The Ascent To Truth Author:Thomas Merton "The Truth man needs is...God Himself," Thomas Merton tells us at the outset of this book. The Ascent To Truth is therefore a journey toward the highest summit of knowledge, ultimate truth. — In showing that this summit is reached in contemplation, Thomas Merton presents a brilliant exposition of the doctrines of John of the Cross, the sixteenth-... more »century Carmelite theologian, mystic, and poet who became a doctor of the Chursn and a saint. Mystical contemplation is symbolized as "the dark night of the soul" which Moses experienced on Mount Sinai in his three visions of God as fire, cloud, and darkness. "The paradox of contemplation," says Merton, "is that God is never fully known unless He is loved...Because he is without love, modern man is incapable of seeing the only Truth that matters."« less