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This is a file in the correspondence of Thomas Merton under the heading: "Meerloo, Joost Abraham Maurits".
Dr. Joost A.M. Meerloo was a Dutch-born psychoanalyst specializing in the area of thought control techniques used by totalitarian regimes. Most of his family were killed by the Nazis, but he escaped to England in 1942 from a Nazi prison in the Netherlands. In 1946, he emigrated to the United States and took residence in New York where he continued to writes books and continue his practice as a psychoanalyst. He coined the term "mentacide", the killing of the mind as employed in brain-washing techniques. After writing to each other for since 1962, Meerloo visits Gethsemani in November of 1967 (see Merton's journal entry from November 7, 1967). His books include Homo Militans, The Psychology of War and Peace in Man, Delusion and Mass Delusion, and The Rape of the Mind. (Source: "Meerloo, Joost A. M." Current Biography. 1962. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 13 Dec. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.
See also Cold War Letters #96 published in Witness to Freedom, pp. 60-61.
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. |
1962/08/no? |
transcript from Merton |
I have been meaning to write to you about the offprint you send a long time ago, and your letter |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #96 - transcript from bound set]
«detailed view» |
| 2. |
1962/09/05 |
HLS to Merton |
Yesterday, your book, Breakthrough to Peace arrived. It's a very appealing collection of essays |
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«detailed view» |
| 3. |
1962/11/04 (#01) |
TAL[c] from Merton |
A little time has gone by since I received your very welcome letter of September 5th. |
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[date is crossed out - some paragraphs of the letter are crossed out - could have been another letter considered for the Cold War Letters, but not included]
«detailed view» |
| 4. |
1962/11/04 (#02) |
HLS to Merton |
It was extremely kind of you to send me your latest book as edited by Thomas P. McDonnell. |
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«detailed view» |
| 5. |
1963/12/14 |
HLS to Merton |
It was so kind of you to send me your "Emblems of a Season of Fury". It has become already a very |
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«detailed view» |
| 6. |
1963/12/29 |
TL[c] from Merton |
It was good to hear from you again, and it is unfortunately all too true that in the rush of life |
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«detailed view» |
| 7. |
1964/05/31 |
HLS to Merton |
I waited already much too long with answering your last letter and now I received your touching poem |
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«detailed view» |
| 8. |
1965/01/31 |
HLS to Merton |
I am very grateful for sending me you "Seeds of Destruction". I was especially touched by your |
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«detailed view» |
| 9. |
1966/04/24 (#01) |
HLS to Merton |
This is a very late answer to your short note. I love to see your book. I was once 3 weeks |
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«detailed view» |
| 10. |
1966/04/24 (#02) |
other to Merton |
Spinoza: Coup d'œil sur ses conceptions psychologiques [-] par J. A. M. MEERLOO (New York) |
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«detailed view» |
| 11. |
1967/06/02 |
HLS to Merton |
That was pleasant to receive such a long letter from you and I look forward to the books that are |
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«detailed view» |
| 12. |
1967/06/14 |
HLS to Merton |
It is a long time since I have a token of life. It is especially the growing aggression |
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«detailed view» |
| 13. |
1967/06/18 |
TL[c] from Merton |
It was a pleasure to get your letter and the articles. I am reading the lecture now and find |
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«detailed view» |
| 14. |
1967/07/07 |
HLS to Merton |
How wonderful to send me all these books. This week I had after a long time the quiet to meditate |
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«detailed view» |
| 15. |
1967/08/04 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Since you indicated in your letter that you were going to Europe this summer, I did not rush |
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«detailed view» |
| 16. |
1967/09/04 |
HLS to Merton |
I reserved plane tickets to Louisville on Sat. Nov 4, 67, flight 247 leaving La Guardia at 8:05 |
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«detailed view» |
| 17. |
1967/10/07 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Many thanks for your excellent little book Total War and the Human Mind. |
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«detailed view» |
| 18. |
1967/10/12 |
HLS to Merton |
Sat. Nov 4. I arrive with American Airline, flight 247, in Louisville 9:55 A.M. Sunday Nov 5 |
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| 19. |
1967/11/10 |
HLS to Merton |
It is now a week later after the moving experiences in your midst. I cannot count the imponderabilia |
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«detailed view» |
| 20. |
1967/11/21 |
TL[c] from Merton |
The books have arrived, also your good letter. Many thanks. Your book on the dance is very |
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| 21. |
1967/12/03 |
TL[c] from Merton |
This week I have a group of cloistered nun superiors coming here for a retreat-cum-seminar, |
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| 22. |
1967/12/18 (#01) |
HLS to Merton |
Your letter lies already too long on my desk. Of course, you may use the manuscript on "silence" |
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| 23. |
1967/12/18 (#02) |
other to Merton |
I would have like to have sent this to you now, but the books did not arrive, yet. |
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[description of Meerloo's book Creativity and Eternization, essays on the creative instinct, with a handwritten note by Meerloo]
«detailed view» |
| 24. |
1967/12/18 (#03) |
other to Merton |
Bibliography [-] Joost A.M. Meerloo, M.D. [-] Books and Monographs |
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[Meerloo's bibliography with checkmarks by certain books and two books handwritten by Merton which were books added to the list]
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