This is a collection of Thomas Merton’s well-publicised writings on the spiritual life, in particular on the meaning of love and the reality of Christ in the world. Merton was both a Trappist monk and a civil rights activist whose life story is well-known through his own The Seven Storey Mountain. In The Power and Meaning of Love he looks at love as the greatest creative force in the world, as the bond between man and God and the whole of creation. He ranges widely over the Carmelite ideal, Renaissance hermits, the ascetic teachings of St John of the Cross, and lastly the challenge to Christians posed by totalitarianism. This is a book full of new insights, deeply reflective and thought-provoking.