From Anomie to Metanoia: The Spiritual-Political Thought of Henry Thoreau & Thomas Merton

Abstract

Both Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Merton revolted against the state of society as they saw it and lived in it. They retired to their respective wildernesses to seek solitude and dive deep for truth. Merton and Thoreau were not content with a solitude that did not also involve a meaningful relationship to society. They were concerned with social justice and communicated that through their writing, which, it seems, came about because of their solitude. In that way, each author encourages his readers to build their own inner retreats, and in the end, they do this as a means of furthering social reform in their times. For both men, a relationship to God––or to nature, to cosmic divinity––is cultivated within. Furthermore, once the individual’s relationship to this higher power has been established, this leads to a recognition of the divinity in others. Both Merton and Thoreau, from their respective hermitages, reached inward––only to find themselves also reaching outward. Both Thoreau and Merton offer a vision of solitude and silence that goes hand in hand with social justice and political action.