She did not want her child to have any religious dogmas forced upon him so she deliberately withheld any formal religious teaching from him. Thomas' maternal grandparents were Protestants and his grandfather was especially cynical about Catholics because he believed them to be hypocrites. In spite of this, at the age of 26 Thomas Merton converted to Roman Catholicism and entered the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemane in Kentucky where he was ordained a priest in 1949. Thomas Merton was an English professor before he became a monk and continued on to write about being a monk, his autobiography, and poetry. Even though he lived a life of solitude he was very aware of the political upheaval that was taking place in the 1960s pertaining to civil rights and the peace movement.
Mysticism is a common thread that runs through almost all religions of the world.
The mystic is an individual who seems to be attuned with all of reality with certainty of the existence of God or some sort of Higher Power. Something that mystics have in common is that most are exposed to life altering experiences like death or severe illness that seem to change or enhance the person's perception of reality. Everyone on this earth has the capability to become mystical in thought processes. For example, millions of people have lost one or both parents early in their lives and yet people perceive such a loss differently. Some individuals become bitter, hateful, and mean while others become very compassionate toward people and nature.