Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
The mature statement of Merton's contemplative spirituality — the false self and the true self, contemplative prayer as participation in the divine life
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation (Mid-late (Merton's mature contemplative theology)) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Singular |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Experience |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
The slow temporal unfolding of contemplative practice — patient work of dying to the false self.
Space
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
The interior space of the contemplative heart; the monastic space as the supportive outer condition.
Matter
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
Embodied contemplative life; the body as part of the contemplative practice, not opposed to it.
Observer
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
The contemplative self — singular, embodied, patient in attention. Personal-providential God as framework.
Energy
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
The energies of contemplative attention and self-emptying; divine grace as the deeper enabling power.
Information
Seeds of Contemplation (1949) / New Seeds of Contemplation
The contemplative tradition's wisdom preserved through practice; personal self-knowledge preserved through the discovery of the true self.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The relation between New Seeds's mature contemplative ecumenism and the Mountain's 1948 confessional clarity has been the central interpretive question in Merton scholarship. Some Catholic readers (especially before Vatican II) found the Buddhist-Hindu engagement problematic; subsequent readers (especially in the contemplative-renewal movement) have welcomed it. Merton's subsequent Asian Journal (1973, posthumous) records his final dialogue with Buddhist traditions just before his accidental death in Bangkok in 1968.