In an article titled Thomas Merton's Asian Journey, Harold Talbott depicts Merton as a liberated man:
He tipped Sikh taxi drivers like a Proustian millionaire. He was on a roll, on a toot, on a holiday from school. He was a grand seigneur, a great lord of the spiritual life. He radiated a sense of "This is an adventure, here I am folks," and he woke people up and illuminated them and enchanted them and gave them tremendous happiness and a good laugh. People knew his spiritual quality. People in planes knew it. There was no question about it. Merton was not an object of scrutiny, he was an event.
— Harold Talbott, The Great Escape Manual by Edward Hays