The third volume of Trappist monk Thomas Mertons journals chronicles his struggle to reconcile his celebrity as an author and peace activist with his desire for a life of silence and contemplation and also his conflicts with monastic routine, and his exploration of Zen, existentialism, Marxism, and Latin American culture. Index.The third volume of Thomas Mertons journals chronicles Mertons attempts to reconcile his desire for solitude and contemplation with the demands of his new-found celebrity status within the strictures of conventional monastic life.