Moore addresses cancer survivors about soul

Thomas Moore opens the the fifth annual Texas Breast Health Summit in Houston on Thursday 29 October. Jody Schoger blogs about the event and Moore’s message to the group of survivors, volunteers and caregivers at Jody’s Livestrong Challenge. According to Schoger, Moore "said that there is something about illness that gives a person's soul, or humanity, a chance to appear. "When we are sick," he said, "something of us is revealed. We can then view our illness as an opportunity, or a rite of passage."

Beginner's mind leads to enchantment

An interfaith-Christian, independent Catholic priest writes the blog, "St. Mary's-by-the-Woods". In an Oct. 5 post, he relies heavily on Thomas Moore’s, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life to write about the mysteries of knowing. The blogger opens with a quote from Moore’s book,

"The first step in enchantment... is to recover a beginner's mind and a child's wonder, to forget some of the things we have learned and to which we are attached."

The blogger comments, "I have returned to this very Zen-like and positive advice many times, but haven't stuck with it. I keep returning to my attachments and my need for wanting to learn more about Scriptural analysis, history, archaeology and, yes, politics . There is nothing at all wrong with wanting to learn. As an American of Irish descent, such a perspective is to be applauded for the Irish were (and are) great scholars. But, when one finds that the mystery and wonder of life is passing by because of a continuing preoccupation with such things, then the cost is too high.”

He continues with more quotes from Re-Enchantment with his responses.