With the election of a new Abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton
enters a period of unprecedented freedom, culminating in the opportunity
to travel to California, Alaska, and finally the Far East - journeys
that offer him new possibilities and causes for contemplation. In his
last days at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton continues to follow the
tumultuous events of the sixties, including the assassinations of Martin
Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. In Southeast Asia, he meets the
Dalai Lama and other Buddhist and Catholic monks and discovers a rare
and rewarding kinship with each. The final year is full of excitement
and great potential for Merton, making his accidental death in Bangkok,
at the age of fifth-three, all the more tragic.