The Seven Storey Mountain

Merton resumes classes at Columbia, and he continues to struggle with the nature of his religious intentions. But as he moves toward meditation, he found himself excited to join the religious life. Off-handedly, one of his friends, Dan, tells him about a Trappist monastery he’s founded in Kentucky called, Our Lady of Gethsemani, the monastery to which Merton would later devote his life. At this point, he has no interest in that monastery and continues his spiritual exercises and schooling.

He faces a series of what he perceives as challenges, like a poor man appearing in need of money testing whether he truly would live a life of poverty. These moments cause Merton to wonder how much of his morality is truly for the higher good or for its own sake. He teaches English at Columbia, which he enjoys, but he really wants to go to Mexico or Cuba to journey on a pilgrimage.

He comes down with appendicitis and this factors into another moral test: whether to try and move a drunk man out of the walkway, which might cause his appendix to burst before he could make it to the hospital. Filled with pride, he moves the man, who crawls right back.