How are we affected by the soul of the world?

J. T. Knoll writes "The halo of melancholy" for morningsun.net, Pittsburgh, Kansas today. He shares, "In addition to life’s daily struggles, my heart grows heavy with the plight of the working poor, the mentally ill, the homeless, the hungry children — the dispossessed — right here in Kansas from whom services continue to be withdrawn even as tax breaks for the well-to-do are being proposed.'" While wondering if growing older contributes to feeling low, he quotes Thomas Moore.

"Thomas Moore puts it this way in his book, Care of the Soul: 'You get a sense of having lived through something, of being older and wiser. You know that life is suffering, and that knowledge makes a difference. You can’t enjoy the bouncy, carefree innocence of youth any longer, a realization that entails both sadness because of the loss, and pleasure in a new sense of self-acceptance and self-knowledge. This awareness of age has a halo of melancholy around it, but it also enjoys a measure of nobility.'"

Knoll then writes about Abraham Lincoln's gloominess and sense of humour.

Blogger gives tips for living an authentic life

Today Karen Wright quotes Thomas Moore in her post "Authentic & Eudaimonic: How to go with your gut and be true to yourself". She writes, "Eudaimonia refers to a state of well-being and full functioning that derives from a sense of living in accordance with one’s deeply held values—in other words, from a sense of authenticity." She then offers eight tips for an authentic life.

Her advice from Moore?
1. Stay connected: ”Community is an outlook toward life in which you define yourself in relation to the world around you, rather than only in connection with yourself. I recommend enlarging the sense of self.” — Thomas Moore, psychotherapist and author of A Life at Work

2. Be willing to lose: ”Feelings of inauthenticity are heightened by a lack of a philosophy that allows failure to be part of life. If you’re leading a full life, you’re going to fail some every day.” — Thomas Moore

Your life work is the mystery of who you are

"Your life work may not be your career or job but may include parenthood, volunteering, travel, hobby, art or some other contribution."
— Thomas Moore (@thomasmooreSoul) tweet, 24 January 2012

Earlier this month, the blog My Calling IQ quotes Moore's book A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You were Born to Do with a passage stressing that your calling is unique: "A life work is different from a career in that it is always unique. No one has exactly the same calling that you have."

In this book Moore concludes, "Finding your life work is inseparable from maturing as a person and finding your place in society. To mature as a person you have to take considerable time sorting through, taking to heart, and resolving the mistakes and failures that have marked your progress. You have to refine the raw material of your emotions and jagged relationships, learning better how to engage the world effectively. You have to unleash your creativity in realistic ways, grounding your idealism and ambitions in real-world contexts."

Let the process happen in the soul's dark night

John Moriarty

Exploration of Thomas Moore's book Dark Nights of the Soul continues today in the post "Gifts of the Dark Night" on the Musings from the Moment blog. Debby opens her post with a quote by John Moriarty, a late friend of Thomas Moore and she includes an echoing quote from Moore's own book that ends: "The most difficult challenge is to let the process take place, and yet that is the only release from the pressure of the dark night." A 1 December 2011 post on this blog, "Hekate" also refers to Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul.

Our choice of words helps to create our world

Matthew Elliot Boucher hosts the Rays of a Sacred Sun blog, subtitled ""Writings for Illumination" in Durham, Maine. Boucher shares at least two of Thomas Moore's interests, writing and music. In this recent post the blogger offers "A Short Soul Meditation":

"It is supremely satisfying to write in that slow, certain way that is suffused with Soul, when careful attention is placed upon the choice of words and the Imagination is at pleasure and delight with the World. One’s Language determines one’s Experience of the World, and I find that when I slow down to the leisurely pace of beautiful clouds across a landscape, everything is made aright. My readings of Thomas Moore do much to ground me within the real world, in all its sublime Beauty and exquisite Suffering; his writings on the nature of Soul have been a faithful companion of mine for over a decade, and have made me more human. I recommend his work to all of you.

I hear my fiancée making meat spaghetti in the kitchen, pouring her love into her cooking, as I pour my love into the crafting of these words. I write in silence; there has been much music in my life today, and balance is needed. To balance sound with silence, companionship with solitude, and even happiness with distress, makes for a deep, well-rounded life."

Boucher writes about finding the sacred in everyday life and is keen to share his discoveries. He responds to today's feature post:

"Thank you–I discovered earlier today that you featured my blog on Barque and was thrilled, as I have visited Barque often in the past and respect the blog very much. Thomas Moore’s writings have been a near-constant companion of mine for at least a decade. I hope my readers see this comment and head on over to Barque to read some of your writings, as well!"

Family life includes the particulars for soul

On Click! A photography blog, Daniel Wilson considers "The family’s responsibility to the soul": "I campaign for people to take better pictures, to blog about one another, and to publish coffee table books about the family and family members, and it is not in the name of vanity. I do it in support of the wellbeing of the soul. Thanks to Carl Sagan and Thomas Moore for setting the foundation for this work."

Wilson shares Moore's passage from Care of the Soul: "The soul prospers in an environment that is concrete, particular, and vernacular. It feeds on the details of life, on its vitality, its quirks, and its idiosyncrasies. Therefore nothing is more suitable for care of the soul than family, because the experience of family includes so much of the particulars of life."

This year appreciate ordinarily sacred every day

Today Gulf Breeze News publishes Jack Kale's piece, "Good intentions often fade, so savor the mundane and routine" in which he talks about New Year's resolutions while appreciating everyday life. Kale includes, "This year, I hope you find meaning in the mundane days of your life. Find joy in doing the dishes, taking out the garbage, or mowing the grass. Savor the the taste of a well made grilled cheese. Be satisfied with your car for one more year. Find excitement in someone else’s success. Be grateful for friends that tell you the truth and don’t need to be entertained. Pull off the road and enjoy a sunset or sunrise. Take a deep breath and thank God for the ability to breathe. Be thankful for toothpaste, toilet paper, running water, and nail clippers. Smile when eating microwaved popcorn. Enjoy the ordinary."

At the bottom of his column, Kale writes, "... I am grateful for the book The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life by Thomas Moore which emphasizes the point of this article much better than I can."

Men's Book Group explores Moore's Soul Mates

Dominique Walmsley offers a Men's Book Group in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle. Starting 5 January 2012 the group explores Soul Mates (1994) by Thomas Moore. According to Walmsley, this book "describes the mysteries of love that, if  taken seriously, guide us internally towards contentment."

Desire is a shared theme for all book selections: "Thomas Moore centers  his writing on archetypal psychology, for example Jungian. Using existential philosophy, mindfulness, psychology of intimacy and Buddhist philosophy, the group will explore DESIRE and build curiosity, enjoyment and resilience for a more intimate life. Practical and personal issues will be explored where appropriate."

Cost: $60 U.S. for 4 meetings  
This is an intellectual pursuit, not a therapy group.

Read the body poetically as it expresses itself

“A poetic response to disease may seem inadequate in the context of medical science, because science and art differ radically from the point of interpretation. Therefore, a poetic reading of the body as it expresses itself in illness calls for a new appreciation for the laws of imagination, in particular a willingness to let imagination keep moving into ever new and deeper insights.” — Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

Michelle Francl-Donnay, a professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College, blogs "Praying in/with pain" in which she mentions the new translation of the Mass and "The Body's Poetic of Illness" in Thomas Moore’s book Care of the Soul. She writes, “Moore notes that science demands a single reading of a phenomenon — we're pretty sure we know what's causing my myalgia, and it's self-limiting, so all will eventually be well — but that poetry acknowledges multiple layers of meaning. Why not seek multiple readings of the body's poetics when we are ill? Such an approach doesn't deny the physical causes and effects of a particular malady, but does give reality to its effects on the other aspects of our being.”

Care of the Soul message found to be expansive

A rector with the Episcopal Church in Shenandoah County, Virginia writes "Care for Your Soul"  in the  The Beckford Parish Beacon newsletter about the book Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore.

Alexander MacPhail commends the book to parishioners although he writes, "The book does not stand squarely in the Christian/catholic tradition, probably because Moore himself doesn’t stand squarely inside the boundaries of the Faith; but there is a breadth and wisdom to his writing that some might negatively call syncretistic, but I would call — more positively — expansive."

The review concludes, "Care for your soul. Nurture it with prayer. Let it read new books and see new pieces of art. Take it for a walk in the leaves. Let it smell the crisp fall air and the scent of a new wood fire. And perhaps think to yourself that these, too, are gifts of God for the people of God."

Bloggers take the temperature of the season

In the post, "Hot and Cold ruminations", blogger Ruth quotes Thomas Moore’s description of fundamentalism in his book Care of the Soul as it relates to the season of winter. The excerpt includes Moore’s definition, "I would define fundamentalism as a defense against the overtones of life, the richness and polytheism of imagination." Ruth responds, "Maybe winter is not simply: cold. It is cold with overtones of cool, warm, and much that is not about temperature. I am a polytheistic lover of winter!"

Catherine O'Meara blogs about childhood Christmases and her desire to maintain enchantment as an adult, in "Living an Enchanted Life". While reading Thomas Moore’s book, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, she writes, "... Moore reminds us that every aspect of our daily lives deserves to be grounded in the enchantment granted by a spirit-infused perspective."

Enjoy reading the comments triggered by these entries.

Hekate helps reader through her dark night

Today Debby at Musing from the Moment blogs about Thomas Moore’s book, Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding your Way through Life’s Ordeals in her post "Hekate". She shares how it feels to be “touched by the sacred” and how she gains sustenance from Moore’s story about this goddess whom James Hillman describes as a dark angel.

Dick Russell writes biography of James Hillman

James Hillman, eminent psychologist and Thomas Moore's mentor and friend, died Thursday 27 October, 2011. Amazon.com promotes the first volume of Hillman's authorized biography, The Life and Ideas of James Hillman: The Making of a Psychologist by Dick Russell, to be launched April 2012. Barque continues to update links to James Hillman tributes.

According to the publisher, "In The Making of a Psychologist, we follow Hillman from his youth in the heyday of Atlantic City, through post-war Paris and Dublin, travels in Africa and Kashmir, and onward to Zurich and the Jung Institute, which appointed him its first director of studies in 1960. This first of a two-volume authorized biography is the result of hundreds of hours of interviews with Hillman and others over a seven-year period."

 The Life and Ideas of James Hillman: 
The Making of a Psychologist
Volume 1
Author: Dick Russell
Hardcover: 528 pages
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Date: April 2012
Illustrations: 40
ISBN-10: 161145462X
ISBN-13: 978-1611454628

Is it time to learn a new dance in the marriage?

From Mona's Musings

Mona's Musings uses dance as a metaphor for a satisfying marriage in "Tripping the Light Fantastic: Flexibility and Intimacy". As Mona chronicles her own marriage through popular dance phases enjoyed with her husband, she shares, "Only recently, as I’ve been musing about what elevates marriage to the level of true intimacy (“the ‘very within’ place of the relationship… looking beneath the surfaces”, as author Thomas Moore puts it), have I realized how critical it is to be a GOOD DANCER."

Accompanying her conclusion that, "... the mindset required to learn a new dance is the same one required to achieve real emotional intimacy in marriage… vulnerability and forgiveness" are quotations from Thomas Moore's book, Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship, including:

"A major part of soul-work involves just getting out of the way so that life can go on. We may hang on fiercely to our own interpretations and programs, as if we knew best what we should do, but care of the soul is more a process of listening and following ..."

Celebrate beauty and a youthful heart at all ages

In an undated article, "What's Fitting", Sara Davidson ponders age-appropriate fashion for older women. She speaks with Thomas Moore about beauty and age:

"Clarity arrived when I spoke with Thomas Moore, the former monk and psychotherapist who wrote, Care of the Soul. Moore, in his late 60s now, lives in rural New Hampshire where, he says, “we have barns and old farm equipment out in the fields. As the barns begin to lean and the machinery rusts, suddenly the artists come out and paint them. I think that’s true of people as well.”

But then Moore surprised me. He said he supports people’s efforts to look as youthful and beautiful as they can. “I think it’s wonderful to be concerned when you’re older with the Venusian thing — with the body and your own beauty. I’m very much in favor of anything you can do to keep your youthful spirit.”

What about older women who wear tight leggings, like their daughters might? I asked.

Moore smiled. If you can get away with it, great. It’s the attitude that matters. If you’re doing it because you’re afraid of getting older, that might not work. If you’re doing it to celebrate beauty and a youthful heart, I think that’s wonderful.”

Moore said it’s possible to do two things at once: “Age with grace — say, `Okay, I’m going to be older and enjoy it,’ — and at the same time say, `I don’t want to lose touch with my youth.’ Our childhood is always with us, our adolescence is always with us. Youth is always inside us, no matter how old our bodies are.”

In the days following our talk, I came to understand what balance might look like. You can focus on developing the inner qualities that make people compelling and appealing as they age: humor, curiosity, enthusiasm and zest. And you can take care of the outer package, in the same way you would refurbish a historical building so it doesn’t look run down and dilapidated. So it looks its best and its character will shine through."

Although "balance" may be interpreted in different ways, Davidson shares one of Moore's approaches for many situations in life: Don't choose one. Do two or more things at the same time.

Imagination helps us to live artfully in the world

In her post "Imagination as Gospel", Jessica Mendes shares her delight in story telling, especially through film. She mentions 2011 is the 35th anniversary of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and that with a good cinematic story, different scenes become prominent during different viewings. This time, she describes Jack Nicholson commentating the world series baseball game in front of the ward's blank television screen with residents (and viewers) getting caught up in the excitement. She concludes,

"Thomas Moore once said that imagination is more weighty than fact. If we could mine the annals of our consciousness, we might discover experiences there that had little in common with the circumstances of our lives – experiences so vivid they stunned us with their repercussions. So what determines our experience more, I wonder – what we imagine or what actually happens? I am inclined to think it is how we imagine what is happening to us, and how we imagine what will happen.

And that includes our experience of aging. Though the forces that shape our experience are vast and complex, it might be wise to take our imagination a lot more seriously, and in this sense, consider living artfully in a world bent on rationalism."

What does the story of Narcissus tell us?

Christine Marietta, a self-described progressive Christian feminist therapist refers to Thomas Moore's book Care of the Soul in yesterday's blog post, "Narcissism".

"In the first chapter—or maybe the second, I can’t remember (definitely not the third)—Moore writes about the myth of Narcissus.  More accurately, he interprets the myth, in a way that is so different from tradition, reading through it was like watching a familiar movie play upside-down.  The traditional interpretation goes, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection, and his self-absorption led to his ultimate demise.  Eventually his lack of intimacy with others shriveled his psyche so much that he was no longer even human, and the flower-form of narcissus (aka, the daffodil) exists to remind us of the dangers of self-love.

The problem, though, is that narcissists don’t love themselves. Healthy people do. Secure people walk around with a heavy, solid ego (sense of self), whereas narcissists are empty and weightless. They make up for their lack of density by increasing their size. They brag, they philosophize, they grow loud and pompous in proportion to how threatened they feel.

[snip]

Thomas Moore asserts that for the mythical figure of Narcissus, self-love was the cure, not the problem. Narcissus was a hardened narcissist before, not after, he glimpsed himself in the water. And he was healed of his narcissism through falling in love with his own reflection."

Marietta writes, "For most of us, the clear, still lake of the Narcissus myth is another human being. We cannot truly see ourselves by ourselves. And yet, most of the time, we’re scared to ask others, “Show me the parts of myself that I can’t see.”  She invites readers to answer, "Who has reflected you?  What aspects of yourself  have you found surprisingly lovable?"

Transform education into teaching and learning

Today Learning in the Open Spaces shares "Is School Good for the Soul?" by Fran Norris Scoble, head of Westridge School in California. Scoble opens and closes with passages from Parker Palmer's book The Courage to Teach and includes Thomas Moore's views in The Education of the Heart. Scoble writes,

"One way that the academic culture discourages us from living connected lives lies in the very school structure itself. Unconsciously, over time, we begin to accept the belief that the primary purpose of school is to convey conventional wisdom and objective knowledge, not to provoke new ways of seeing. The following passage from Thomas Moore’s book, The Education of the Heart, speaks powerfully to this issue: “To be educated, a person doesn’t have to know much or be informed, but he or she does have to have been exposed vulnerably to the transformative events of an engaged human life. One of the great problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.”

How do we connect so fully with our work and experience in school that we are invigorated and renewed; that our deepest selves are “called out” and not stifled. How do we make our work, to use a phrase, “soul satisfying”?

Following a poem by Mary Oliver, Scoble writes about the current challenges in schools: "I believe there are systemic problems built into the way we “do” school that make schools places that are not good for the soul, so that schools foster arrogance, indifference, and fear and create time structures that leave us both exhausted and frustrated."

Feel the spark when soul imbues a special place

Lucie D’Alessandro blogs about the significance of home in her post, "Mangonui: The Pearl in the Oyster" on Friday. Mangonui, in northern New Zealand is tied to D’Alessandro’s family since the early nineteenth century and in describing its sense of place, she writes, "Thomas Moore talks about the spirit of a place as being like ‘the pearl in an oyster’ or the ‘spark of its soul’ in his book The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life."

A rigid and defensive belief may signal anxiety

"Belief is so subtle and mysterious that we can’t always count on ministers, rabbis, priests and other spiritual counselors to get it right. Even a professional may confuse faith with an allegiance to an organization." ― Thomas Moore

Retired minister Rev. Alvin Petty relies on Thomas Moore’s book The Soul’s Religion for today’s column, ”A little doubt is good for the soul,” published in Plainview, Texas. Petty writes, “The churchgoer who is rigid and defensive in belief and morality is manifesting signs of failure in belief. Really get to know these kind of people and you will find them mean in spirit. Watch them for they fight dirty in the clinch. Belief/faith is rooted in love. So we may expect believers to be good at loving others and themselves. But those who proclaim loudly their faith are usually the least loving and compassionate of people.” He concludes, “Someone who has no doubts is a dangerous person. Do not trust those who are too certain.” Petty also uses Moore’s book for writing about Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Community may contribute to restoring soul

Rev. Dr. Randy Hammer delivers the sermon ”Restoration for the Soul“,  referring to Thomas Moore’s book, Care of the Soul on 30 October 2011. Hammer says, “Everywhere we turn we can see people who are suffering emotional pain and inner hurt; people who are confused or fearful; people who are brokenhearted or lonely; people who are despondent or clinically depressed. The truth is, the soul of a person can become ill.” After sharing his definition of soul, Hammer considers ways to restore soul and turns to Moore’s book for support. Hammer describes a vital spirituality and community as primary avenues to soul restoration. He includes Moore’s observation, “The soul needs an intense, full-bodied spiritual life as much as and in the same way that the body needs food.”

Hammer’s site includes, “After serving for six years as minister of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, of Albany, New York, his most recent position is minister of the United Church, Chapel on the Hill, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.”

Today, Thomas Moore (@thomasmooreSoul) tweets, "We all get sick occasionally in body, soul or spirit and need someone to heal us. We're all potential healers and could sharpen our skills," which reinforces Hammer's focus on helping each other for restoring soul.

Actress Tammy Felice reads Moore's work book

A Q&A profile of Los Angeles-based actress Tammy Felice in Wednesday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review asks her about the last book she read.

Felice responds: "A Life at Work by Thomas Moore. He's brilliant. I can only read a few pages at a time, because it's so meaningful. I always carry it with me."


Felice played a model in CSI and has had roles in Men of a Certain Age, Femme Fatales,  and Live Fast Die Young.

Artistic images show us the soul of human life

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat quote Thomas Moore's book, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life in their review of the PBS series "Art of the Western World", hosted by Michael Wood, now available on a three-DVD set. The Brussats write, "Throughout the nine hours of Art of the Western World, we had the same response as Thomas Moore did when he visits museums: we felt our souls come alive while viewing art by Michelangelo, Bernini, Goya, Van Gogh, and Miro. Wood engaged us in such a way that our faculty of reverie was called into play. In moments, we were reminded that a work of art brings out "the radiance." We want to linger and enjoy the painting or sculpture, or architecture." In his book, Moore observes,

"When we make our pilgrimage to the museum, we find images showing what the soul is made of, what my soul is made of. We celebrate those artists who powerfully and beautifully paint the secret sources of our lives. The images, so carefully made, educate our imagination in the precision, depth, range, and focus of human life. In a museum we see more of our souls than we could find through any means of introspective analysis."

Art of the Western World
Directed by Tony Cash, Geoff Dunlop
Athena Learning 09/11 DVD/VHS
Host: Michael Wood
This review includes the nine themes and spiritual exercises to accompany the program, supported by Shawn McNiff's view of art: "The pictures carry medicines, energies, creative spirits, and vitality that they will give to you freely."

Be a compassionate catalyst during dark times

Today Dream Catalyst offers "Let Go and Let God" as a way to experience a dark night of the soul. Singapore's Bernadette Chua blogs about discipline and delight helping her through dark times. She quotes Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul: "Maybe your dark night is a gestation, a coming into being of a level of existence you have never dreamed of. Maybe your dark night is one big ironical challenge, just the opposite of what it appears to be - not a dying, but a birthing."

Chua follows this quote with her own response:

"We know this is great. We want it. Yet we find ourselves stuck in the same repeating patterns till a time comes when we can let go and truly let God. The question is how to do this?

The letter 'D' comes to mind. It is the letter that transforms go to God. Discipline and delight are two qualities that helped me to be able to let go and let God. Perhaps it would be useful for those of you who are going through a dark night right now.

She recommends supporting others with compassion: "Be a compassionate catalyst."

Moore stresses mystery and friendship in lecture

Anne Whitaker describes Thomas Moore's recent lecture about Care of the Soul in Medicine in Glasgow in her blog post "“Soul is about your friends” : an encounter with writer and therapist Thomas Moore". Whitaker includes,

"I found meeting Thomas refreshing and cheering – found him humorous, laid back, wearing his erudition lightly. His very informal “lecture”, very much open to audience participation, was timeous in its theme: the importance of healing the whole person, rather than simply treating the body, within the health care system. Timeous because of revelations in the UK press, in the very week of his talk,  concerning the lack of compassion and due attention paid to individual’s emotional needs and their dignity in too many instances in too many hospitals."

She writes that Moore emphasized mystery and friendship in his talk and that he hopes professional heath workers offer a sense of friendliness in their patient encounters.

Thomas Moore talks about medicine in Glasgow

Doctor Bob Leckridge posts his reactions to meeting Thomas Moore and to hearing Moore lecture in Glasgow this week under Thomas Moore — care of the soul". Leckridge writes about his own first consultations using integrative medicine: "The process of a holistic, non-judgemental, compassionate consultation forms a strong (what Thomas would call “soul”) connection. The patient feels heard, they feel felt, they feel understood. However, I thought it was great to be reminded that we are all unknowable, that we all have unfathomable depths. It sets up a certain humility of practice and of living." He reports that Moore started his talk with a focus on mystery and "how none of us is completely knowable."

Engage soul and spirit through your vocations

Today Michael D. Bobo reviews "A Life at Work by Thomas Moore" for examiner.com. As a Christian literature examiner, Bobo writes, "It is hard to envision a better candidate to communicate about the underlying purposes and spiritual value of working in this post modern grind." He summarizes Moore's approach to work, stressing the values of soul and spirit: "He proceeds to discuss soul and spirit since both must be engaged during work. Moore then takes an introspective turn to examine past experiences, failures, disappointments. A CV is a record of one's life experience. Moore suggests we have to engage our life story fully in order to move forward well in a life of work." Bobo ends his recommendation with a quote from the book about the process of maturation.

Doctor endorses holistic approach for medicine

Doctor Bob Leckridge responds in "Care of the Soul in Medicine" to the audio version of Thomas Moore’s book with the same title. Leckridge agrees “with both the broad thrust, and the detailed statements within his book.” Leckridge was inspired to read Albert Schweitzer whom Moore quotes and includes Schweitzer’s view: “The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds.”

Leckridge shares that he "was a General Practitioner from 1982 through to the end of 1995. Since 1996 I have been working at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital. The holistic approach to patients there really suits me. One of the guiding principles of homeopathy is that every one of us is unique. The particular medicine a patient needs is based on their whole experience. It’s not selected just for the disease they have. One of the things I love about my work is the stories patients tell me."

Yoga instructor recommends Care of the Soul

Sophie Herbert emphasizes observing the soul during its care in her post "Be Your Own Witness: Yoga On and Off the Mat" for the Whole Living site. She references Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul: "This inspirational book of Moore’s, which is a personal favorite, is a guide for cultivating greater depth and spirituality in everyday life. Moore makes a very clear distinction between 'care of' and 'cure of' the soul. There is, in reality, nothing to cure, only complexities to accept, learn from, and work with. (It can be valuable to remember this in a society that over-medicates and often celebrates quick-fix-in-reality-Band-Aid solutions to problems of all shapes and size.)"

She writes: "This week, I invite you to remember your ability to be an empathetic witness of your mind both on and off the yoga mat. Patiently take stock of what’s going on." This suggestion precedes a number of questions to help students develop mindfulness.

Care of the Soul regarded as self-help classic

On Thursday New Model Advertiser reposts the review of Thomas Moore's book Care of the Soul published in 50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life (2003) by Tom Butler-Bowdon. Butler-Bowdon's review includes, "Care of the soul is ‘an application of poetics to everyday life’, bringing imagination back into those areas of our lives that are devoid of it and re-imagining the things that we believe we already understand. Rewarding relationships, fulfilling work, personal power and peace of mind are gifts of the soul. They are difficult to achieve because the idea of soul does not exist for most of us, instead making itself known through physical symptoms and complaints, anguish, emptiness or general unease." This review and others for books such as James Hillman's The Soul's Code and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's  The Phenomenon of Man from 50 Self-Help Classics are available on Butler-Bowdon's site.

Library recommends Moore's A Life at Work

Milwaukee Public Library's reading blog shares a review of Thomas Moore's book, A Life at Work:The Joy of Discovering What You were Born to Do by Danielle R. in the library's Serials Department. Danielle concludes, "As it promises, this book isn't just about finding the right job but about uncovering who you were meant to be and finding opportunities that enhance that." This review echoes Moore's position in his recent twitter posts (@thomasmooreSoul): "Moore shows us that we are all unique beings and that each of us must chose a course that suits that uniqueness." A Llife at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You were Born to Do (2008) is published by Broadway Books.

Rest with the question and listen for the answer

Chris Cade, self-proclaimed reluctant hero, today writes about Thomas Moore's book Soul Mates in "What If The Unknown Were A Gift?". Although the book didn't help Cade with his relationships, it did offer insight:

"Thomas Moore suggests that rather than constantly trying to seek an answer or 'fix' the situation, we allow ourselves to stay in the uncomfortable zone. He says that by staying in the uncomfortable zone we will naturally discover what the true best answer is for us… because our mind’s desire to get rid of the discomfort will be overridden by what our heart and soul have to tell us.

Ever since reading his book, I have found that to be true in my life. More recently, I’ve taken that concept in a different, deeper direction. I’ve found that it applies not just to situations of discomfort and conflict, but rather, it applies to life."

Cade suggests an exercise in which you ask yourself a meaningful question and don't insist on an immediate answer. He also suggests asking different parts of the body to answer the question: "That may sound strange, but the truth is, we are integrated, whole, connected beings… and that means, just as our minds contain wisdom our bodies don’t know about, our bodies also contain wisdom that our minds don’t know about."

He recommends that we give our innate wisdom time to respond without always turning to teachers or external guidance.

Religion reporter follows her calling in daily job

CT@Prayer shares Tracy Simmon's work in the profile of her, "What makes religion journalist tick", describing her role as a reporter of religion. Simmons interviewed Thomas Moore when his book, A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You were Born to do became available and asked him about career satisfaction:

"I interviewed Moore in 2008 when this book came out and asked him why people with steady careers were unhappy. He said people could be successful, even if they aren’t doing what they were created for. 

'…beneath the surface, your labors are shaping your destiny for better or worse. If you ignore the deeper issues, you may not know the nature of your calling, and if you don’t do work that connects with your deep soul, you may always be dissatisfied, not only in your choice of work but in all other areas of life,' he writes."

Simmons considers her role confronting ignorance and stubbornness that often influence reactions to religions:

"I believe that my true calling is to work as a journalist and educate people about various faiths. With the state of the media as it is religion reporters are an endangered species. So that means those of us left have to work a little harder to be heard.

So, yes, sometimes a clergyperson’s words will haunt me. But at the end of the day I feel even closer to God because, like I told Moore, I feel like I’m doing what I was born to do. And if it weren’t challenging, I’d be bored and would be one of those 45 percent of Americans who are unhappy with their careers."

Simmons is editor of Creedible.com, an online magazine that covers religion news in Connecticut.

The child is the soul's unfolding of possibility

Life-coach-in-training Sasha Cagen writes about rereading Moore's Care of the Soul and coming across passages that resonate with current uncertainties, in her post "The Power of Admitting You Don’t Have It Figured Out" on her site Quirkyalone: Fuel for Uncompromising Romantics. Cagen includes:

"I get the feeling that from the outside I look strong and sure, but I often feel small and confused. Like a child. Breaking down in tears to my peer coach felt potent and real.

Later that weekend I snuggled on the couch rereading an old favorite book: Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Sacredness and Depth in Everyday Life by Thomas Moore (Harper Collins, 1992). I stumbled on a perfect passage to clarify why admitting that I don’t have it figured out – that I feel like a child – actually felt very pressure-relieving."

She also states, "Later he writes of the 'beginner’s mind' of a child, 'we have to find ways to unlearn those things that screen us from the perception of profound truth. We have to achieve the child’s unknowing because we have been made so smart.'" Cagen suggests we accept our child parts in all of life's transitions.

Novelist reviews Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul

Branka Cubrilo's review of Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way through Life's Ordeals by Thomas Moore summarizes the approach in this book about melancholia and difficult times while introducing some of the people Moore references:

"Throughout the book the author speaks from his personal life experiences, he skillfully uses stories from literature, mythology and art to present the reader with the ever-present theme throughout the history of mankind – the struggle with dark nights of the soul in order to grow emotionally, mentally and eventually spiritually. Throughout the entire book, Moore uses beautiful parables, metaphors and archetypes which make it easy to find mementos of one’s own life and identify with them. He evokes some of the important figures of the dark night of the soul, like poets Rainer Maria Rilke, Emily Dickinson, Anne Sexton, Wallace Stevens, authors Oscar Wilde, the Marquis de Sade, Samuel Beckett and painter Frida Kahlo. The author includes examples of distressing films and mysteries, even the stories by Zen teachers and Sufi masters as allies during the period of dark nights."

Cubrilo associates Moore's descriptions of psychics and astrologers with New Age pop psychology and regards these as less serious topics "in some parts in direct opposition to what he was brilliantly portraying earlier through the concepts of Greek mythology and the rich Christian tradition." Cubrilo is a novelist, short story writer and a journalist.

A country doctor's practice spans Moore's books

A Country Doctor Writes "Following the Path of the Soul" on Saturday, sharing the arc of a story that starts in 1995. The plot line/ life line/ vital sign is Thomas Moore's, book Care of the Soul. This country doctor describes receiving a copy of the book, taking it to Cape Cod for one of Moore's programs in 2007, evaluating what is important in life, and now ordering online Moore's latest book, Care of the Soul in Medicine (2010). The story includes death, dancing and devotion. Perhaps the country doctor will continue his story after he reads Moore's sequel.

"Within weeks our dog died in her favorite spot in our kitchen. Two months later another Shepherd was given to us. He had been born July 23, the same day Callie got sick. Six months later my wife’s health caused her to leave her career as a Nurse Practitioner. We reassessed our priorities and vowed to take care of our own health the way we had always told our patients to."

Sift your dark nights of the soul for hidden gold

In her recent post, "Journeying from darkness to light", Irish blogger Marie Ennis-O’Connor shares helpful quotes from Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals (2004) as she deals with her experience of breast cancer. More than 20 comments suggest others, too find this book valuable while going through dark times. Readers appreciate Moore's observation about a dark night:

"It pushes you to the edge of what is familiar and reliable, stretching your imagination about how life works and who or what controls it all."

Amazon.com offers an excerpt from Moore's Introduction that includes:

"Many people think that the point in life is to solve their problems and be happy. But happiness is usually a fleeting sensation, and you never get rid of problems. Your purpose in life may be to become more who you are and more engaged with the people and the life around you, to really live your life. That may sound obvious, yet many people spend their time avoiding life. They are afraid to let it flow through them, and so their vitality gets channeled into ambitions, addictions, and preoccupations that don’t give them anything worth having. A dark night may appear, paradoxically, as a way to return to living. It pares life down to its essentials and helps you get a new start.

Here I want to explore positive contributions of your dark nights, painful though they may be. I don’t want to romanticize them or deny their dangers. I don’t even want to suggest that you can always get through them. But I do see them as opportunities to be transformed from within, in ways you could never imagine. A dark night is like Dante getting sleepy, wandering from his path, mindlessly slipping into a cave. It is like Alice looking at the mirror and then going through it. It is like Odysseus being tossed by stormy waves and Tristan adrift without an oar. You don’t choose a dark night for yourself. It is given to you. Your job is to get close to it and sift it for its gold."

Dreams of beans may be food for imagination

Janet McNeill shares a favourite dream story from Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul in today's post, "Beans!". McNeill appreciates Moore's observation:

"... That dream sounded like a Zen story to me and led me to reflect for a long time on the value of plain pedestrian food, especially when we consciously order up something more special. Life has a way of plopping extreme ordinariness in front of us when we are entertaining exotic gourmet daydreams."

She also links to the review of Care of the Soul at Spirituality and Practice.

Loving may not require self-understanding

Dave Brown, "a workplace chaplain to firefighters, ambulance staff and brewery workers" and a Church minister in Dunedin, New Zealand writes about the ordinariness and the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven in his blog post, "Mustard seeds and statistics". He includes his enjoyment of the book, The New Believers: Re-imagining God (2003) by Rachael Kohn:

"In a chapter entitled "Re-souling Psychology" she is writing about Thomas Moore, a former Catholic monk turned psychotherapist. She writes: "Thomas Moore is urging his students and readers in a direction that is dynamic — he is saying there is a deep knowing in the doing, in  the loving and in the living. Self-understanding in a clinical sense is not a necessary condition for unconditional love — the chief expression of the soul — and may even stand in the way of it."  That is what I find. There is a deep knowing in the loving and living of the way of Jesus that is just so hard to communicate ... it is found in the doing."

Brown may want to read Moore's own Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels (2009) in which he too stresses the ordinary and the mysterious in the Kingdom.

In his previous post, Sunday blog", Brown describes the way of Jesus and includes, "One man said once that many Christians 'Have just enough religion to make them miserable — not enough to make them happy.' Now it may sound judgmental, but often I suspect this is true, even for people who have been in Church for years. I think many are immune to the real Jesus, because they have a domesticated-easy-to-handle-church-focused Jesus. I think too that when we have not given ourselves to his servant lifestyle, Jesus is just a vague belief in a metaphysical saviour, and not a dynamic-life-changing-life-enhancing-mentor and 'presence'.  He comes alive for us when we risk all, and I would suggest most church goers have not risked much."

Sense the magic, mystery and imagination in life

"Enchantment invites us to pause and to be arrested by whatever is before us; instead of our doing something, something is done to us. This is the way of the soul, which is primarily the receptive power in us; by letting ourselves be slowed down and affected by nature, we are fashioned into persons of substance, even if at a more active, conscious level we are forcefully engaged in becoming something else."
— Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life

Jeff Stroud starts yesterday's blog entry, "Engaged in Becoming", with the above quote from Moore's book and then describes how it and other writing "bathed me in renewing activity of the senses. That included a trip to the Town Center formerly the Mall, to a week-long used book sale with my friend Linda, which included a journey over to the library so she could use their computers while I perused the videos and bookshelves."

His post includes nature photographs and a link to a review of The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life on the Spirituality & Practice site. This S&P review includes, "Moore's juiciest volume to date pinpoints magic, play, mystery, and imagination as wands that can renew and restore both our private and public lives." Spirituality & Practice also offers an excerpt from The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life about Silence.

Beauty is a prime ingredient in a soulful world

Leah Campbell Badertscher blogs about her contemplation of beauty in "WHY Beauty?" and shares some sources she finds helpful in this exploration. She begins with her reaction to:

"In a world where the soul is neglected, beauty is placed last on its list of priorities."
 — Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

Badertscher also writes about the late John O'Donohue's radio presentation, "The Inner Landscape of Beauty". She writes, "He also discussed beauty as not necessarily being something that would be conventionally, superficially defined as 'beautiful' as in 'pretty' (although those things are not necessarily excluded), but that it does have the quality of being so captivating as to be arresting. (By the way, I absolutely love that word, arresting —  it's so, well — arresting.) This closed another gap in understanding for me."

She ends the post with a description of Rumi's poetry: "I started reading a new volume of Rumi poems last night and in the introduction it is told of how representatives from all over the world and from all religions came to his funeral. When asked about why they came, they answered, 'He deepens us wherever we are.' This touched me deeply, because I realize how, hundreds of years later, his work deepens me — and countless others — as well. And that is far beyond being a sufficient answer to 'Why? Why Beauty? Why care for the soul?' To deepen. To deepen ourselves, to deepen one another."

Practical, simple, enchanted living feeds the soul

Auburn Meadow Farm, a small "modern heritage foodstead" in western Pennsylvania, raises American Milking Devon cattle for dairy and beef.  It wants to "reintroduce an extraordinary eating experience while providing a simple, joyful life" for its animals. Thursday's blog post, "In which we are enchanted", introduces readers to Thomas Moore's book, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life. While packing household items during a family move, Jackie Cleary writes, "His most famous books are Care of the Soul and Soul Mates, but the two that most feed my soul are the The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life and The Education of the Heart. I found The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life first and of course had to plop down in the middle of the action for a quick skim. Here I found interesting observations about that uneasy tension between dreams and practicality so especially polarized in our American culture."

Quotes from The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life fill Cleary's post including Moore's observation:

“Over the years, when I’ve lectured on food, cynical listeners have complained that I’m reducing psychology to the themes of modern living and gourmet magazines. When I first heard such objections I felt defensive and concerned. Was I not being clear about the depth of these issues? Then I realized that magazines about food and home may be more important, even if they are intellectually light, than thick tomes of research and philosophy. Now I don’t mind being associated with books of recipes and advice about furnishings and entertainment. Of course, they can be superficial and middle-class, but their simplicity is not a sign of their insignificance.”

Cleary ends with "And so this evening, we ponder the importance of two words rarely used anymore – enchantment and delight. Yet that’s exactly what I feel every day as I stand in the special glow unique to summer evenings, pumping water into the trough and watching the cows graze their favorite evening pasture." The site includes a Cow Gallery of farm personalities.

Pets and books may begin talks with strangers

Today Gina Marie reposts "Homage to Kitty Miss Kier" as tribute to her late "beloved 15-year-old feline companion" — a brief vignette set in a city park, with a non-judgmental cat, a visitor, and a description of Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul as "It’s more-or-less the Bible of the Psychology/ Self-Help movement,” when the woman who seeks permission to pet her cat, asks what she is reading.

Gina Marie continues the exchange:

“I’ve always been interested in psychology,” the woman said with a far-off look in her eyes. “I plan on opening up my own business.”

“Your own business – really?” I didn’t mean to sound condescending, but I couldn’t help but remain skeptical. After all, this woman looked as if she had just rolled around in a pile of dirt, and her ill-fitting clothes were ripped in places. “What kind of business?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

“Counseling,” the woman said.

“Ah, counseling,” I began. “I’ve thought about doing that. It would be hard work, but definitely rewarding.”

“I don’t think it would be hard,” the woman contradicted. “At the end of the day, some counselors go home all wrapped up on their clients’ dramas, but not me – no, siree.”

“That would be the hardest part for me,” I told her. “I think I’d have a hard time separating my work life from my professional one.”

“Nah,” she grunted. “It’d be a piece of cake. You see, I’m a sociopath,” the woman explained, as nonchalantly as if she’d just told me that her grandfather was Swedish.

“A sociopath . . . and how, exactly, would that make you a good counselor?” I asked.

“Well, I feel no remorse,” the woman told me.

Step away from the cat, I wanted to tell her. Instead, I nodded my head, as if what she’d said made perfect sense.

“And because I feel no remorse,” the woman continued, “I wouldn’t have any problem shutting the door on my clients at the end of each workday.”

A 2009 photo of the wise Kier closes the blog post.

Thesholds and openings are places of soul care

In today's blog post, The Entry Point", Unity minister Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham quotes Thomas Moore in a  Parabola Spring 2000 article about liminal space. In the piece "Neither Here Nor There", Moore describes a threshold experience:

“Standing in a doorway you are forced into the imagination, wondering what you will find on the other side. It is a place full of expectant fantasy.” 

According to Rowbotham, Moore continues his description of transitional space:

"In their narrow confines you may find fantasy, memory, dream, anxiety, miracle, intuition, and magic. These are the means by which the deep soul prospers – neither in life nor entirely out of life. This is a good place from which to make a decision and get a hunch. It is the true home of creativity. It is also the claustrophobic place of greatest fear. Anything of moment takes place in these interstices – in the tunnels and passages and waiting periods. They are indispensable and yet must be kept tangential."

Rowbotham shares verses from the Bible echoing this emphasis on doorways before recommending, "...  make a habit of taking a little time daily, alone in the quiet place of your heart, in communion with your Source, so that the illumination and guidance of the Holy Spirit may become alive and active in your life. Then go about your daily work, ever open to divine guidance, trusting it and resting in it, strengthened and sustained by its power." Thomas Moore also suggests spending time alone in silence as care of the soul.

Psyche and Eros: Love as a rite of initiation

Today Notes and Sundries introduces the myth of Psyche and Eros with Thomas Moore's words as editor of James Hillman's collection of writings, A Blue Fire:

"Rather than present a program of painless love, Hillman explores the betrayals and impossibilities of love as valuable initiatory moments of the soul. Initiation is a rite of soul-making. Innocence may have to be punctured. Idealized notions of self, other, and love may have to earn their ripening shadows. A third element may have to appear to keep the two in love from closing their world in on themselves. Primal, Eden-like trust may have to mature so that one doesn’t go about life with an innocence frequently shocked and undone by disappointment and betrayal.”

Part 1 of this post retells the myth using William Adlington's 16th century translation of The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius. Part 2 completes the story with quotations from Hillman's work.

Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754 - 1829)

Food for the soul includes memory and meaning

The Simple Kitchen refers to Thomas Moore's essay, "Food for the Soul" in today's blog entry "Cherries are ripe":

Moore "argues that we’ve lost the 'soul' of food – our connection to memory and meaning – by no longer selecting, preparing and eating with pleasure and attention.

I was contemplating this idea of the 'soul' of food when, during a visit to our local library, I was surprised by a fragrance that I couldn’t immediately place. My mind searched for a few seconds while I breathed in the fragrance – sweet, warm and honeyed. “What IS that?” I said aloud, straining to remember. A moment later my mind found it – ah … honeysuckle! And, in an instant, I was standing in my grandparent’s backyard, in Grandpa’s garden."

After describing memories of grandfather from thirty years before, with a particular focus on cherries, the entry concludes, "I am still contemplating Moore’s idea of the 'soul' of food, but on this point I agree with him – 'food serves memory,' aiding, attending and supporting the richness of memory and experience." A recipe for Julia Child’s Cherry Clafouti is included.

How we may connect through our imperfection

Today Piper Lauri Salogga Interiors blogs "Your Beautiful Imperfection" with reference to Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul. Under a screen grab of The Reclining Buddha, featured on Moore's site and painted by his wife, Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa, the blogger writes:

"Humans, nature and life are all inherently imperfect. Bumps in the road, broken branches, decaying plans are all part of life and in fact, a BEAUTIFUL, SOFT OPENING FOR CONNECTION with ourselves and with one and other. Thomas Moore, in Care of the Soul, identifies the darker parts of ourselves as a valuable form of communication from our soul to our living-self. If we are only in pursuit of happiness and perfection, we will miss these rich pieces of information that let us know what we are truly needing to feel fulfilled and alive."

After naming a few current popular self-help speakers, the blogger continues, "I do believe our attitudes have much to do with the reality we experience. And I believe, and have experienced, that affirmations alone will not bridge the gap between my human imperfection and the best-self I desire to be. The piece about nurturing and accepting my less-than-perfectness is missing from these motivational philosophers’ equations."

In following Moore's approach, the writer suggests, "What I am suggesting, even taking a stand for, is that we need to believe in ourselves, believe in our dreams, know and express our own greatness that wants to be shared, AND allow, even expect ourselves to trip and fall as we are reaching to live the lives we desire. This is how we learn, how we grow, how we roll as human beings."

A cup of tea: take time to make things special

Today in her post, "Tea for two – it’s the small things in life that count", Cynthia mentions two books by Thomas Moore: The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life and Care of the Soul. She writes that Moore "talks about taking the time to make things special. It’s been a while since I read his book but the idea stayed with me. The image of a beautiful tea pot, beautiful cups and flavoursome tea was inspiring." She describes a recent visit to a tea shop in Sydney and concludes with a sentiment probably also shared by Moore, "It’s the small things in life that count."

Soul finds pleasure in its material reflections

James Hillman and Thomas Moore write about soul's need to see itself in our physical environments. Two recent unrelated posts refer to Moore's observations about this need. W. Arthur Mehrhoff, academic coordinator of the Missouri University Museum of Art & Archaeology, writes, "Museum preserves cultural memory" in which he introduces his guardian angel, a terra cotta architectural feature from his childhood  – "This beautiful winged figure was created by the Winkle Terra Cotta Manufacturing Company of my hometown, Saint Louis, and once adorned the 1898 Title Guaranty Building in downtown Saint Louis." While advocating for the value of preserving historic buildings, Mehrhoff incudes:

"Psychologist Thomas Moore writes that “the soul is always searching for itself, and takes great pleasure when it finds itself mirrored in the material world.” Not everyone gets a second chance in life, so each morning the academic coordinator (that would be me) pays heartfelt respects to my own goddess of Memory.

Because of the Museum of Art & Archaeology’s commitment to preserving our cultural memory, I find my soul mirrored in its material objects through a most astonishing and inspiring alchemy. I also feel extraordinarily blessed to share the enchantment of our lavish heritage with a new generation of students and to help them reconnect to that great heritage in the wake of disenchanted development. I invite you to come to the museum and find that missing piece of your own soul …"

The museum is in Pickard Hall on Francis Quadrangle, Univeristy of Missouri, at the corner of Ninth Street and University Avenue in Columbia, Missouri.

Pickard Hall, University of Missouri

In "Back to the high street", Jane Jose writes about this fourth dimension of public space while attending a conference in Adelaide:

"The conference drew a new generation of devotees of the idea that big box shopping centres are not the key to making the places people feel good in. A young team from Adelaide, Ianto Ware and Lara Torr, who have started a business called renew Adelaide – caught my attention. Using an idea sent to them on social media they mobilised young people and found a vacant shop in Adelaide’s West End and negotiated with the owner George Kambitsis to use the property to set up a “ lounge room in the city “ for young people. The Reading Room, complete with recycled furniture, a library of books, music and games opened to a packed crowd. It was set up with a meagre budget of $500 by volunteers who all connected through social media. It’s a great example of the fourth dimension, the people stuff mattering more than the first, the property development.  It has imagination, creativity and authenticity."

Jose shares:

"It is this humanity of places that is in the fourth dimension. The fourth dimension of place making puts emphasis on people, community, culture and connection. US writer Thomas Moore’s quote from his book Soul Mates gives a useful kind of definition to the fourth dimension: “While soul is what allows us to make intimate connections and so create community – even a global and universal sense of shared life – it is also responsible for our most profound sense of individuality and uniqueness. Those two – community and individuality – go together. You can’t have a genuine community unless it consists of true individuals, and you can’t be an individual unless you are deeply involved in community.” In all my work in place-making emphasis is on the individual and his or her particular local “world”. For me the fourth dimension is really the first dimension."

Kenison writes about soulful living with children

"Mitten Strings for God" is the title of a post by Cooney and Jones (Radio for Women), and the title of a book by Katrina Kenison. The post includes:

 "Kenison’s children were 5 and 8 when she wrote her first book, but her journey began long before that. She had been reading a book by Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul.  In the book, Moore said to “remember what it was like to be a child again.”  These words struck a chord in Kenison.  She remembered being bored as a kid and having to think up games to play; getting dirty outside, imagination and play were key. There were no daily dance classes, baseball, football, etc… Maybe one or two, but definitely not all in the same week.  She realized she was responsible for not just room, board, activities and carpool for her children but was entrusted to care for their souls."

This post includes four guidelines for living soulfully with children and reactions from others who enjoy the book's themese of Quiet and Simplifying. Kenison also wrote, The Gift of the Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir.  A YouTube video shows her reading from this book. Her third book describes empty nesters: "It will be about discovering who you are after the kids are gone. About redefining and reinventing yourself ..."

Dark nights of the soul are meaningful events

Today "Curious" in Atlanta, Georgia writes about Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul for the Empathy Community. She includes, "just wanted to share my notes ..." however it is difficult to separate her responses from Moore's actual text. One direct quote should be Moore's distinction, "Depression is a label and a syndrome, while a dark night is a meaningful event. Depression is a psychological sickness; a dark night is a spiritual event."

Moore also writes, "Many people think that the point in life is to solve their problems and be happy. But happiness is usually a fleeting sensation, and you never get rid of problems. Your purpose in life may be to become more who you are and more engaged with the people and the life around you, to really live your life. This may sound obvious, yet many people spend their time avoiding life. A dark night may appear, paradoxically, as a way to return to living. It pares life down to its essentials and helps you get a new start." Unfortunately, "Curious" doesn't indicate Moore's words in quotation marks.

Her last reference is from page 117. Moore writes, "Perhaps the dark night comes upon you from inside to wake you up, to stir you and to steer you toward a new life. I believe this is the message of most religions, and certainly the gist of Christianity and Buddhism. Your dark night may be a bardo, a period of apparent lifelessness that precedes a new birth of meaning. Maybe your dark night is a gestation, a coming into being of a level of existence you have never dreamed of. Maybe your dark night is one big ironical challenge, just the opposite of what it appears to be – not a dying, but a birthing."

Soul searches always for its sense of "home"

Carol Gregor describes the influence Thomas Moore has on her explorations of architecture. She writes, "In the 90's, Thomas Moore wrote a book that changed my life called, Care of the Soul. I had had no idea that the soul was different than the spirit and no way of knowing Tom would become a guide and mentor for me. It was a long time ago and as I kept researching this idea of soul, and many of Tom's words resonated around this idea of Home. So much so he is featured in my film called, It's About Home."

She invites all to a screening at Urban Re Think, Orlando, Florida, Sunday, 5 June 2011 at 7 p.m.

Gregor suggests, "It appears the soul is about ordinary life. Our physical life and all the things that support life and wellness are part of the soul. The other parts that are important are the need for beauty and magic. These are soulful qualities. According to Tom, the soul needs home more than anything else. This is where our paths meet and our thoughts merge."

Jesus teachings for any community or tradition

Carol Buxton Hamon, Artist in Residence with University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina  offers a review of Thomas Moore's Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels. She quotes Moore's introduction in which he writes that the book "... reveals a Jesus whose teaching is for anyone in search of meaning, not just Christians. It shows a Gospel message that belongs to no church or community or tradition. It suggests that Jesus’ purpose was not to form a religion but to transform the world, not to exploit this life for a heavenly reward but to establish heaven on earth.” 

After listing the four key images that Moore's explores in the book, Hamon writes that "Moore poetically expresses this dynamic" as:

Change of heart
brings you into the kingdom
where you discover the power of love
to heal.

A Joyous Outpouring celebrates beauty and soul

For The Tennessean, Michelle Jones writes "Twist Art Gallery shares Lauren Krusso's pretty flowers", describing Krusso's exhibition, A Joyous Outpouring that showcases her printmaking and sculpture. Jones describes the show: "An overwhelming sense of beauty emanates from a floating garden of 10 handmade flower sculptures suspended in one corner of the gallery. In combinations of cream and deep red, purple and teal, orange and red, blue and white, each flower sits on its own bed of leaves. She includes,

"Kussro also likes to counter what she sees as a trend in contemporary art of downplaying the relevance of beauty. Quoting a Thomas Moore essay, she talks of the necessity of nurturing the human soul. “My work has always been about beauty,” Kussro explains. “I think it’s necessary for beauty to exist. … I feel like it’s my responsibility as an artist to use my gifts to benefit others.”

Jones writes, "Kussro also explores the negative side of beauty in A Joyous Outpouring in that she was inspired by the negative spaces and pieces left from where she cut shapes for her sculptural work." The artist says, “I was throwing away all these beautiful scraps, so I started saving them all,” she says. She began repurposing them in small, colorful resin-covered collages, or cut out even smaller leaf shapes in various green hues and applied them to gauzy fabric stretched over plywood frames."

Meditations: Monastic values for everyday life

John Miedema writes "Meditations: On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life, by Thomas Moore" for Open Reading. Miedema includes a quote in his presentation that continues to guide Thomas Moore's vision and writing, more than fifteen years after the publication of this book: "What I envision is a rebuilding of monasticism without the need for monasteries, a recovery of sacred language without a church in which to use it, an education in the soul that takes place outside of the school, the creation of an artful world accomplished by persons who are not artists, the emergence of a psychological sensibility once the discipline of psychology has been forgotten, a life of intense community with no organization to belong to, and achieving a life of the soul without having made any progress toward it."

Miedema describes Moore's monasticism: "It takes a person out of the usual path. It is inconvenient, incomprehensible, isolating, uncomfortable, and non-conformist. In short, none of the pat answers."

Blogger suggests community includes passion

Mary Beth Coudal answers the question What is Community? with three things: hard work, passion and diversity. In her description of passion, she shares:

"I’ve been reading Thomas Moore’s A Life at Work. The guy’s good. He talks about following your bliss and paying attention to the stories you tell about yourself – your archetypes and night dreams.

Note to self: Moore says it’s okay to have a whole lot of passions (or 4 blogs!) – for work and life. When I heard Moore speak at Marble Collegiate Church years ago, he said the one word he couldn’t advise as a guiding principle in life is “balance.” Moore said, “If you have to choose between two things — do both!

I’m with him. I’m up for following my passion and following my bliss..."

Coudal also mentions liking Joseph Campbell's writings about the hero's journey.

Images of Narcissus speak to transformation

Yesterday's post, "Daffodils in Mythology" on Rosemary's Blog tells the story of the handsome youth Narcissus after whom the daffodil is named narcissus in Latin. The entry quotes Thomas Moore's interpretation of the story in his book, Care of the Soul: "Here we see the hard, rigid marble narcissism transformed into the soft, flexible texture of a daffodil, the narcissus. A Renaissance magus would probably suggest that in moments of narcissism we should place some fresh daffodils around the house, to remind us of the mystery we’re in. The story begins with rigid self-containment and ends with the flowering of a personality." Rosemary includes a delicate watercolour and ink sketch of the flower.

Moore promotes value of "educating the senses"

Joy A. Kirkwood blogs about Shaun McNiff's book, Earth Angels: Engaging the Sacred in Everyday Things (2001) in her post "Earth Angel" today. She paraphrases Thomas Moore in the book's foreword to say "in our quest for knowledge we have lost enchantment and the sense of the wonder of the world we live in." Kirkwood responds, "To this I say, Amen. For me the key is in what we treasure and why and to look again at the common things around us and to let ourselves be awed by life." In his foreword, Moore also states:

"I'd like strongly to affirm Shaun's interpretation of the Epicurean value of "educating the senses." I have no doubt that we have reduced experience to our mental life. We think of education as a mental exercise, and we even undergo therapy as though it were a way toward self-understanding. It's about time to broaden our notion of education, realizing that we have widespread illiteracy in the realm of the senses. Otherwise, how could we fill our cities with ugly buildings, and allow airlines to shut off all avenues to sensation as we travel the airways, and let businesses keep us away from rivers and lakes, and spend our days and hours of leisure in front of a television screen? Clearly, we need remedial education in the senses, to begin with. We need to learn how to live from the heart, the hands, the stomach, and the feet. And, close to my heart, we need to educate our ears so that we will no longer tolerate the soul-wounding noises that dominate modern life."

Kirkwood shares that she "has been involved in arts and education for adults and children for over thirty years. In 2008 to 2009 [she] also taught Expressive Art classes at Wellspring Calgary, an innovative cancer support centre in Alberta."

Celebrate the season by listening to soul needs

Yoga instructor Erin Gael Chambers shares two reflective quotes in her April post "The Yoga of Surrender". One by medical doctor, Jungian psychoanalyst, and activist Jean Shinoda Bolen includes the passage, "To be a soulful person means to go against all the pervasive, prove-yourself values of our culture and instead treasure what is unique and internal and valuable in yourself and your own personal evolution." Chambers also shares Thomas Moore's observation in his book, Care of the Soul:

"It's important to be heroic, ambitious, productive, efficient, creative, and progressive, but these qualities don't necessarily nurture soul. The soul has different concerns, of equal value: downtime for reflection, conversation, and reverie; beauty that is captivating and pleasuring; relatedness to the environs and to people; and any animal’s rhythm of rest and activity."

Chambers concludes her remarks with, "The rising energy of Spring is infectious, and we are all excited to be able to go outside, de-clutter our spaces, and progress on the paths we are on. Let us also take time in this busy moment of the year to listen to what our souls are asking for. Let’s follow Moore's advice and appreciate beauty, both outside and inside ourselves. Most importantly, let's allow ourselves to take pleasure in the revolutionary act of pausing for a moment to just be."

Moore offers "Lazarus, Come Out!" in e-course

Finding the Questions site mentions Spirituality & Practice’s current e-course, The Spirituality of the Gospels, with Thomas Moore in the post, "Where in your life do you need to come alive again?". For today’s lesson about Lazarus, the blogger includes the poem "The Lightest Touch" by David Whyte.

Blogger believes in keeping mystery of soul alive

In today's post, "The Importance of Mystery" for his Writing in the Spirit blog, Gerald Schiffhorst mentions Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul, when he writes about immortality and the soul. Schiffhorst includes, "Thomas Moore in his popular Care of the Soul avoids any definition of soul; he skirts the issues of immortality but would probably agree that it is a divine spark within us that connects us to the divine. It has to do with love as well as immortality."

Schiffhorst's focus is on maintaining mystery. He writes, "After years of reading theology and philosophy, my idea of the soul remains vague. Yet this is as it should be. Like so many invisible realities I believe in, it is a mystery, and no efforts to define it or imagine it are worth much. . ." before concluding, "The goal of science, B. F. Skinner once said, is the destruction of mystery. But enlightened scientists today include mystery as a basic part of our ongoing discovery of the complexity of what is real. I believe in keeping mystery alive."