Find meaning in work during the 21st century

Keith Suter offers a podcast and transcript of an October 2008 interview he conducted with Thomas Moore about his book, A Life at Work for the Australian Institute of Company Directors. The transcript offers insight into Moore’s understanding of spirituality and religion and their significance in our life work during the twenty-first century.

Here's an excerpt from the interview:

"Moore: I don’t use the word spiritual much but I do speak about things that come from beyond us. It’s true that I do come from a religious background but I am finding that many experts in religion have a much more sophisticated notion of these things. What we do sometimes is think of religion and the spiritual in very naive and old-fashioned terms. Very conservative terms. What I am trying to do is be part of this movement where we don’t make these grand distinctions between secularism and religion, as we don’t see them anymore. We are not talking about the existence of some voice out there, something floating through the cosmos. What I am saying is that I hope we can be more intelligent and sophisticated about the way our life takes shape. To be secularistic is what I would call it and dismiss these notions of the mystic and that which transcends our world and consciousness. We have to look at our life and admit to ourselves that we are not fully in charge of this. I am not saying that there is an angel floating around or something, but I am saying that we are not fully in control.

Suter: You seem to be bordering on what some would call the new age.

Moore: Well, I am not a new age or any other type of Catholic. It is there and is a part of me and I think that my theology influences me but so do other religions ― Zen Buddhism, ancient Greek and others. I think that these religions hold tremendous wisdom for us and I think that it would be a shame if we lose this and adopt some kind of scientism or secularism that looses that wisdom. Then all we have left is cold scientific studies and some people’s facts. I don’t think that that is enough for us to get along."

The podcast is approximately 25 minutes.

Watch Thomas Moore at Antioch University

Thomas Moore’s December 2008 presentation at Antioch University New England, "Building Successful Relationships Using Spiritual Principles" is available for download as a four-part podcast or as a 70-minutes streaming video. According to a university description of the evening:

"More than three-hundred people came to hear Dr. Thomas Moore, bestselling author and practicing psychologist, speak about spirituality and relationships during a fascinating evening talk co-hosted by Antioch New England and MAPS Counseling Services. Moore has an easy, relaxed delivery style that kept the crowd listening intently to his thoughtful insights about the nature of love, the soul, spirituality in the modern world, and the joys and difficulties of relationships.

Dr. Moore uses his wide reading, deep erudition, and wry humor to explore what it means to be a spiritual being in the modern world. He joked that when people are disappointed to hear he has not read a particular author, he tells them he does not read anything written in the last five hundred years. While it’s true that he does often cite Heraclitus, Erasmus, or Buddha, he is also well-versed in the writings of Carl Jung…"

Thomas Moore has appeared on The Oprah Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Sunday Morning on CBS.