On the surface, it might seem to be a counter-intuitive ideological combination of philosophers. How strange to pair the teachings of the holy Trappist monk, the Catholic poet and anti-Vietnam War activist Thomas Merton with the theories of Saul Alinsky, otherwise known as the author of "Thirteen Rules for Radicals"! However, just as Alinsky attempted to delineate a purposeful and practical guide of principles for grassroots activism against the Vietnam War and what he deemed other social atrocities, so did Thomas Merton attempt to create a guide for a practical Christian life, lived humbly, but infused with a spirit of social justice along the lines of the anti-violent and anti-war principles espoused by Alinsky. .

             For example, one of the first radical principles of Alinsky is that grassroots activists should take advantage of the patterns of repeated mistakes and miscalculations that organizations and the leadership of the opposing organization are likely to make. This could be have said to have been applied by Merton to his own soul-in other words, one must learn from one"s mistakes and transgressions, rather than waste one"s energies in regrets for one"s past, however one may have lived. If one was bad in one"s past, use that as an example of how one ought not to live, rather than denying the truth! .

             Thomas Merton led a troubled youthful existence, allegedly fathering an illegitimate child during his early studies at Cambridge University in England. He was rejected from the first monastic order he applied to be a part of. But this troubled adolescence ultimately led the man to take up the Catholic faith with greater resolve and motivated him to pursue a life as a socially active monk. This also goes along Alinsky"s principle that, power is not only what you have, but what the target thinks you have-one may have stores of spiritual reserves of power and appeal that one is not aware of at first, and an apparent negative can be deployed as a potential positive, with the correct thinking and mindset.