Saturday, December 24, 2005

Moore advises stop temporizing, start initiating

Thomas Moore tells a reader,
"A relationship starts with two individuals. Rather than wait for the other to wake up and make a move, it might be useful to use your intelligence in all aspects of your life and take yourself more seriously. Anyone who waits four years for a romance to take root isn't giving her own life the attention it needs. In a stalled relationship, it may help more to focus on your own life than to try to engineer the relationship to the place you want. I'd say, be involved in your world. Have a more adult view of religion. Get stronger, more solid, and develop an edge."
He advises a Beliefnet reader to stop temporizing about her four-year attraction to a man at her church.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Narnia: Imaginery landscape without the magic

For Beliefnet fans, Thomas Moore reviews the new film based on C. S. Lewis’s "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Moore writes,
I’ll accept that Narnia is the world of imagination that resides like a Jungian unconscious beneath ordinary life. But it is not a pleasant place! This is a terrifying movie. I wouldn’t bring little children to it. Not only because of its violence and war mania, but also because it offers no real resolution. It ends, as all wars do, with victors and the vanquished, waiting to see who will fight the next one. The lion is made to sound wise and evolved, but he does little more than strut, make grand entrances and exits, and encourage military mayhem. A Christ-figure, some have said. Hardly."
Beliefnet readers eagerly respond with their own interpretations.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Create an erotic life -- full of energy and passion

In his Relationships column for Beliefnet, Thomas Moore answers a question from a woman who fantasizes about sex with men other than her husband, even though she loves him and is happily married. Moore suggests she explore her feelings of guilt about these images and 'live erotically' within marriage. He says,
"Guilt is a kind of protection. Sometimes people feel guilty when they don't allow themselves to be guilty. I'm not suggesting that you go ahead and have an affair. I mean guilt about being yourself and paying attention to your own needs and desires. Sexual fantasy is often more about deep and broad desire than about having sex with another person ... Eroticism doesn't have to be sexual. You can be erotic -- energetic, full of passion, and seeking pleasure -- in everything you do."
Beliefnet encourages readers to post their own reactions beside Moore's response.