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Jeanne Burdick was working in physical medicine and rehabilitation at a veterans' hospital in Topeka, Kansas. Her agnosticism had left her feeling empty but had trouble accepting religious and mystical thought and asks Merton for help in explaining his religious experience.
Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.
See also Cold War Letters #15 (see also Seeds of Destruction, "Letters in a Time of Crisis" #7) and another letter, published in The Hidden Ground of Love, pp.108-110.
If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.
Click icons for links: ✓="Published | Library Record", ✉="Scanned" | 🗷="Scanned, Viewable Only at Merton Center"
| # | Date | From/To | First Lines | Pub ✓ | Notes |
| | y/m/d | Merton | | Scan ✉ | |
| 1. |
1961/11/21 |
TLS to Merton |
With hesitancy I write you this letter. Seldom have I ever spoken to a priest, much less written |
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Sigmund Freud / agnosticism / explanation of Merton's quote from The Seven Storey Mountain about the "disinterested love of God"
«detailed view» |
| 2. |
1961/12/26 (#01) |
TLS[x] from Merton |
For several weeks I have wanted to find an opportunity to answer your letter with its one very |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #15] responds to Burdick's question about "disinterested love" - charity, agape rather than eros - mysticism, the Zen tradition, Hassidim, Jewish tzaddiks of Central Europe and Poland (Buber) / Sigmund Freud - "a great puritan" / sending some writings of D. T. Suzuki
«detailed view» |
| 3. |
1961/12/26 (#02) |
transcript from Merton |
For several weeks I have wanted to find an opportunity to answer your letter with its one very |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #15 - from mimeographed collection of letters] responds to Burdick's question about "disinterested love" - charity, agape rather than eros - mysticism, the Zen tradition, Hassidim, Jewish tzaddiks of Central Europe and Poland (Buber) / Sigmund Freud - "a great puritan" / D. T. Suzuki
«detailed view» |
| 4. |
1961/12/26 (#03) |
transcript from Merton |
(not for publication) "The way I would express it now is in purely religious and symbolic terms. |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #15 - excerpt (shorter version of others of the same date) labelled "not for publication" - fuller form of the letter was published]
«detailed view» |
| 5. |
1962/06/11 |
TLS[x] from Merton |
I was happy and surprised to get your good letter, and very glad for you. Certainly the dimensions |
✓ |
true self versus false self / faith and crisis / suggested authors and publications to read to weather bad times
«detailed view» |
| 6. |
1970/12/10 |
TLS to Center from Burdick, Jeanne |
As a response to your letter of October 5th concerning correspondence between Thomas Merton |
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«detailed view» |
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