The Seven Storey Mountain book club questions

1. 1.

   Merton describes his years at Cambridge as a period of damage disguised as liberation. Have you had periods in your life that only looked clearly like what they were from a distance?

2. 2.

   His path to conversion ran through books rather than community or spiritual experience. What does that suggest about the different ways people come to religious commitment?

3. 3.

   Merton leaves out much of what happened at Cambridge — a lost child, a broken engagement — but alludes to it. How does partial transparency work in a memoir that presents itself as a full spiritual account?

4. 4.

   The book was a bestseller in 1948. What does it tell us that a detailed account of a man entering a silent monastery was the publishing event it was in postwar America?

5. 5.

   Merton's conversion involves leaving behind specific intellectual commitments — Communism, secular humanism — not just finding a new faith. Is conversion always a leaving, not just an arriving?

6. 6.

   He describes his Columbia friendships as proto-monastic in quality. Have you had friendships that functioned as a kind of community with shared values strong enough to shape you?

7. 7.

   Merton is hard on himself but not self-pitying. Is there a difference between those two things, and how do you recognize it in a memoir?

8. 8.

   He argues that the contemplative life is the most productive thing a human being can do with their existence. Do you find that argument coherent or absurd?

9. 9.

   The Seven Storey Mountain ends before Merton's mature thought — before his engagement with civil rights, his Zen studies, his later theological development. Does knowing what came after change how you read the early certainties?

10. 10.

    Merton chose a life of radical constraint. What constraints in your own life have clarified rather than limited your experience?

11. 11.

    He is clear that the decision to become a monk came with the understanding that he was likely giving up writing. The writing career that followed was unexpected. What does that reversal suggest about plans made at moments of deep commitment?

12. 12.

    If you were writing the spiritual autobiography of your own life to date, what would be its organizing structure?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.