Merton's Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God Through Awareness of the True Self

"This one door is the door of the Palace of Nowhere. It is the door of God. It is our very self, our true self called by God to perfect union with himself. And it is through this door we secretly enter in responding to the saving call to 'Come with me to the Palace of Nowhere where all the many things are one.'"

As a young man of eighteen, James Finley left home for an unlikely destination: the Abbey of Gethsemani, where Thomas Merton lived as a contemplative. Finley stayed at the monastery for six maturing years and later wrote this book in order to share with his readers a taste of what he had learned on his spiritual journey under the guidance of one of the great religious figures of our day. At the heart of the quest for spiritual identity are Thomas Merton's illuminating insights--leading from an awareness of the false and illusory self to a realization of the true self.

For over twenty-five years Merton's Palace of Nowhere has been the standard for exploring, reflecting on, and understanding this rich vein of Merton's thought. Dog-eared, tattered, underlined copies are found on the bookshelves of spiritual searchers everywhere. Now this Silver Anniversary edition brings this classic to a whole new generation, with a new foreword by Br. Patrick Hart.

James Finley is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Santa Monica, California. Finley spent a number of years under the spiritual direction of Thomas Merton, and they were contemporaries during Finley's six years at the Abbey of Gethsemani. In addition to his clinical practice, Finley leads contemplative retreats and teaches throughout the United States and Canada, and he is the author of many books.