a bright but rebellious student. He discovered William Blake, whose poetry would profoundly influence him with its mystical vision and rebellion against materialism. "My love for Blake," Merton wrote, "had something of God's grace in it...a love that has never died and has deeply influenced my life's development."

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Chapter 3

The Descent into Darkness

Merton's years at Cambridge University marked his most profound descent into worldly excess and spiritual desolation. He characterized the university's atmosphere as "truly sinister beneath its superficial youthfulness"-a facade of academic prestige masking a culture of moral decay. Like many young intellectuals of his era, Merton eagerly rushed to take "a huge bite of this rotten fruit," whose bitter aftertaste would haunt him for years to come. He immersed himself in a circle of hard-drinking, carousing students who prided themselves on their cynicism and hedonistic pursuits. During this period, he fathered an illegitimate child-a significant event that was deliberately omitted from the original publication of his autobiography and only emerged in later scholarly research. The debauchery of his Cambridge years went beyond mere youthful indiscretion. Merton believed he was systematically "stamping the last remains of spiritual vitality" from his soul, methodically erasing what he would later recognize as God's image within him. He drew a powerful parallel between his spiritual deterioration and Christ's crucifixion, writing that Christ dies "again and again in individuals who were made to share His grace, and who deny Him." This self-aware destruction carried a weight of theological significance that would later inform his understanding of redemption. Following his ignominious expulsion from Cambridge, Merton returned to America and enrolled at Columbia University-a transition that would prove transformative. There he encountered several influential mentors, most notably Mark Van Doren, whose impact on Merton's intellectual development was profound and lasting. Van Doren's distinctive approach to literature-treating texts as living entities rather than mere historical or sociological artifacts-prepared Merton's mind for the rigors of scholastic philosophy. Through his Socratic teaching method, Van Doren posed penetrating questions that "educed" excellent thoughts students didn't realize they possessed, helping Merton develop the analytical tools that would later serve his spiritual journey. During his Columbia years, Merton briefly experimented with radical politics, attending Communist Party meetings and participating in various protests against social injustice. However, his revolutionary phase proved "brief and unremarkable," lasting barely three months. He found himself more naturally drawn to the authentic expression of jazz clubs on 52nd Street than to political ideology. Despite achieving outward success-writing prolifically for campus publications, maintaining an active social life, and earning academic recognition-Merton described his internal state as "bleeding to death." This vivid metaphor captured the profound spiritual emptiness he felt beneath his accomplished exterior, setting the stage for his eventual religious awakening. The contrast between his external achievements and internal void became increasingly stark during this period, creating the tension that would ultimately drive him toward his spiritual conversion. His experiences at both Cambridge and Columbia served as crucial waypoints on his journey from dissolution to redemption, though he wouldn't recognize their significance until years later.

Chapter 4

The First Stirrings of Faith

In February 1937, Merton purchased Etienne Gilson's "The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy" at Scribner's bookstore. Upon discovering the Catholic imprimatur, he felt disgust, having always feared the Church itself despite admiring Catholic culture. Yet as he read, he discovered in the concept of God's aseity-His existence of and by Himself-a revolutionary idea that showed Catholic belief was not the superstitious hangover he had imagined. This intellectual opening to faith coincided with physical illness. After collapsing from what he believed might be an ulcer, Merton found himself living in constant fear-"the reverse side of the pride and lust coin." This humiliation and sense of his own fruitlessness was "the closest I came to contrition-merely a reaction of nature proving I was still morally alive though spiritually dead." A pivotal moment came when Merton visited Rome in 1933. Walking through ancient churches, he encountered "the Christ of the Apocalypse, the Christ of the Martyrs, the Christ of the Fathers"-Christ as God and King who "owns and rules my life." The Byzantine mosaics spoke to him of "a God of infinite power, wisdom, and love Who had yet become Man." Though he couldn't grasp these theological truths explicitly, they entered his consciousness implicitly through the ancient art. One night in his room, Merton felt his father's presence-he who had been dead over a year-as vividly as if he had touched him. In that flash, he was overwhelmed with insight into his soul's corruption. For the first time in his life, he truly prayed-"praying out of the very roots of my life and of my being" to a God he had never known, begging liberation from the "thousand terrible things that held my will in their slavery."

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Chapter 5

Conversion and New Life

In 1938, Merton's reading became increasingly Catholic-Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dante, and even the religious sections of James Joyce's works fascinated him. He was particularly struck by Joyce's portrayal of a priest's sermon on hell in "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," admiring not the fear it evoked but its expertness and efficiency. That summer, Merton attended Mass for the first time at Corpus Christi Church behind Columbia's Teachers College. What impressed him most was that the church was completely full-not just with elderly people, but with men, women, and children of all ages and classes. Nearby, a pretty teenage girl knelt praying with genuine seriousness-a revelation that someone young and beautiful could make prayer the real reason for attending church. The sermon that day spoke of Christ not merely as a good man or prophet but as God Himself who had taken human nature, loved us as God, suffered and died for us as God. This truth, the priest explained, would be understood only through faith-otherwise remaining scandal or folly. And no one can believe these things merely by wanting to-without grace, an actual light and impulsion from God, one cannot make an act of living faith. Merton's decisive moment came in the fall of 1938. While reading Father Leahy's biography of Hopkins, he felt an irresistible voice within: "What are you waiting for? Why are you sitting here? Why do you still hesitate? You know what you ought to do. Why don't you do it?" Despite trying to silence this prompting, he finally put down the book, put on his raincoat, and walked to the Corpus Christi rectory where he told Father Ford: "I want to become a Catholic." After instruction, Merton was baptized on November 16, 1938, taking the name Thomas. In the confessional's shadows, he confessed his sins, tearing them out "like teeth." Then he knelt at the altar rail for his First Communion: "When he raised the Host, Christ drew me to Himself. 'Behold the Lamb of God: behold Him Who taketh away the sins of the world.' In that moment, Heaven was entirely mine."

Chapter 6

Growing in Faith and Finding His Vocation

Though baptism opened immense spiritual realms to Merton, he quickly descended into what he called "anticlimax." He made several mistakes in that first year: not seeking daily Communion, failing to pursue spiritual direction, setting aside thoughts of priesthood, and neglecting prayer, especially devotion to the Virgin Mary. Without these spiritual foundations, he entered Christian life as if it were "merely natural life with a supernatural mode." A turning point came during a conversation with his friend Robert Lax, who asked him what he wanted to be. After Merton replied, "I guess what I want is to be a good Catholic," Lax pressed him: "What you should say is that you want to be a saint." The thought struck Merton as weird. "How do you expect me to become a saint?" he asked. "By wanting to," said Lax simply. "All that's necessary is to want to be one. Don't you believe God will make you what He created you to be if you consent?" In 1939, Merton began feeling a call to priesthood. The thought came suddenly but with certainty: "I am going to be a priest." This wasn't an emotional urge or passionate fancy, but a strong, sweet, deep conviction-a matter of conscience that this was what he ought to do. After discussing religious orders with his mentor Dan Walsh, Merton initially leaned toward the Franciscans, believing their Rule would be easier to follow. However, a retreat at the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky profoundly affected him. Despite initially being terrified by the austere Trappist life-silent monks who never conversed, who fasted more than half the year, never ate meat or fish, and worked their own fields-Merton found himself drawn to their absolute authenticity. Their liturgy delivered graces that overwhelmed him like a tidal wave: "See Who God is!" the lights and shadows seemed to say. "See Christ here, on the Cross!"

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Chapter 7

The Call to Gethsemani

After being rejected by the Franciscans due to concerns about his past, Merton experienced a period of intense spiritual struggle. He decided that if he couldn't live in a monastery, he would try to live in the world as if he were a monk-joining a Third Order, seeking teaching work at a Catholic college, and turning his back on the "poisonous compromises of secular life." During this period, Merton taught at St. Bonaventure College and worked briefly with Baroness Catherine de Hueck at Friendship House in Harlem, ministering to the poor. The experience in Harlem revealed to him how Catholicism must address social injustice-how the Church needed to be present among "the outcasts, the despised." On December 7, 1941-Pearl Harbor Day-Merton spent his last peaceful Sunday at St. Bonaventure's. When America entered the war, he received word that his draft medical examination would be delayed a month. Taking this as a sign, he quickly prepared to leave for Gethsemani-giving away clothes and books, destroying his manuscripts, and writing farewell letters. The journey felt like passing through a new element, a "civil, moral death." As the train passed factories working on armaments through the night, Merton felt strangely detached. He had reached a point of complete surrender: "I belonged to God now-whether monastery or army camp, I was free because my life was in His hands." When he arrived at Gethsemani and rang the bell, Brother Matthew appeared, asking if he had come to stay. "Yes, Brother, if you'll pray for me," Merton replied. "That's what I've been doing," Brother Matthew answered, "praying for you."

Chapter 8

Life Within the Monastery Walls

Merton entered Gethsemani during Advent-"the perfect time to become a monk." You begin a new life at the beginning of a new liturgical year, with every prayer a cry of ardent desire for grace and the coming of the Messiah. The monastery's cold stones rang with chant that glowed with "living flame and clean, profound desire." Inside the cloister, Merton discovered the monastery not as some medieval dream but as cold reality-a community where everyone was imperfect. These imperfections, though smaller than worldly vices, seemed magnified through the lens of religious ideals. Yet he immediately appreciated the novitiate's enthusiasm, vitality, and good humor, enjoying how they teased each other in sign language and the quiet storms of amusement that occasionally rocked the "scriptorium." Merton received the oblate's habit-white robe, scapular, cloth band, and shapeless cloak-and the religious name Frater Louis. Unlike his elaborate name deliberations when considering the Franciscans, he simply accepted what he received. Looking out at the rocky valley, cedar trees, and bare hills, he thought: "This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it!" The monastic life proved physically demanding but spiritually fulfilling. Summer brought the hardest tests for novices-many gave up and returned to the world. But Merton had no desire to leave. Though the heat was oppressive, his active temperament found satisfaction in work that felt meaningful-doing something for God. The sweetest moments came at day's end in the fields-sun no longer raging, long blue shadows stretching across stubble fields with golden shocks, the pale half-moon smiling over the distant monastery. Pine scents mingled with harvest richness. When work ended and you wiped sweat from your eyes, you'd realize the whole valley sang with crickets-a constant treble rising like evening prayer incense.

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Chapter 9

Tragedy and Transformation

In 1943, Merton received news that his brother John Paul, who had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, was coming to visit before being deployed overseas. This visit proved providential, as John Paul expressed interest in becoming Catholic. During an intense weekend, Merton taught him everything he could about the faith, and John Paul was baptized before departing. On Easter Tuesday 1943, Merton received the devastating news that John Paul was missing in action. Later he learned his brother had died when his bomber crashed in the North Sea on April 16-the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Though severely injured, John Paul had kept himself afloat and tried supporting the already-dead pilot before companions pulled him into their rubber dinghy. After three hours of Christ-like thirst, he died. This loss deepened Merton's commitment to his vocation. Yet he faced an unexpected challenge-his growing reputation as a writer. Though he had entered the monastery to escape the world, his superiors encouraged his literary talents. This created an internal conflict: "I'm haunted by my shadow, my double-this writer who followed me into the cloister... He still tracks me, riding my shoulders like the old man of the sea. I cannot lose him." Merton feared his contemplative vocation was being reduced to ashes while everyone calmly told him: "Writing is your vocation." He worried this "businessman full of ideas, breathing notions and schemes" was blocking his path to liberty, binding him to earth with "Egyptian bondage of contracts, reviews, page proofs, and endless book plans." Yet through this struggle, Merton came to understand that God had brought him to Gethsemani not to escape the world but to find a new way of engaging with it-through prayer, contemplation, and writing that would touch countless souls he would never meet.

Chapter 10

The Paradox of Solitude

In the epilogue, Merton delves deep into the paradoxical nature of the contemplative life, revealing insights that would define his spiritual legacy. God speaks to him with both tenderness and severity, promising to lead him into solitude through what seems like a cruel path - by allowing everything around him to hurt, deny, and reduce him to complete isolation. Every human desire will brand him with searing pain, systematically driving him toward absolute solitude. The praise of others will feel like a martyrdom, burning him at the stake of public attention. Love itself will become a kind of death, murdering his heart's attachments. Even well-intended gifts will crush him with their weight of obligation and expectation. The divine promise continues with stark clarity: after experiencing brief moments of being praised and loved, God will methodically strip everything away. This spiritual denudation will continue until Merton becomes utterly forgotten and abandoned by the world - "a dead thing, a rejection." Yet paradoxically, it is precisely in this state of complete emptiness that he will begin to possess the authentic solitude he has so desperately desired. This hard-won solitude, born of loss and surrender, will bear tremendous fruit in countless souls whom Merton will never encounter during his earthly life. This represents the central paradox of Merton's spiritual journey: by deliberately withdrawing from the world, he discovered a more profound way to speak to it. His embrace of monastic silence amplified his voice far beyond the monastery walls, reaching millions through his writings. By dying to his own ambitions, desires, and self-image, he uncovered his authentic voice - one that continues to resonate with spiritual seekers decades after his death. His withdrawal became a form of engagement, his silence a form of speech, his solitude a way of touching countless lives. The monastery became not an escape from the world but a lens through which to see it more clearly. Through his contemplative practice, Merton developed insights into human nature, spirituality, and social justice that proved remarkably prescient and universally relevant. His solitude became a crucible where personal transformation yielded universal wisdom. The Seven Storey Mountain concludes with the profound Latin phrase: "SIT FINIS LIBRI, NON FINIS QUAERENDI" (Let this be the end of the book, not the end of the searching). This epitaph perfectly encapsulates Merton's deep understanding that the spiritual journey remains eternally unfinished - that even within the structured silence of monastery walls, the soul continues its perpetual ascent toward divine union. This quest for God, he suggests, can only reach its completion when we finally see Him face to face, transcending all earthly limitations and paradoxes.

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Chapter 11

The Lasting Legacy of a Monk's Confession

Thomas Merton's autobiography transcends mere spiritual memoir to become a profound meditation on modern humanity's search for meaning. His journey from worldly ambition to monastic contemplation speaks to our deepest longings for authenticity and purpose. What makes his story so compelling is not that he achieved perfect sanctity - he remained very human, struggling with his writing vocation and the fame it brought - but that he persevered in seeking God despite his flaws and doubts. His candid acknowledgment of these struggles, from his earlier days of intellectual pride to his later wrestling with public attention, creates a bridge for readers facing their own spiritual challenges. The Seven Storey Mountain's enduring appeal lies in Merton's ability to articulate the universal spiritual journey in deeply personal terms. His story reminds us that the path to God often leads through unexpected places - through art, literature, friendship, and even failure. From his early experiences at Columbia University to his transformative encounters with Blake's poetry and Catholic mysticism, Merton demonstrates how cultural and intellectual pursuits can serve as authentic pathways to spiritual awakening. It suggests that our deepest fulfillment comes not from accumulating experiences or achievements but from surrendering to a love greater than ourselves. In our age of distraction and superficial connection, Merton's embrace of silence and contemplation offers a radical alternative - not as escape from responsibility, but as the foundation for more authentic engagement with the world. His life at Gethsemani Abbey exemplifies how withdrawal from society's noise can paradoxically lead to deeper social consciousness and more meaningful action. Through his writings on social justice, peace, and interfaith dialogue, Merton showed how contemplative life could inform and enrich public discourse. His influence extends beyond Catholic circles to speak to seekers of all traditions who hunger for authentic spiritual experience. As we close this book, we are invited to continue our own searching - to recognize that our own stories, like Merton's, are unfinished journeys toward the divine center where we find our true selves in communion with God and one another. The monastery gate has closed behind Thomas Merton, but through his words, he continues to beckon us toward that center, toward that silence where we too might hear the voice of God. His legacy endures not only in his written works but in the countless lives he has influenced through his honest portrayal of the spiritual quest. Even decades after his death, readers continue to find in Merton's autobiography a companion for their own spiritual journeys, whether they lead to a monastery or to a renewed engagement with the world.

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Key Themes in The seven storey mountain

monastic conversion
spiritual desolation
contemplative life
search for authenticity
religious awakening

Quotes from The seven storey mountain

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.
Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.
For me to be a saint means to be myself.

Characters in The seven storey mountain

Thomas MertonThe author and subject of the autobiography
Owen MertonThomas's father, a New Zealand painter
Mark Van DorenColumbia professor and influential mentor
William BlakePoet whose mystical vision influenced Merton

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) is the author of The Seven Storey Mountain, a bestselling spiritual autobiography and one of the most influential religious memoirs of the twentieth century. Born in France and raised in the United States, Merton converted to Roman Catholicism at age 23 before entering the Abbey of Gethsemani as a Trappist monk in 1941. His deeply personal account of spiritual transformation and monastic life resonated with readers seeking meaning in the post-war era, inspiring countless individuals to explore contemplative spirituality.

Over 27 years, Merton wrote more than 50 books on spirituality, social justice, and interfaith dialogue, pioneering conversations with Eastern religious leaders including the Dalai Lama and Zen master D.T. Suzuki. His work bridged Catholic monasticism with global spiritual traditions.

The Seven Storey Mountain sold over 600,000 copies in hardcover, with paperback sales exceeding three million by 1984. Translated into more than 20 languages, it remains continuously in print and appears on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.

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201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

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Chapter 3

The seven storey mountain

OverviewOverview of The seven storey mountain

One book. Many ways to hear it.

The Spiritual Odyssey of Thomas Merton

From Wandering Child to Restless Youth

See every word as you hear it

The Descent into Darkness

The First Stirrings of Faith

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Conversion and New Life

Growing in Faith and Finding His Vocation

See every word as you hear it

The Call to Gethsemani

Life Within the Monastery Walls

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Tragedy and Transformation

The Paradox of Solitude

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The Lasting Legacy of a Monk's Confession

You made it to the end of The seven storey mountain

Key Themes in The seven storey mountain

Quotes from The seven storey mountain

Characters in The seven storey mountain

About the Author

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1,000,000+ curious minds.

1,000,000+ curious minds.

One book. Many ways to hear it.

The Spiritual Odyssey of Thomas Merton

From Wandering Child to Restless Youth

See every word as you hear it

The Descent into Darkness

The First Stirrings of Faith

Get more out of The seven storey mountain

Conversion and New Life

Growing in Faith and Finding His Vocation

See every word as you hear it

The Call to Gethsemani

Life Within the Monastery Walls

Get more out of The seven storey mountain

Tragedy and Transformation

The Paradox of Solitude

See every word as you hear it

The Lasting Legacy of a Monk's Confession

You made it to the end of The seven storey mountain

Users also liked

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Overview of The seven storey mountain