Barque: Thomas Moore's Work

Medical-Spirituality Conference features Moore

2012-01-23T11:07:00.002-05:00

The Hospice of Dayton, Ohio promotes Thomas Moore's keynote address in its blog entry "Medical-Spirituality Conference Slated" that describes the gathering on Thursday 12 April 2012: Care of the Soul in Medicine.

"Proceeds from this event will benefit the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University’s Healer’s Art Fund, established to provide medical professionals support in finding lifelong meaning in the healing professions." The related Healer's Art Course is offered to first year medical students. Read the 2-page description "Nurturing the Heart and Soul of Medicine" by Sue Rytel (2006).

The conference program and registration are available online.

Early Registration Fees (before 31 March 2012):
Physicians: $150
General admission: $75
Students: $25
Boonshoft School of Medicine students: $10

Fee includes conference materials, lunch, refreshments during breaks, and parking.

Supporters offer resources for Thomas Moore

2012-01-13T18:42:00.018-05:00

It's a new year. Give yourself the gift you want. Treat yourself.

Renaissance Magic in the 21st Century
New York Open Center
Audio: 2 hr 34 min
Delivered: 3 April 2011
$9.99 U.S.

Spirituality of the Gospels
Spirituality & Practice
40-part on-demand email course with audio, video segments
Delivered: Lent 2011
$39 U.S.

Practicing Spirituality with Thomas Moore
Spirituality & Practice
40-part on-demand email course
Delivered: 2008
$29.95 U.S.

Gifts of a Dark Night: Dealing Effectively with Times of Loss and Trial
Sounds True
3 Audio downloads (4 hours, 30 minutes)
Delivered: 22 February 2011
$29 U.S.

Living a Soulful Life: Heart, Intimacy and Pleasure
Learning Annex
Delivered: 8 November 2010 Evening
$2.99 U.S.

A Magical Life
BetterListen!
Audio: 137 minutes
$9.95 U.S.

Soul and Everyday Life
BetterListen!
Audio: 181 minutes
$11.99 U.S.

Humanizing Medicine
BetterListen!
Audio: 75 minutes
$9.99 U.S.

The New Epicureans
BetterListen!
Audio: 78 minutes
$9.99 U.S.

Listen to two interviews about soulful living

2012-01-11T22:57:00.002-05:00

The VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network offers two interviews with Thomas Moore for free online listening and download in episodes of Authentic Living with Andrea Mathews:

Care of the Soul in Medicine
Audio 55:49 minutes
2010 27 October

Living a Soulful Life
Audio 55:17 minutes
2008 November 19

Peace includes appreciation for the Other

2011-12-22T10:37:00.001-05:00

Tikkun Magazine, "dedicated to healing and transforming the world", opens its archives of select articles including "A Nation in Need of Renewal" by Thomas Moore. This essay, published in the September/October 2002 issue, is helpful background for Moore's recent piece with The Dasein Project, "Freud's Medusa". In the Tikkun article, Moore writes about events of 11 September ten years ago and America's responsive opportunities. His observations are meaningful today. He suggests,

"Peace is not the absence of conflict or even war. It is a positive appreciation for the Other that inspires compassion and empathy. Peace can't be won by principle alone or by programs. It requires a positive effort toward mutual understanding among people, and it comes out of thoughtful conflict resolution. There is no reason why Americans couldn't, in the aftermath of September 11, make the effort toward this radical degree of understanding and peacemaking.

People of the world generally are ready to be friends with America, but America makes it difficult to make and sustain that friendship. It seems unsure of itself even as it displays its achievements and its power. People of the world are rebuffed by the resulting arrogance and threatening postures, and peace remains elusive.

America acts like the richest and most powerful kid on the block who bullies everyone else. But if you were to put America on the couch, I think you would discover an unruly adolescent, a youthful psyche full of wonderful ideals but unseasoned and unsure, not even aware that its behavior contradicts its ideals."

Moore describes three deep lessons the nation can learn from this experience.

Evergreen Institute shares photos of conference

2011-12-20T18:13:00.003-05:00

On Saturday 1 October, 2011 Thomas Moore was the featured speaker at the Theater in the Wood to share his new book, Care of the Soul in Medicine at a day-long conference for healthcare professionals sponsored by Evergreen Institute for Wellness in partnership with Memorial Hospital, North Conway, New Hampshire which celebrated its 100-year anniversary. Evergreen Institute offers a Facebook photo album of this Thomas Moore event to accompany its interview, "Thomas Moore asks: Can modern medicine heal our body, soul and spirit?".

Let's appreciate body-soul-spirit relationships

2011-11-29T12:32:00.000-05:00

Thomas Moore posts "Psychology with a Soul" on his blog and invites feedback on his public Facebook page. In this entry he describes his daughter's search for a graduate program that satisfies her need for "a graduate program in psychology where she can pursue her interest in the arts, Jung, archetypal psychology and yoga as a combined resource for her work with adolescents in trouble." Moore writes,

"My daughter has a sharp mind and quick wit, but she doesn’t have patience with the materialistic approach to education. For better or worse, she grew up in a household where art, yoga and the soul are all taken seriously and where a human being is understood to be made up of a body, soul and spirit. Is it too much to ask for a reliable psychology program, recognized as valid and valuable by the society, with a soul?"

Read Moore's concerns and share your responses on his public Facebook page linked above.

Moore introduces 1992 film about Helen M. Luke

2011-11-23T13:25:00.008-05:00

"Wisdom consists in doing the next thing that you have to do, doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in it — and the delight is the sense of the sacred." — Helen M. Luke

On Sunday Georgia Aroni, senior member of the Greek Association of Dance Therapists, promotes Helen M. Luke: A Sense of the Sacred with a 2:45 minute video clip on her blog.

According to Amazon.com's description, "The film, introduced by Thomas Moore, includes interviews with Sir Laurens van der Post and Robert Johnson with whom she shared a practice for many years. There is also footage of the Apple Farm Community that she founded. In the film Helen Luke speaks of her life, describes her unusual meeting with Carl Jung and discusses her analysis with Toni Sussman."

For its screening last Friday, Boulder Friends of Jung offers this biography: "Helen M. Luke (1904-1995) was born in England. In midlife, she studied at the Jung Institute in Zurich, then moved to the U.S. and established an analytical practice with Robert Johnson in Los Angeles. In 1962, she founded the Apple Farm Community in Three Rivers, Michigan, "a center for people seeking to discover and appropriate the transforming power of symbols in their lives." In her later years, Helen Luke was the model wise woman for many people. Her final book, Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On, a memoir and excerpts from her fifty-four volumes of journals, was published posthumously." Additional Luke materials are linked at Apple Farm Community Writings.

Format: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
VHS Release Date: September 1, 1999
Release Date: June 1, 1992
Run Time: 75 minutes
ASIN: 0930407482

Thomas Moore also writes the Foreword to Luke's book, Old Age: Journey Into Simplicity. In it he shares, "What I treasure about Helen Luke's remarkable book on old age is that she avoids getting caught up in all the usual worries and sentimentalities. She sees age as a mystery and quite rightly hangs all her thoughts about it on images from literature. And not just literature, but some of the most profound of all imaginative writings, which just happen to be personal favorites of mine."

Old Age: Journey into Simplicity
Helen M. Luke
Paperback: 132 pages
Publisher: Lindisfarne Books (June 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1584200790
ISBN-13: 978-1584200796

The human tune up is not based on technology

2011-10-25T11:25:00.001-04:00

Subtle Yoga offers a free online version of Thomas Moore's column "I am Not Hardwired!" from Spirituality & Health's September-October 2011 issue. Moore laments the popular metaphor of the human body as machine, and the reduction of human behaviours to biological materialism: "Whether we like it or not, if we are breathing, we are emotional, spiritual, purposeful, and relational beings. So-called physical sex is full of meaning and emotion, even if these are suppressed or ignored." He proposes that medical practitioners focus on meanings and connections, rather than only on outcomes.

Enjoy a 1994 interview with Thomas Moore

2011-10-04T10:09:00.001-04:00

Virginia Lee, a regular feature writer for Common Ground from 1992 to 2004 shares a 1994 interview with Thomas Moore conducted just after publication of his book, Soul Mates. Following a Q&A format, Moore answers general questions and those focused on relationships. In this interview, he talks about distinctions between soul and spirit and the role that adversity plays in life. He describes marriage as a relationship needed by the whole world:

"... What the ancients knew is that the whole world needs to be married. We need to get the Republicans and the Democrats married. We need to get the Blacks and the Whites married. We need to marry the intellect to the body. We are surrounded by differences that need to appreciate each other and want to be together. Marriage is really a state of connectedness and co-operation.

We prepare for marriage by enriching our imagination. That way we can come to marriage with rich textures to weave our lives into the fabric of family life. Marriage is not all about interpersonal dynamics, a notion which tends to get us swamped. I think we could handle our emotions better if we saw marriage as something which holds the whole of life together. In that way, marriage is truly a service to humanity."

Moore also talks about friendship with his mentor, James Hillman:

"I think he’s truly the great genius of psychology in this country. I haven’t met anyone who has been able to apply such a free and original imagination to the whole history of imagination. He doesn’t treat psychology just as something scientific; he is equally devoted to philosophy and the arts. There is a a very profound education behind his work, which includes a healthy orientation to Jung‚ which I appreciate."

Moore writes about Hillman this week in his blog post "A Blue Fire" on his own site.

Moore: "... let other people live their own lives"

2011-09-20T18:44:00.001-04:00

Thomas Moore writes about envy and jealousy under his post "Be Yourself" and offers steps to respond to these emotions.

"Thomas wrote on September 17, 2011:

Envy and jealousy are difficult to distinguish because the physical sensation in both is so similar. You might think of it this way: with envy, another person has what you don’t have; with jealousy another person has what you feel is yours. As a therapist, I’ve seen lives almost destroyed by both. As a response, I would do the following:

1. Don’t try to get rid of them.
2. Let the pain force some change in attitude.
3. Go broad and deep in the fantasies involved.
4. Track any history that is relevant.
5. Be patient.
6. Notice that in each a person wants to change fate and be in control.
7. Allow greater wills to establish themselves; i.e., acknowledge fate and let other people live their own lives."

The sacred begins with a sense of mystery

2011-09-06T10:21:00.002-04:00

Thomas Moore joins a discussion in the Comments area of his blog post, "Suggested Reading" by describing his appreciation of the divine in the ordinary. He writes:

September 3, 2011
"I keep waiting for the return of a new kind of theology. Theology is in decline because divinity has been forgotten, 'divinity in the manifest world.' I would like to spend the rest of my days spelling out what that means, because everything depends on it. It’s very difficult to speak in such language today. Either it is countered immediately with naive religion or it is subjected to sentimental spirituality, which is rampant today. Sentimentality in these areas is a defense against the power of what we’re talking about. I came across a line in Thoreau recently about him seeing angels on Walden Pond. If I had to do it over again, I might have become an angelologist. Now there’s something worth spending your life thinking about."

September 5, 2011
"... I’d like to make an attempt to spell out more what I mean by the sacred in the secular or the divine in the ordinary. First, usually we divide the world and experience into heaven and earth, or somewhere else and here. This seems to be making too literal of a distinction between the world imagined as contained within our understanding and power on one side, and that which is beyond our understanding and control on the other. For me, the sacred begins with the sense of mystery, which implies something (a bad word) hidden. God was known classically as deus absconditus, the hidden god. I think we can access that hidden element with our imagination: poetry, painting, architecture, music, theology, ritual, and so on. This is a key point: we know with the imagination. This is different from our usual way of knowing through sense impression and measurements. What is hidden? Some sense of the whole or some potency beneath it all and in everything. In some places, for example, a tree is treated as sacred because of its size or shape or location or history, all suggesting a special epiphany of the hidden. This hidden is not to be ever measured. It remains in the imagination. Nicolas of Cusa always said that whatever we say of it falls short. I try to glimpse the hidden or the sacred or the potency of the all in the most ordinary things. They become tiny windows onto it. I make a bed and find myself outside myself, deeply quieted, closer to the hidden, and so then I realize that a simple act like making a bed places me close to what I was looking for in formal religion. There the images became too thick and heavy. They didn’t offer as much access as simple things do. In our family we put images of buddas and saints and bodhisattvas around us to help us see the hidden in our house and garden. I have them all around me in the room where I write. I want to remember that when I work at my writing I am in touch with the hidden. Maybe now it will be clear why I have been meditating for weeks on a line from Thoreau’s Walden: 'Walden Pond has blue angels in it, in the azure tint of its waters.'"

Visit Thomas Moore's blog to join the discussion.

Film featuring Thomas Moore opens next week

2011-08-28T11:36:00.003-04:00

EDITOR'S UPDATE: Also read "Film about personal change to debut in Scottsdale" with responses by Vickers published in The Arizona Republic, 31 August 2011.

Writer and producer Austin Vickers' movie, People v. the State of Illusion premieres Friday 9 September 2011 at the Harkins Camelview Theater in Scottsdale, Arizona. According to Mitra Khamedoost's Community Announcement this week, "... this movie explores the science and power of perception and imagination and the prison walls of habitual thought and behavior that we all create, and documents the evidence that answers the central question of this provocative film, 'Can we really change?'” Thomas Moore features in the film as one of the United States' nine leading thinkers in the fields of neuroscience, biochemistry, psychology, quantum physics, sociology, and consciousness theory." Purchase tickets for this 86-minute documentary/drama online.

Read previous Barque announcements
about Moore's role in this file:
24 June 2011 "Moore has expert role in film about imagination"
14 July 2011 "New film's trailer includes Thomas Moore quote"

Short stories about life available in paperback

2011-08-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

Publisher Hay House's September issue of its online newsletter, Present Moments, describes Thomas Moore's book The Guru of Golf and Other Stories about the Game of Life. Scroll down the linked page to read: "In this collection of 18 short stories, The Guru of Golf celebrates perhaps one of the most widely popular of athletic pursuits. Thomas Moore shows us how golf can be a perfect metaphor for life itself — endlessly mysterious, joyful, and fascinating; while at times frustrating, infuriating, and unbearable. From the tee to the green, Moore intertwines modern and classical tales that illustrate the challenges players face-both on and off the course." The Guru of Golf is now available in paperback.

Title: The Guru of Golf and Other Stories about the Game of Life
By Thomas Moore
Publisher: Hay House
Publication Date: August 2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4019-2566-6

Express daily creativity: Make a contribution

2011-08-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

Thomas Moore shares ideas about stimulating "Daily Creativity" in his blog post today by offering a ten-point list of approaches he uses to enrich his writing and his life. Number 5 underpins many of his suggestions:

"Make a contribution to humanity. This is a ground rule, one that lies behind the others. I don’t have any time to waste in this short life, and I believe that my job is to make a contribution. I can turn almost any subject into one that could move us along as a people on a planet. I don’t get heavy about this. Very simple and fun topics can help humanity. I think my book of short stories on golf is a contribution."

Readers are encouraged to respond to Moore's list in the blog's Comments section.

Moore invites comments about being yourself

2011-08-15T14:43:00.002-04:00

In his second blog post, "Be Yourself" on his site, CareoftheSoul.net, Thomas Moore invites readers to "have some conversation about being yourself in today’s world. What helps? What gets in the way?" Moore shares his stepson's current project with Middlebury College to build a sustainable, affordable solar house that is competing in an international challenge. Watch a 3.5 minute video about the project, read an article and listen to an audio description with Voice of America, or visit the students' web site solardecathlon.middlebury.edu. Then respond to Moore's blog post about how to be yourself.

Publisher says take The Guru of Golf on vacation

2011-07-31T17:14:00.005-04:00

In its August newsletter, Hay House recommends Thomas Moore's The Guru of Golf and Other Stories about the Game of Life as one of its top ten books to take on vacation. It's No. 6 in the newsletter section "Get Your Vacation Groove On!":

"This one is mostly for the guys. You may be stuck attending a family reunion or vacationing at a cutesy bed and breakfast cottage that wasn’t your first choice for accommodations — but you know you’d rather be golfing! If you can’t make it to the tee, these amusing golf- related tales will keep your heart in the game — at least for now!"

These stories appeal to all genders. Moore even writes about women who golf. Check out the The Guru of Golf product information if you haven't already read this collection of short teaching stories, subtly crafted to make you smile. Caution: You may burst out laughing.

Careofthesoul.net relaunches with new features

2011-07-19T22:55:00.002-04:00

Thomas Moore relaunches his site, Careofthesoul.net with a link to his March-April 2011 column, "Being a Spiritual Person", in Spirituality & Health magazine. In this piece, Moore shares:

"For me, there are three sources of a vital spirituality: First, know one religious tradition well, as in some way your own. I was born a Catholic and will always have that deep base. Second, learn many lessons and ideas from the inexhaustible resources of the many spiritual and religious traditions. Third, expand and deepen your spirituality in secular ways — through nature, the arts, philosophy, psychology, and science (without the secularism).

As a monk, I learned that work is prayer, that reading is a spiritual practice, and that fostering community in concrete ways is the heart of a spiritual way of life. I left the external monastic life behind, but I didn’t abandon these spiritual lessons. It isn’t that any work is automatically spiritual; you have to bend it toward contributing to humanity and protecting the natural world. Not all reading is spiritual; you can be selective, but I would include good novels on my list. And, as Buddhism teaches so well, community isn’t real unless it excludes no human nationality and no sentient beings."

Explore Moore's redesigned site and participate in his new Wordpress blog. (Comments are moderated.)

New film's trailer includes Thomas Moore quote

2011-07-14T11:53:00.003-04:00

Writing Without Paper's blog entry "People v The State of Illusion" introduces this new film with a quote by Thomas Moore from the film's trailer:

"It's often said that people are afraid of dying.
I think they're more afraid of living."
— Dr. Thomas Moore

The post names additional experts featured in the film and lets readers know it premieres in Scottsdale, Arizona, on 9 September 2011 and that film-based workshops are to be held in November in Scottsdale and in March 2012 in Hawaii. Read a 24 June 2011 Barque post describing this new documentary that features Thomas Moore.

"Healing with Heart" in Spirituality & Health

2011-06-30T16:35:00.002-04:00

Thomas Moore's writes a regular column, "Care of the Soul" for Spirituality & Health magazine. Its July-August 2011 issue is now available on newsstands, in public libraries, through print subscription, and through digital subscription with Zinio.com. Moore's column this issue, titled "Healing with Heart," is quoted on Spirituality & Health's Facebook wall:

"I have a special appreciation for science, but when it jealously offers itself as the only explanation for human experience, I pack my bags and go out to counter it.
— Thomas Moore (July-August 2011, "Care of the Soul")

Moore discusses authenticity in early video clips

2011-06-16T21:10:00.001-04:00

Gaiam offers three short video clips of Thomas Moore while promoting his book Original Self: Living with Paradox and Originality. Following an advertisement, his discussion topics are:

The Will to Change
http://www.5min.com/Video/The-Will-to-Change-517061631
3:34 minutes

Raising a Child Spiritually
http://www.5min.com/Video/Thomas-Moore-on-Raising-a-Child-Spiritually-517061632
1:04 minutes

Being Catholic
http://www.5min.com/Video/Thomas-Moore-on-Being-Catholic-517061629
1:03 minutes

Title: Original Self:
Living with Paradox and Originality
Author: Thomas Moore
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (February 16, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060195428
ISBN-13: 978-0060195427

How to nourish soul through joy and suffering

2011-06-05T12:45:00.001-04:00

Thomas Moore writes Nourishing Our Souls, an undated piece for Unity.org, in which he includes his understanding of soul: "There are many different ways to look at the soul. I follow the tradition from ancient writings that divides our experience into three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. The soul is at the center and has to do with our deepest feelings, thoughts, reflections, and memories. These are the things that bubble up from deep within us and, therefore, are precious to us. We are both inspired and grounded."

He also describes the presence of soul in joy and suffering: "In order to sense the immortality of the soul, we first have to see the soul as a part of our everyday experiences. The soul will find its way through both joy and suffering. I don't recommend looking for suffering by any means, but life gives us some extraordinary challenges — which can be of a physical, mental, emotional, relational, or financial nature. The goal in life is not to be at some level where there are no longer any challenges, but rather to be able to live through those difficulties and to rely on our friends and family and each other."

Moore suggests religion connects intimately with soul and that our spirituality links to daily living: "The traditions and practices and ideas of our individual religions feed our souls; however, it is important that our spiritual experiences also give us something that nourishes our hearts, our imaginations, and our lives. Then religion does not merely remain at the level of ideas; it becomes a spirituality that reaches to the depths of the soul."

Moore speaks with primary care providers

2011-04-23T00:06:00.001-04:00

The Maine Nurse Practitioner Association 2011 Spring Conference features Thomas Moore as special guest and keynote speaker on Thursday 28 April at 8:00 a.m. This year's theme is "Primary Care Providers - Today's Health Care Heroes." The conference is at Point Lookout in Lincolnville, Maine, a new meeting place for the group. Moore speaks about his recent book, Care of the Soul in Medicine which shows how to care for people by acknowledging a person as body, soul and spirit. The conference description includes:

"For this book in particular, [Moore] has participated in dozens of medical conferences, visited hospitals and medical schools in several countries, and dedicated two days a month, to interviewing every kind of worker, from the CEO to the housekeeping staff of St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. Among the medical centers where he has lectured are McGill University Medical School, the University of Tennessee Medical School, the University of Minnesota program in Spirituality and Healing, the Mayo Clinic, NYU Cancer Center, Sloan-Kettering, Hermann Memorial in Houston, the Irish Hospice Foundation, and several smaller non-teaching hospitals and hospices."

The linked brochure includes a registration form with conference rates.

Imagination is key for living in the 21st century

2011-03-15T10:40:00.003-04:00

The Magazine of Yoga editor, Susan Maier-Moul interviews Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa and Thomas Moore in "Conversation: Hari Kirin and Thomas Moore": "Chakras and Soul — The authors of Art & Yoga and Care of the Soul talk about imagination, making spiritual art in the 21st century and translating the original Christian gospels."

Husband and wife talk about imagination, humanity, reality, art, and the Gospel message. Hari Kirin answers a question about sentimentalism and fundamentalism in art.

"Hari Kirin: Any kind of duality – you’ll notice it lacks humor or has a fundamental “I’m right” point of view. It’s sentimental because it only acknowledges part of reality. In yoga and art, always try to include the opposite. Make something, and un-make it. Doing and not doing. Knowing and not knowing. Wisdom and foolishness. effort and effortlessness. Perfect and imperfect. Both sentimentality and fundamentalism are defenses against being ourselves."

Moore responds to a question about the meaning of the Gospel texts without an overlay of earlier translations.

"Thomas: I see a challenging spirituality and a radical suggestion of how humanity could thrive and prosper mainly by dealing with greed and self-interest. The Gospels say that everyone should be a healer and operate from a therapeutic frame of mind. The Greek word therapeia (therapy, of course) comes up again and again. I’ve thought a lot about this notion of sentimentality. I see it as a defense against the challenge of life. If you make something unnaturally sweet, you don’t have to change your life. You can remain numb. Yet we don’t have to be cold and only realistic either. The Gospels inspire and waken the imagination to possibilities. Yes, I’d like to move from sentimentality to inspiration."

This conversation continues in the magazine tomorrow. Part Two, about religion and science is available.

New book unites soul and spirit in everyday life

2011-03-08T21:18:00.000-05:00

Thomas Moore writes the foreword to Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa's Art and Yoga: Kundalini Awakening in Everyday Life, published by Kundalini Research Institute, to be available Summer, 2011. His foreword includes:

"Artists are genuine creators, giving us bodies and landscapes and objects. They populate our imaginations with figures that live as presences in our lives that affect us and instruct us. The soul is hungry for images and, in fact, lives on them the way we live on food. We can never have enough images...

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time. It represents a shift that I hope will become more evident as our new century progresses: a shift from separating matters of soul and spirit — images and practice, the poetic and the well defined, the intuitive and the carefully reasoned — to uniting them... When soul and spirit come together, there is a great healing. These two dimensions, like yin and yang, are the building blocks, the essential dynamics, in everything that is tangible and alive."

Scroll down this linked page to read a brief excerpt from the introduction. Moore and his wife, Hari Kirin, offer From Religion to Spirituality as a weekend program at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, 25-27 March 2011.

Moore describes a better future in contribution

2011-03-05T23:10:00.006-05:00

100 Words: Two Hundred Visionaries Share Their Hope for the Future is a compilation of insights to make our world better. William Murtha asks contributors, "In 100 words, please share empowering stories and thoughts that best encapsulate your insight, wisdom and feelings on how we can move towards a more just, fulfilling, and peaceful world." He follows with, "What five books, poems or songs have most inspired both your life and your vocation?" Thomas Moore responds in this collection. This book is on Facebook and Google Books. According to Amazon's preview, kindly provided by Barque member, Swingdancer Ken, Moore's entry reads:

"Thomas Moore: We are slowly heading toward a future when war will seem unthinkable, illness will be understood as an affliction of the soul and spirit as well as the body, and education will be based in joy rather than punishment.

Our most important challenge now is to embrace our full sexuality and dedicate ourselves to art, dream, beauty, and sensual delights. As people, we are not made up of brain cells and genes; we are bodies ensouled, created for the entertainment of ideas and sensations.

Five Books that have Most Shaped Moore's Vision:
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki
Re-Visioning Psychology, James Hillman
The Book of Life, Marsilio Ficino
Memories, Dreams, Reflections, C. G. Jung
Letters of Emily Dickinson

Who Is Thomas Moore?
Thomas Moore has been a monk, a musician, a professor of religion, a psychotherapist, and a full-time writer and lecturer. His most well-known book is Care of the Soul. Today he fits no categories of belief or affiliation, religious or professional, but his work breathes with the spirit of Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Blake, and William Morris.

100 Words: Two Hundred Visionaries Share Their Hope for the Future
Compiled by William Murtha
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Conari Press
Date: May 1, 2010
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1573244732
ISBN-13: 978-1573244732

Moore writes about mentoring for parents

2011-02-26T13:53:00.003-05:00

If I Were Your Daddy, This Is What You'd Learn, by Julia Espey, is a new collection of real-life stories and parenting suggestions from 35 men in various fields. A February 2011 press release for this book, published by Courtland Publishing, includes:

"Participants represent a cross-section of accomplished men from varying occupations, backgrounds, faiths and beliefs, ranging from a Nobel Peace Prize-winner to a West African child educator to the CEO of Habitat for Humanity. The book is endorsed by Stephen M. R. Covey, Chicken Soup for the Soul author Jack Canfield (who offers the foreword) and the National Fatherhood Initiative, in addition to leading educators and therapists. Men Are from Mars expert Dr. John Gray, Care of the Soul theologian and writer Thomas Moore and The Secret's John Assaraf are among the notable participants who contribute to the book's rich content."

Thomas Moore contributes Chapter 17, "A World of Mentors" in a section called "Utilizing Support". Learn more about this book at If I Were Your Daddy site.

Title: If I Were Your Daddy, This is What You'd Learn
By Julia Espey
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Courtland Publishing
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936623005
ISBN-13: 978-1936623006

Cultivate a life together, not just a relationship

2011-02-11T19:47:00.004-05:00

In time for St. Valentine's Day, Thomas Moore shares "The Anatomy of Love" for The Huffington Post. Moore fleshes out these five guidelines for love in his blog post:

1. Love your partner.
2. Deal with shadow elements.
3. Diffuse your sexuality.
4. Aim for friendship.
5. Make a life.

He concludes, "Plato said that love is a mania -- a good kind of madness that drives us crazy and yet makes a world. Ancient philosophers said that the same drive that draws us together keeps the planets in orbit. Our loves are large in scope and definitely deserve creative attention and constant devotion."

In Care of the Soul, Moore writes, "Does this mean that we need to be cured of this madness? Robert Burton in his massive self-help book of the seventeenth century, The Anatomy of Melancholy, says there is only one cure for the melancholic sickness of love: enter into it with abandon."

Enter a draw to win Thomas Moore's new book

2011-01-03T11:43:00.001-05:00

Comment about an excerpt from Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul in Medicine and enter a draw to win a copy. The winner of this give-away, sponsored by Care2.com, will be announced 25 January 2011. The excerpt is from Moore's introduction (page xxiv) and includes:

"This book is about medicine treating the whole person and not just an organ or a body part. It considers what a whole person is: body, soul, spirit, and that person’s world. It re-visions medicine as a means of dealing with sickness by attending to the spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical needs of a patient. It imagines what a hospital might look like if it envisioned a whole person and understood the meaning of the phrase healing environment. It explores the calling of healers and tries to help patients navigate the medical world so as to be healed in their whole being."

A copy of Chapter 9 "Service to Huminity" is available online.

Transform puritan veneer into erotic sheen

2010-12-01T16:47:00.001-05:00

Thomas Moore’s Huffington Post blog entry for 30 November 2010 is "Not Enough Sex" in which he suggests American culture’s "preoccupation with sex shows that it hasn't come to grips with its fear of whatever it is that sex represents."

After describing male fascination with the female body, Moore offers solutions for the tension between a man’s worldly achievements and his willingness to lose all for sexual adventure:

"First, we could become more reflective people and take seriously our need to meditate on the human condition. We need to pause in all our activity to ask ourselves who and what we are. We need religion and spirituality in a deep sense, as guides to asking the deepest and most important questions. Living from a deeper place, we might be able to deal with our sexuality more effectively.

Second, we need to allow ourselves to explore our sexual curiosity without guilt. Present a piece of pornography, and what do you get? Moralistic responses, for the most part. No thoughtful considerations. Few open-minded explorations into an obvious need."

Moore recommends expanding our notions of sexuality and eroticism, not restricting them.

Moore reviews Kingsley's book for Parabola

2010-11-17T10:12:00.002-05:00

In Parabola’s Winter 2010 magazine, Thomas Moore reviews Peter Kingsley’s A Story Waiting to Pierce You: Mongolia, Tibet, And The Destiny Of The Western World, published by The Golden Sufi Center (2010). Moore writes:

"Many earnest people are at work trying to understand how to shift civilization and private lives away from entropy and threat. They try to be intelligent and informed and trust that civilization will thrive on good factual knowledge and the best data. They look to experts in each field to lead the way by means of their education and experience.

But Peter Kingsley offers an alternative point of view, and a solution to these essential questions, by delving deeply into the roots of our civilization. He doesn’t do this as a typical philosopher, and he doesn’t depict the philosophers he studies in the usual way: as academics surrounded by books and always deep in thought. In his previous books — as in A Story Waiting to Pierce You — he demonstrates that philosophy, true to its Greek language roots, is a certain intimate interplay with wisdom, and that classically it is pursued not in abstract and mental terms but through crafted modes of meditation, ritual, and community."

Moore describes Kingsley’s writing style:

"Peter writes in a style that echoes the oral musicality of a traditional storyteller. To all appearances it is a simple style; but profound challenges sit quietly, almost hidden, on every page. Peter is re-writing the ancient philosophical tradition and, in doing so, is making it accessible in a way that, I believe, is most suited to our new century. His style is not linear, entirely logical, nor explanatory. It evokes the mysteries that have long remained invisible in texts that have been presented as though they were the result of factual research. In every way, Peter is closer to dream than to what we think of as fact.

This new book uses fresh investigations into history to give us timeless clues for our survival. His topic is nothing less than civilization and its sources of unfolding and flowering. I also read the book as a psychology of ecstasy."

The review particularly notes Kingsley’s fresh depictions of the god Apollo:

"Peter gives a very different portrait of this god, far from the allegorical cipher that you find in books on philosophy or mythology. What’s important about this shift in our picture of Apollo is the very point of Peter’s new book: a new appreciation for shamanic ecstasy as the only trustworthy source for a civilization’s — and I would say a person’s — continuing on the adventure of life."

Author: Peter Kingsley
Title: A Story Waiting to Pierce You: Mongolia, Tibet, And The Destiny Of The Western World
Publisher: The Golden Sufi Center (November 1, 2010)
Language: English
Pages: 192
ISBN-10: 1890350214
ISBN-13: 978-1890350215

Moore blogs about our human connection

2010-11-05T09:52:00.003-04:00

Today Thomas Moore writes ”How to Avoid Polarizing Others" on his blog with The Huffington Post. He suggests:

"When we choose to polarize, friendship, community and intimacy suffer. It happens in school, when teachers treat their students like they are on the other side of a fence; in marriages, when partners fail to work at their union; in medicine, when doctors and nurses forget that they, too, get sick and need help. And of course it happens in politics, when Democrats and Republicans fail to keep in mind their common objectives and treat each other as enemies."

Moore writes, "A kingdom divided against itself cannot survive. I worry about America more because of its inner tensions than those with the outside world. It appears to me that each of us has to try hard not to polarize in our everyday interactions. If we stop doing it, maybe the politicians will catch the drift."

Register with The Huffington Post to join this conversation.

Thomas Moore contributes to Food & Faith

2010-08-27T00:19:00.006-04:00

The second edition of Michael Schut's Food & Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread, published by Morehouse Publishing this year, contains a contribution by Thomas Moore. According to the book's release, "Readings focus on the enjoyment and spirituality of good food, ways in which eating connects us to the land and to each other, and on the economic, environmental and cultural impacts of daily food choices."

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat offer a review of Food & Faith for Spirituality and Practice readers. They write, "Among the topics covered are the sacramental character of food, its links to health, the family farm in peril, the human and ecological spin-offs of industrial agribusinesses, genetically modified food, and world hunger." The book includes a study guide for groups or individuals.

Food & Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread
Editor: Michael Schut
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Morehouse Publishing; 2 edition (May 2010)
ISBN-10: 0819224111
ISBN-13: 978-0819224118

Food & Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread
Editor: Michael Schut
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Living the Good News (October 2002)
ISBN-10: 1889108901
ISBN-13: 978-1889108902

Share The Guru of Golf with someone special

2010-06-17T09:04:00.000-04:00

Read the Introduction to Thomas Moore's new book, The Guru of Golf, published by Hay House. On the Heal Your Life site, it is titled "Life Lessons on the Green: Staying the course in golf — and in everyday life."

Give The Guru of Golf to someone special this Father's Day and share this treat. Moore writes, "I don’t write stories aimed at offering moral or spiritual lessons. I like stories as stories. If they hold up on their own, I’m happy. I think games do teach us about life and beyond, and I hope these stories offer hints at some of the mysteries involved in the game of life. But most of all, I hope the stories are entertaining. All art, I assume, helps us appreciate the deep mysteries we confront every day, and in that sense all art is theological."

Visit Moore's public page on Facebook to join the discussion about this engaging collection of life's lessons.

Listen to free online audio clips of Moore

2010-03-22T10:21:00.002-04:00

LearnOutLoud.com offers eleven free audio samples of Thomas Moore's work, as well as opportunities to buy downloadable files, cassettes and CDs recorded by him. Program titles generally refer to Moore's book titles, however content may not be taken directly from the printed product. For example, one of the programs called The Soul's Religion links to a free 58-minute Real Audio recording from 21 April 2002 offered by Grace Cathedral. Free sample audio clips of programs available for purchase may run approximately six minutes.

Phallus is life’s capacity for creativity and pleasure

2010-03-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

Becky Knight, who has a Master of Public Health in Human Sexuality, offers an excerpt from Thomas Moore's The Soul of Sex: Cultivating Life as an Act of Love, under her title A Religious Appreciation for the Penis on her blog, Living Sexuality. This excerpt includes Moore's views:

"The penis we see in pornography is not the true phallus; it is rather a poor attempt to restore the phallic dimension to the penis. Pornographic penises are symptomatic of our need to rediscover the phallus and with it a religious appreciation for life’s mysterious potency. Like the ancients carrying huge penises in their processions, we fantasize penises of unusual dimension and photograph them in ways that make them seem huge and detached from individual personality. But we don’t yet have a religious appreciation for the penis as the presentation of life’s almighty power. Religious institutions remain close to pornography, sometimes in their art and sometimes in their ingenious means of repression, because ultimately both are concerned with life’s deepest meaning and mystery."

Moore writes about cleansing the soul for Lent

2010-02-21T00:10:00.001-05:00

U.S. Catholic reposts Thomas Moore's Lenten message about "Cleansing the soul". Moore writes, "Thinning out and simplifying a busy life helps create a focus on things that really matter at this time of year: reflection on suffering, deep Easter optimism, personal renewal, and hope. Today, in a time of world conflict and economic pressure, everyone knows how precious and elusive a genuine sense of hope can be." He suggests, "Lent should bring you to a point of spiritual intensity so that the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter touches the mystery of your own existence."

This message is part of the series, "40 Days to a new you". Access is limited for some of the entries. This passage first appears in 2004.

Moore comes to Toronto for I Can Do It! event

2010-01-27T07:21:00.001-05:00

At Hay House's I Can Do It! convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 28 May to 30 May, 2010, Thomas Moore speaks about his forthcoming book Care of the Soul in Medicine: Healing Guidance for Patients, Families, and the People Who Care for Them in a concurrent session on Sunday 30 May, 10:30 a.m. at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. According to Hay House, "the breathtaking venue [is] conveniently located in the heart of vibrant downtown Toronto, within walking distance of the waterfront." The entire program for this event is available as a .pdf download.

Video features Moore talking about sense of home

2010-01-16T02:15:00.000-05:00

Gregor Productions' three minute video on YouTube, Home: The Last Battleground features Thomas Moore talking about the importance of home in relation to soul. In addition to Moore, the video shows Carol Gregor, A. T. Mann and Erica Boucher.

On her site, http://www.carolgregor.com, Carol Gregor writes, "The home is the last battleground. The private concerns of so many can be solved by the way designs and buildings support the health of the body and soul. It is not our knowledge but our thinking that needs to be examined. Any thought of separateness is dangerous and threatens health and wellness on many levels. The language of nature offers a rubric for redesigning thinking to move existing models towards the Laws of Connection. Architecture and the ancient sacred geometries used are a language of connection, philosophical and life changing."

Moore states our buildings not only make us sick, our buildings are sick.

Hay House Radio airs Moore talking about Jesus

2010-01-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

To promote its I Can Do It: San Diego 2010 convention, Hay House Radio interviews authors scheduled to speak at the gathering. On Saturday 16 January, 2010 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. PST and on Sunday 17 January, 2010, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. PST, Hay House Radio airs Finding Total Happiness which includes conversation with Thomas Moore. The second half hour includes Moore's "non conventional views of Jesus." Barque describes this episode in the post, "Hay House hosts Moore on radio program, Jan. 9".

Moore talks about Dark Eros, Venus, and healing

2010-01-07T11:56:00.002-05:00

Journalist, speaker, publisher, Aernout Zevenbergen interviews Thomas Moore and shares "snippets" from the 1.5 hour long conversation at wow-casting.com. Zevenbergen writes, "It is my intention with WoW Casting to gather conversations with people from very diverse backgrounds and specialisations. Authors, artists, thinkers, teachers, and scientists - people who are using their creativity to find new answers, new approaches to contemporary issues in our daily lives."

After clicking on the Well of Wisdom landing page photo, the right side of the screen lists available "snippets." Click each one for a fresh screen that allows you to download the audio file. The three Moore interview segments:
Dark Eros ....... 4 minutes
Venus ............ 5 minutes
Healer .......... 10 minutes

Zevenbergen offers a newsletter and full interview access to listeners who register with his site.

The message of a soulful Christmas: "Lighten up!"

2009-12-23T23:56:00.012-05:00

Today Rabbi Michael Lerner offers Spiritual Wisdom of the Week – In Praise of Santa Claus! on the Tikkun Daily Blog, featuring sections from an article "The Eternal, Holy Night" by Thomas Moore, published in the November/December 2003 issue of Tikkun Magazine. Excerpts include,

"The most stirring songs of the season, "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night," and the popular verse-tale "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" explore the emotion of night, especially this night on which light once again shows itself. We honor this mythic night full of hopeful appearances – angels with their song, flying reindeer, kings bearing gifts of gold and spices, a lowly stable aflame with the brilliant arrival of the divine child.

Historically, Christmas was heavily influenced by the Roman festival of Saturnalia, a time of revelry and feasting when the burden of rules was suspended and values were turned upside down. Its arrival reminds us of certain values that we forget during the rest of the year. Why not learn from Christmas Saturnalia to be more forgiving and less moralistic, not to justify our existence by hard work alone but to find meaning in play and celebration, and to give more of ourselves to our children?"

In the 2003 article, Moore also writes,

"I like to speak of the soul of Christmas as well as its spirit. The soul of Christmas is low, embodied, tolerant, diverse, not always virtuous but humorous and earthy. The soulful side of Christmas comes forth in the preparation of family and community meals and the reenactment of traditional customs. I think we have it right when we go shopping, make cookies, sing carols, and trim trees. We might deepen these traditions by giving thoughtful, heartfelt gifts, contacting old friends, and giving more than usual attention to children. And we should all give each other--adults and children--at least one toy, as a symbol of our retreat from seriousness, ambition, and work. It honors the child in the manger, who is not an image of silly, naive childishness, but of new life, hope, fresh vision, and imagination."

Moore includes ideas that appear in his book, Writing in the Sand, published last year:

"The Jesus of religion is not a mere philosopher or teacher. He comes from another reality, and so at his birth there is no room for him at the inn, an image of accepted human society. He is comforted by animals, received by shepherds, and acknowledged by kings and wizards. By nature he is outside the box of normality.

To take him to heart requires being outside the box yourself, discovering that when you think radically about love as a basis for life and culture, there will be no room in the inn for you. You will be eccentric, ostracized perhaps, and eventually even crucified. You will be like some Gnostic visitor, someone who fell to earth to awaken those who have fallen asleep and have forgotten the wisdom that would make human life effective."

The Guru of Golf tees off in Spring, 2010

2009-12-03T13:21:00.007-05:00

Thomas Moore’s collection of short stories, The Guru of Golf and Other Stories about the Game of Life will be available in 2010.

According to his publisher, "While to some chasing a small white ball across a vast field of grass may seem pointless, the game of golf has, for centuries, drawn everyone from the poor working class to the upper crust of society. There is something enchanting about the experience of golf that sets it apart from other sports. In this collection of 18 short stories, The Guru of Golf celebrates perhaps one of the most widely popular of athletic pursuits. Thomas Moore shows us how golf can be a perfect metaphor for life itself - endlessly mysterious, joyful, and captivating, yet at times unbearable. From the tee to the green, he intertwines modern and classical tales that illustrate the challenges players face - on and off the course. A game rife with strict rules on etiquette and both physically and mentally taxing, golf tests the body, mind, and spirit. Humorous and insightful,The Guru of Golf captures the range of emotions associated with its players' ardent determination; searches for meaning behind quiet, solitary moments; and reveals the struggles that try our patience, as well as the victories that make the game - and life - worthwhile."

The Guru of Golf
and Other Stories about the Game of Life
by Thomas Moore
Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: Hay House (May 15 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401925650
ISBN-13: 978-1401925659

Give up thought patterns for heaven on earth

2009-10-20T20:08:00.002-04:00

Heal Your Life offers an excerpt from the introduction of Thomas Moore’s Writing in the Sand, entitled "The Day Your Thoughts Stood Still". Moore writes:

"When I was ten years old, I saw the sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still. It’s about a man who comes to Earth in a space ship to tell the warring governments of Earth not to bring their conflicts out into space. Like a Gnostic messenger, he travels here to warn human beings to change their way of life.

This movie version of what was a short story consciously draws parallels to the story of Jesus. I have always been inspired by the movie, but I would rather bring its spirit of renewal to our understanding of Jesus than see Christ themes in the film. The point of Jesus’ mission is not to draw attention to himself but to transform the way human beings live.”

The passage concludes, "And when we break free of our thought patterns, we’ll be able to see Jesus’ purpose as 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."

The Heal Your Life site is maintained by Moore’s publisher, Hay House. It offers additional insights from other authors and spiritual leaders.

Blogger shares points from Moore's Soul Mates

2009-10-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

The blog, "Orixa in Exile", offers a summary of Moore’s best seller under the heading "Notes from Soul Mates by Thomas Moore". Some points include page numbers, others are listed with bullets. The summary begins:

Preface
•Moore explains his biases, his Catholic upbringing, his Jungian predisposition, fondness for Renaissance theology
•It's my conviction that slight shifts in imagination have more impact on living than major efforts at change.
•The Renaissance theologians, my primary teachers, advocated "natural religion" ― not in the eighteenth century sense of a rational religion, but as a sensitivity to the sacred in everyday life.

Spring Journal reviews Moore's latest book

2009-09-29T14:05:00.005-04:00

The Spring Journal for Fall 2009, volume 82, with the theme Symbolic Life, contains a review of Thomas Moore's latest book, Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels, written by Dennis Patrick Slattery. It's title is "Twisting toward the Kingdom: A Review of Thomas Moore’s Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels."

The review is unavailable online. This volumn of the journal may be purchased for $25.95 U.S. "This new issue of Spring celebrates the 70th anniversary of [Carl] Jung's 1939 lecture on "The Symbolic Life" to the Guild of Pastoral Psychology in London and considers if and how Jung’s path into living a symbolic life is still viable today."

Moore muses in latest Resurgence magazine

2009-09-05T09:50:00.003-04:00

Resurgence magazine's theme for September-October 2009 (no. 256) is Exploring Consciousness. Thomas Moore's regular feature, Deep Spirit, is titled "The Muse," with the subtitle "Recognising the other forms of consciousness at work in the world." Unfortunately, this column isn't available online.

In his welcome message, "Quantum Leap", editor Satish Kumar writes, "Consciousness is not merely a philosophical or scientific theory: it is a living reality. At this moment in time we need this realisation more than ever. We need to make a transition from an ego-centred worldview to an eco-centred worldview; from ignorant and wasteful ways of living to an elegant, simple and respectful way of living: transition from dependence on coal, nuclear and oil to a relationship with water, sun and soil; transition from a desire to control and dominate to an intention to relate, participate and celebrate. Crises and conflicts arise when we are out of touch with the reality of consciousness. Peace and prosperity prevail when we are alive to consciousness."

Purchase Resurgence online.

Read Care of the Soul excerpt about spirituality

2009-07-28T11:03:00.003-04:00

The May 1993 issue of Psychology Today offers a long excerpt about spirituality from Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul. In it, Moore suggests,

"Just as the mind digests ideas and produces intelligence, the soul feeds on life and digests it, creating wisdom and character out of experience. Renaissance Neoplatonists said that the outer world serves as a means of deep spirituality and that the transformation of ordinary experience into the stuff of soul is all-important. If the link between life experience and deep imagination is inadequate, then we are left with a division between life and soul, and such a division will always manifest itself in symptoms."

Section titles in excerpt:
Psychological Modernism
Everyday Sacredness
Maintenance of the Holy

Excerpt:
Three individual pages
One continuous page

The last paragraph states, "We have no idea yet of the positive contribution that could be made to us individually and socially by a more soulful religion and theology. Our culture in is need of theological reflection that does not advocate a particular tradition, but tends the soul's need for spiritual direction. In order to accomplish this goal, we must gradually bring soul back to religion."

Readers who enjoy Moore's Care of the Soul may want to read his The Soul's Religion next.

Resources for dark nights of the soul and health

2009-07-10T21:35:00.005-04:00

Spiritual Care: A Newsletter for Spiritual Care Providers Across Manitoba" Number 10 October 2005, features the editorial "Health — A Matter Of The Soul" by Rev. Glen R. Horst in which he writes,

"To do soul work we must face the challenge illness poses to our sense of control and worth in the world. Our automatic inclination is to meet the challenge by fighting the illness with the best medical interventions available. At one level this is necessary, but in spite of all appearances it is not the road to health. The road to health requires soul work that moves beyond automatic patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. Soul work involves opening to the experience of illness and allowing the experience to open our heart (our emotional centre). Soul work is done as we review our life story and deepen our consciousness of who we are, how we are living, and what our vocation or mission in life is. Soul work takes us beneath the surface of the illness experience and connects us deeply to ourselves, to others who care about us, and to the Sacred Mystery that embraces all of life.

Soul work is tough and difficult to do alone, but through it we can create a quiet space in the midst of chaos for choosing how to live through a loss of health in meaningful and loving ways. Soul work is the path to health. When soul work is engaged, healing may occur even without a cure."

On page 6 of the same issue, Laure Salo reviews Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals for the book section, "Between The Covers". Salo writes,

"Thomas says, "Every human life is made up of the light and the dark, the happy and the sad, the vital and the deadening. How you think about this rhythm of moods makes all the difference." In this book, Thomas considers many kinds of dark nights, cites many personal experiences, and relates wisdom, and insights gained from many well-known personalities including Bogart, Keats, Anne Sexton, and of course, John of the Cross. He indicates that there are many ways to deal with them: pills, psychotherapy, expert advice, spiritual guidance, books and tapes, workshops, churches, communities, government guidelines and spas. However, he seems to believe these are all suggestions to "get out of the darkness quickly" He is suggesting, alternatively, "The real task is to live in, and with, the darkness, appreciating its unredeemed value, and loving its irreversible qualities. What is needed is a view of life that includes the dark. ... that insight may not heal you or give you the sense of being whole, but it may give you some intelligence about life." I appreciated the challenge this book presents, and the wise, refreshing insights offered.

It reminded me of the book, The Spirituality of Imperfection. Storytelling and the Journey to Wholeness, by Ernest Kurtz (Author of Not-God) and Katherine Ketcham.

I thought these books worth mentioning as well:
Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness meditations in everyday life by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He has also written Full Catastrophe Living and Coming To Our Senses.

The Voice Of Knowledge, a Toltec Wisdom Book, by Don Miguel Ruiz. He has also written The Four Agreements, and A Companion To The Four Agreements. This is translated from Spanish, and seems to be in a style of speaking that is quite delightful."

Moore contributes selection about education

2009-07-06T23:15:00.004-04:00

The paperback edition of Reimagining Education: Essays on Reviving the Soul of Learning will be released 17 October 2009 by Spring Journal. Dennis Patrick Slattery and Jennifer Leigh Selig collect essays by eighteen master teachers, including Thomas Moore's "The Dance of Learning" beginning on page 7. James Hillman writes the first entry, "City, Soul and Myth" available for online reading through amazon.com.

Product Details
Reimagining Education: Essays on Reviving the Soul of Learning
Paperback: 189 pages
Publisher: Spring Journal (October 17, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1882670639
ISBN-13: 978-1882670635

Moore talks about Jesus with Hay House Radio

2009-04-28T21:47:00.004-04:00

Hay House Radio host, Diane Ray, interviews Thomas Moore about his new book, Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels during her "I Can Do It Hour": "Thomas presents the essence of Jesus' teachings and explains how to meaningfully integrate his principles into your life today." The original air date was yesterday. The program also airs May 1, 2009, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm PDT and May 3, 2009, 2:00 am - 3:00 am PDT, and may be downloaded on demand.

Find meaning in work during the 21st century

2009-02-16T15:01:00.007-05:00

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

2009-02-08T10:24:00.005-05:00

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.

"Living without enemies" is a challenge

2009-01-19T23:54:00.007-05:00

"Loving your enemies is not an instant achievement or a remote ideal. It is an ongoing process with varying degrees of perfection. And it's hard work, requiring patience and tenacity."
― Thomas Moore

Read "Walk with Your Enemy", a piece by Thomas Moore in Life Positive, October 2005. In this contribution, Moore writes,

"It's the business of religion to turn things upside down. Indeed, the proper language of religion is paradox. Many people think of spirituality as a higher level of the world they know, but the traditions teach that as a person matures, he has to learn about the opposite side of everything he has come to understand. Jesus suggests that the poor are the really rich ones. And according to current Biblical scholars, the story of the Good Samaritan is not just about seeing your neighbor in someone from another culture or race. It shows that the most unlikely and despised people, not we spiritual types, may be the very ones practicing spiritual ideals like compassion. In religion, the whole world is upside down."
...
"The paradoxes of religion and the spiritual traditions are not just intellectual surprises; they are a challenge for you to move in a direction that may be far different from the one you know and love. They ask you to have it in mind to consider the opposite of what may seem common sense, or the opposite to what has identified you for years. The flipping over of your vision, metanoia, may be the most difficult thing in life."

Moore’s new book Writing in the Sand, about the soul of the Gospels, will be released in May 2009.

The Church is a vision of values and actions

2009-01-13T09:23:00.005-05:00

For Spirituality and Health's last issue of 2008, Thomas Moore writes about his decision to leave the monastic Servite order when he was twenty-five years old, in "Leaving the Church?".

"Forty years have passed since that morning of decision, and I have tried to follow the monastic ideals in my own way. I continue to enrich my layperson married writer’s life with the Servite spirit. But little by little, all that religion has become invisible in my life and personality. If you looked closely at me and my life, you wouldn’t see the things that typically identify a religious person, but in my own view I am more Catholic, more religious, and more spiritual than ever.

So, it seems that I didn’t leave the order that morning, nor did I leave the Church. On the contrary, I have been moving farther into it. Today, I lecture and give sermons in churches of every denomination. The Church is not a building, not a creed, not a membership, not an authority, not even a community, unless it is the community of all beings. It’s a vision, expressed in values and action, shared with the entire world.

Being in the Church and maintaining the monastic spirit in my life means being more engaged with life itself, more connected to the community of the world, and catholic — meaning universal, openly engaged in every moment, in every place, with every thing. I know that I have not created this path. It was laid out there for me from the beginning. I had only to accept the invitation to follow it. I know it isn’t for everyone, probably for very few. I haven’t the slightest need to convert anyone to it. I don’t even understand it."

Moore concludes, "I thank God for the gift of being invited one fateful autumn day into a bigger world and a larger sense of religion."

Practise imaginative therapies for conflicts

2009-01-08T18:37:00.007-05:00

Today, Thomas Moore adds the post "Therapy for World Politics" to his Psychology Today blog, Care of the Soul. He advocates that doctors and psychologists voice solutions to environmental degradation and world conflicts. After observing:

"One of our problems is that we are so numb to violence that we assume it is the natural way to deal with international conflicts. A first step toward sanity might be to imagine alternative strategies. I am aware that many groups of professionals are already working hard at such strategies, but if a fresh imagination were to come from the realm of psychology, it might have special effect."

Moore offers seven questions to groups considering alternatives. He concludes:

"Unless psychology engages these difficult questions of the real world, it is left with what Sandor Fereczi might label "masturbatory activities." We take pleasure in playing idly with our own toys and our own body of interests. It's time to break through the shell and take on the world with the insights of our profession."

Read Moore's post and contribute answers to his thoughtful questions.

Moore talks about stories, dreams and soul

2008-12-31T22:05:00.001-05:00

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network offers Thomas Moore's talk, "How Can We Find the Meaning and Shape of Our Lives" as a free on-demand program in three audio formats. Moore speaks about "looking at our dreams and considering the stories we tell of our lives, our family, and the places we have been," and answers two questions about politics and spirituality from the audience. The Life Story Center at the University of Southern Maine celebrated its 20th anniversary on Wednesday 15 October 2008 with Moore as the featured speaker. His presentation was broadcast on 20 November 2008 and is archived on the network's site.

Hay House pitches book in 2009 catalogue

2008-12-29T22:04:00.005-05:00

Hay House Inc., publisher of Thomas Moore’s next book, Writing in the Sand: Jesus & the Soul of the Gospels, offers this catalogue description (p. 9) to potential buyers for the book's launch in May 2009:

"In Writing in the Sand, Thomas Moore finds striking new meaning in the rich stories and imagery of the Gospels, recasting Jesus not as a teacher of morals and beliefs but as a spiritual visionary with a radical vision for humanity. This highly original take on the Gospels offers a fresh, new way of imagining human life and society. It presents Jesus not as the founder of a religion but as a world reformer offering a spiritual path to everyone, from every background. It offers a personal spirituality fit for the 21st century, where the individual bears responsibility for meaning and for a creative, convivial way of life."

"In his examination of the original Greek texts, Thomas Moore dismisses the cautionary voice of tradition and explores the deeper significance of language, stressing the origins of words and the many levels of meaning in stories and imagery. Through his study, he shows that the teachings of Jesusare challenging in a far different way than the moralism often associated with them. Based on being open to life, deepening your understanding, and giving up all defensiveness around your convictions, the Gospels can be the source of a new kind of certainty and stability that cannot be codified and enshrined in a list of rules. Writing in the Sand presents the essence of Jesus’s teachings and offers a way of understanding them intelligently and devotedly in the 21st century."

Listen to Moore's interview about work

2008-12-29T16:55:00.004-05:00

ABC Radio National airs the New Dimensions Media interview with Thomas Moore about work on Wednesday 21 January 2009 at 12 noon and the following day at 1:00 a.m. You may download the 54 minute program, recorded earlier this year with Michael Toms, by scrolling to the middle of the linked page and clicking on:

Working for Your Soul: with Thomas Moore
"Explores how we care for our souls through the work we do. He points to unexpected signs that show it might be time to re-examine your career choice."

Browse books published by HarperCollins

2008-12-07T09:30:00.003-05:00

HarperCollins Publishers allows readers to browse books written by Thomas Moore with its imprint.

The publisher features Soul Mates on this page with links to other Moore titles, including The Soul’s Religion and Original Self.

Build out if there's little room for soul

2008-11-04T09:04:00.007-05:00

For Spirituality and Health, in a column called, "Changing Directions", Thomas Moore dismisses the metaphor of "growth" in favour of "discovery" for a soulful life.

"People often refer to the process of becoming a better person as "growth." They go to conferences so they can grow, and they see challenges as opportunities for growth. Years ago I read an essay by James Hillman in which he expressed his distaste for this metaphor. I was convinced and ever since have avoided the word. It tends to be sentimental and doesn't accurately describe what we go through. For one thing, not growing is just as relevant - being stuck, failing, and making mistakes all help a great deal in your becoming a rich and complex person.

I prefer to see personal development as the discovery of a new room in the soul, some area of life that has great potential but has just been found. When I see a person on the threshold of such a turn, I imagine him facing a doorway that he has to enter with some courage and abandon. It might be a new self that is being offered as an expansion or complexifying of who he is. This is not growth, not a steady evolution; rather, it's a turn, an angular move in a new direction."

Moore includes the role of dreams and the need to explore unexamined spaces, before sharing a personal turn with readers.

"What is required more than anything in choosing life over death is self-confrontation - facing your fears and resistances, sorting out all the emotions and possibilities and relationships, which then allows you to make a move and complete the turn. You may have to face the fact that you have a long and abiding anger or that you are inwardly roiling with envy or jealousy. These emotions may hinder your move into new life, and so you have to acknowledge them, feel them, and let them work on you. There is usually a big price to pay for entry into a new room of the soul.
. . .
For a long time in my own life, I tried to avoid the room of the soul that had a sign on it that read "Parenthood." I argued convincingly with friends that it was not in my imagination to have children. Then my stepson appeared, and then my daughter. It has been a very good room in which to dwell. I didn't grow into being a father; I took a sharp turn in my life and built an addition.

Dreams don't say much about growing, but they show all kinds of ways to keep adding to your home. The expansion requires imagination, risk, cost, and creativity, but its reward is a deeply satisfying way of life. You will have the structure and emotional environment in which to thrive."

In the last issue of Spirituality and Health this year, Moore responds to his column title, "Leaving the Church?"

Foreword focus is leaving fundamentalism

2008-10-31T22:05:00.009-04:00

Earlier this year, Wilfrid Laurier University Press published a book called, Leaving Fundamentalism: Personal Stories, with a foreword by Thomas Moore.

Editor: G. Elijah Dann
Paperback: 246 pages
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press (May 26, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1554580269
ISBN-13: 978-1554580262
Foreword by Thomas Moore

A Barque post in 2006 quotes Moore’s definition of fundamentalism as:

"Fundamentalism in religion is a defensive move that comes from fear of the other. Those who believe that God is on their side, that whatever they say is divinely sanctioned and it’s their right to force it on the world, become violent and aggressive in defending their anxious beliefs. But rather than vilify fundamentalists, I think it would be more effective to admit we are all fundamentalists on some level. We all adhere to certain beliefs and language. Such fundamentalisms get in the way of an open and adventurous spiritual life..."

For this year’s book with Moore’s foreword, a description includes, "The stories in Leaving Fundamentalism provide a personal and intimate look behind sermons, religious services, and church life, and promote an understanding of those who have been deeply involved in the conservative Christian church. These autobiographies come from within the congregations and homes of religious fundamentalists, where their highly idealized faith, in all its complexities and problems, meets the reality of everyday life. Told from the perspective of distance gained by leaving fundamentalism, each story gives the reader a snapshot of what it is like to go through the experiences, thoughts, feelings, passions, and pains that, for many of the writers, are still raw."

Moore blogs with Psychology Today today

2008-10-29T16:38:00.005-04:00

Thomas Moore starts blogging with Psychology Today in his new Spirituality blog called Care of the Soul: Creating a richer life and a more beautiful world. In his first entry, "Lighten up with Gravitas" Moore talks about next Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election and the need for candidates to show intellectual heft and humour. Moore writes,

"I've heard some commentators say that [Sarah Palin] lacks gravitas. Yes, I thought, a degree of intellectual and emotional weight is necessary in a leader, and leadership is what these elections are about. Sometimes you have to remind yourself of that fact. I see gravitas in Barack Obama, and I've watched George W. Bush struggle with it for eight years. He reaches for it, but it slips away in his folksiness and in the lightness of his thought.

But our leaders are mirrors of ourselves, and so I wonder about the gravitas of the American people. I often spend time in Ireland and find the people there quite different from Americans. Their heart is more tender and present in public life. They respond as a country in a felt way to people in need, and yet they also have gravitas. You only have to read the national newspapers there and see the intelligence and weight of ideas and respect for thought and language. Our newspapers are becoming lighter and lighter. Soon they will only be a collection of headlines and an assortment of opinionated, inflamed positions and attacks."
. . .
"But gravitas is only one side of a whole picture. The other side is lightness and humor. I haven't seen much humor among the candidates for election and I wonder if that is not due to the lack of gravitas. Good gravitas and good humor go together."

Read Moore’s entire post and comment if you have want to share thoughts with Care of the Soul readers.

Soul recipes include insights to chew on

2008-10-28T07:47:00.000-04:00

Following the "Feasting and Fasting" theme for the November-December issue (no.251) of Resurgence magazine, Thomas Moore writes, "Food for the Soul".

In his article about increasing food’s imaginal power, Moore includes, "Perhaps the greatest challenge in this time of rapid technological advance and the shrinking of the globe is to create a world community. But that important task can’t be done in the abstract. Food can play a role. Food as community, not as a commodity. Whatever power allows lunch to foster friendship, wedding cake a marriage, and bread and wine a religion could make a community of the world’s population. But we need first to restore soul to food."

"If growers, packagers and sellers would treat food as having great potential for meaning, we might think more about eating moderately and healthfully. We might discover the power of food to cultivate friendships and family. We might appreciate its capacity to foster the all-important virtue of conviviality. Possessed of that virtue, the joy in being cohabitants of the planet, we might understand our role in making sure that the children of the world never go hungry.

ANOTHER WAY FOOD contributes to conviviality is in its extraordinary power to make the pleasures of ethnic diversity concrete and sensual. Is it the physical organism or the soul that craves an Italian dinner one night and Indian the next? The taste and colour and texture of food evoke a people and a style of life, and everyone, at any place on the globe, can be enriched as a person by tasting foreign food.”
. . .
But unfortunately imagination is not high among our priorities. When we turn food into a mere object, we tend to abuse it and abuse ourselves with it. We substitute quantity for quality. We don’t have a sensual experience of food, and therefore we eat too much. Our imagination is ‘out to lunch’, and so we stuff our bodies. We don’t value the role of food in our friendships and families, and therefore we tolerate the fast, unconscious, ungraceful ingestion of solids and liquids that today passes for dining."

Throughout the piece, Moore draws on his practice of psychotherapy to show food’s role in cultivating soul.

What do we need in corporate leadership now?

2008-10-09T14:33:00.004-04:00

Last year, Thomas Moore contributed a chapter to a book described as "a primer for twenty-first century leadership," called Einstein's Business: Engaging Soul, Imagination, and Excellence in the Workplace, edited by Dawson Church. Moore’s chapter, "Joyful Ethics," starts on page 101, in "Part Two: Heart-Centered Leadership." Einstein’s Business won the Indie Excellence 2007 Book Award in the Business category. Other contributors are Peter Senge, Margaret Wheatley, Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Covey. Visit the Einstein’s Business site for more information about this book.

Einstein's Business
Hardcover: 483 pages
Publisher: Elite Books (January 31, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1600700152
ISBN-13: 978-1600700156

A traumatic event is an invitation to change

2008-09-05T23:14:00.008-04:00

Thomas Moore has written a short piece "The Art of Intelligent Surrender" for the September issue of New Thought Network Connections. Moore says when the wound is deep, the questions must be deep, before concluding,

"A traumatic event invites us to cultivate our relationship to the sacred. It requires our imagination to take a quantum leap. It demands that we move toward a new sense of what it means to be human. We have to surrender to something at some level. But not naively. I think what modernism has done is to separate spirituality from science, our hearts from our minds. It’s time to get over that and be very intelligent about the way we surrender. The truth is so much bigger than either science or religion alone."

Neale Donald Walsch's quote, about letting things fall apart, follows Moore's reflection.

[Dear Admin: Please fix the typos.]

Who's speaking, you or one of your complexes?

2008-09-05T10:00:00.005-04:00

Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul column,"Is That Your Complex Speaking?" in the July-August 2008 issue of Spirituality and Health is available online after free registration. Moore discusses psychologist Carl Jung’s use of the term "complex":

"... a bundle of ideas, memories, attitudes, emotions, passions, and habits focused on a theme — for example, the "inferiority complex." This theme can take over a person and affect how he feels and understands his situation. Talk to a person with an inferiority complex, and no matter how much you praise his talents and accomplishments, he will still feel inadequate. A complex is not reasonable and is not susceptible to reasonable argument. One aspect of a complex is that a person makes reasonable-sounding statements that actually are the complex speaking.
...
A complex is mostly unconscious, so the person talking has no idea that he or she is being controlled like a puppet by a deep-seated emotional obsession. Friends and lovers of such a person may know too well that something is wrong, but they have no idea what to do about it.

Psychologists often advise to "go with the symptom." Don’t try to get rid of it or urge its opposite. It’s better to take the symptom as given, and try to deepen it. Therefore, to a friend with an inferiority complex, you could say, "It’s extraordinary how much I don’t know about my field, and yet I get along pretty well." A person caught in an inferiority complex may need to discover that we all are ignorant of many things, all incapable and prone to error. Inferior means lower, and the inferiority complex may signal that a person has to join the human race.

It’s interesting how often the complex hides its polar opposite. The inferior person doesn’t let on how superior he feels deep down.
...
We could all deal with the highly neurotic human condition by thinking more subtly about what is being said in all of our interactions."

In the September-October issue, Moore writes about the shock of changing life directions and for November-December, "Leaving the Church?"

Moore considers forgiveness in monthly column

2008-06-11T09:56:00.007-04:00

EDITOR'S NOTE: "Finding Freedom in Forgiveness" is available online.

At the beginning of July, Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul column in the May - June 2008 issue of Spirituality and Health, "Finding Freedom in Forgiveness" will be available online after free registration on the S&H site. Moore’s column for July - August 2008, suggests how to respond with understanding when your friend’s "complex" is speaking. It will be available for viewing at the beginning of September.

Moore's own work is topic of monthly column

2008-05-06T02:06:00.006-04:00

Thomas Moore’s column in the March-April 2008 issue of Spirituality and Health is available online. Moore writes about "Finding Life at Work", the topic of his recent book. He begins,

"Life’s practical jokes: About three years ago I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, when I received an invitation to speak to career counselors in San Francisco. It takes a lot to get me away from home, but I was beguiled by the man who invited me, and a few months later, there I was, speaking about work and career in the language of myth and alchemy to a very large audience of professionals. From their response, I quickly knew that going deeper into the roots of work would be a live issue.

What I didn’t know was that my own work life was about to go into crisis: I discovered that much of the money I had made on widely read books had vanished into some economic black hole. Then an editor asked me to recreate myself as a communicator, something I’ve never aspired to. Then the publication date of my next book was pushed off and off, and with no money coming in, I sought help and advice, and none was forthcoming. So in the midst of a work crisis, I wrote my new book, A Life at Work, exploring the confusion and anxiety I was experiencing.

The alchemical idea of work — work on your soul and your life — and the idea of work as a job are linked. All work has an aspect of calling, and sometimes the career or job you’ve had all your life isn’t the activity that defines you. You may find more meaning being a parent, traveling, volunteering, gardening, or playing a sport. Your life work may not be one thing but rather a mix. Work may change several times during your life, and many “jobs” may occupy you at one time. Whatever form work takes, you need the sense that what you’re doing makes life worth living."

Join the free Barque: Thomas Moore Forum to participate in the current online course based on Moore’s A Life at Work.

Beliefnet features Moore in video about religion

2008-04-04T09:40:00.005-04:00

In its Preachers and Teachers series, Beliefnet offers a 2:39 minute video of Thomas Moore talking about nurturing your spirit and soul . According to the video description, Moore says "... it's possible to bring our soul - the deepest part of ourselves - in touch with our spirituality without moving away from everyday life and experience."

Panel's talk about forgiveness to air on Book TV

2008-03-21T13:11:00.006-04:00

As announced on Barque, last week Thomas Moore joined author Kenneth Briggs and filmmaker Martin Doblmeier in a panel discussion about the power of forgiveness. Book TV on C-SPAN2 plans to broadcast this event. Check local listings for air times.

Thank you, Barque member Ken Blackham, for sharing this program item.

Spiritual with material manifests the incarnate

2008-03-13T12:38:00.007-04:00

In his Deep Spirit column for Resurgence (issue 247 March-April 2008), Thomas Moore urges readers, "Pray to Gaia". After describing divinities associated with Nature in ancient Greece, he continues,

"Renaissance philosophers said that you don’t have to be pagan to appreciate the spirituality of Nature. These various gods and goddesses are facets, they said, of the God many honour as the monotheistic source of life and meaning. In other words, you see God when you stop to wonder at a copper sunset or a misty moon. Nature is the avenue towards nurturing your spirit. It is the way in which the divine most powerfully shows itself.

There is a tendency, even among environmentalists, to adopt the 20th-century way of seeing Nature, as a source of material commodities needed for the heroic building of culture. But that isn’t sufficient motivation for preserving Nature, because it doesn’t address our essence: what we need to survive as humans. We are people of body, soul and spirit. We need constant feeding of our vision, moral sensibility and piety, and if Nature is at all diminished, our spirituality goes into eclipse."

Moore suggests reconciliation between monotheists and pagans: "As long as we keep spirituality and the material world separated, the Earth will be threatened," while offering short prayers and rituals to shake the unconsciousness of our times.

Thank you, Barque member Ken Blackham, for bringing this to our attention.

New book about forgiveness includes Moore

2008-03-09T23:40:00.014-04:00

MARCH 12 UPDATE: Today, as guest columnist for the Washington Post, Kenneth Briggs writes "The Struggle of Forgiveness."
***********
The documentary, The Power of Forgiveness, that includes the views of Thomas Moore, has been released on DVD for public viewing.

"In The Power of Forgiveness, a new book based on the film by Martin Doblmeier..., author Kenneth Briggs presents a conversation of a better way of dealing with anger, resentment and violence through reconciliation and the complex, yet healing, patterns that emerge from the subject of forgiveness."

Briggs will talk about these issues on Wednesday, March 12 at 9 a.m. at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Washington D.C. where he’ll be joined by Moderator, Sally Quinn of the Washington Post, Thomas Moore, and Martin Doblmeier. In addition to his film appearance, Moore is interviewed in the new book.

Media and the public are invited to this event.

The DVD and book may be purchased from the Power of Forgiveness site. This press release describes the new book and the National Press Club panel discussion on Wednesday.

Moore responds to relationship questions

2008-03-04T06:14:00.004-05:00

Beliefnet has updated its list of Thomas Moore’s "The Soul in Love" columns. For January, a woman asks about tensions about prayers. Her traditions include saying grace and she feels her boyfriend's resistance. Moore responds,

"There has to be a solution that takes both of your sensitivities into account. You could alternate forms of saying grace. Maybe a moment of silent blessing or thanksgiving would feel all right to him [the boyfriend]. Or, maybe you could say your grace occasionally, and have no grace at other times.

These solutions may seem mechanical. They are part of the experiment of finding out how to share a life with someone who has different values and views. Eventually, you may discover a deeper spiritual commonality, where you don't have to work at being mutually respectful. It will just happen.

Creating a good relationship entails some challenging learning on both sides. You may have to reconsider some of your childhood ideas about religion and religious practices. In that regard, your boyfriend's annoyance may have something to teach you. For his part, your boyfriend may have to learn religious tolerance and a deeper appreciation for spiritual traditions. In other words, this conflict has something important to give to each of you. It all depends how maturely you work it out."

Moore’s February column addresses timing - when should a relationship become exclusive? After meeting online and being together with her boyfriend for six weeks, a woman wants to know if their dating profiles should be removed from the online service. Moore says,

"The mere fact that you are asking if it’s time to get serious makes me think that you’re not quite ready yet. In matters of the heart, you many never be completely certain...

I say give it a little more time until you feel clearer and don’t have to ask your question. You will know from your feelings that it’s time to take your name off the dating list."

He concludes, "I can’t give you a magic number of weeks or months for when you'll be ready to have this inner conversation, not to mention talking about it with your boyfriend. You'll just have to follow the calendar of your heart."

Our twenty-first century response to art images

2008-03-04T00:45:00.008-05:00

Thomas Moore’s column in the January-February 2008 issue of Spirituality and Health, "Allowing Ourselves to be Seen by Art" may be read online, after free registration, in the Articles area of the S&H site.

Moore writes,

"I define religion at its best as a positive and effective means of relating to the mysteries that define our lives: love, death, birth, illness, marriage, and work, to name a few. A twenty-first century mentality sees these not simply as areas of normal living or as problems with which one must deal but also as mysteries. A twenty-first century religion sanctifies them with sacraments, rituals, sacred stories, and sometimes guardian spirits. The arts serve this kind of religion by giving us strong images for contemplation, for reflecting on the life-defining mysteries, and for educating ourselves so we can live them out more creatively."

He mentions the book Dars´an: Seeing the Divine Image in India by Harvard scholar Diana L. Eck and quotes Meister Eckhart: "The eye with which you see God is the same eye with which God sees you."

Moore also shares,"When I’m in Dublin, I visit [Johannes] Yverni’s Annunciation in the National Gallery of Ireland. I started making pilgrimage to this painting when I was 19. I can’t explain the painting, but I can tell you that it sets aglow a mystery that has shaped me all these years. This painting is not famous, but my experience of this holy, precious, sacramental object makes it worth any effort for dars'an."

Moore writes about our response to art in this column by saying,"I consider all art spiritual to a degree. The key is how we respond. It may not be as important to understand it as to welcome it, treat it with a degree of reverence, and contemplate it." He spoke publically about this topic last month at the Kundalini Art Gallery and Yoga Studio.

Moore writes the preface for A Difference of One

2008-02-05T01:16:00.000-05:00

A Difference of One
by Andrew Machon
Preface by Thomas Moore
Hardcover 240x210mm
96 pages
30 full colour images
ISBN 978-0-9558185-0-9

February 23, 2008 is the launch date for Dr. Andrew Machon’s publication, A Difference of One: rediscovering a loving and creative originality, at the Washington Gallery in Penarth, South Wales, UK.

According to the gallery's description, Andrew Machon is "a PhD scientist and psychotherapist specialising as a life and work coach. For over twenty years he has worked as an infrared photo artist. The medium of infrared sits outside the visible light spectrum so Andrew has to sense his images rather than see them. This allows him, he believes, to include in his images glimpses beneath the superficial and material mantle of everyday living and nature."

Thomas Moore contributes the preface, available on Andrew Machon’s site, for this new book of words and images.

Moore writes,

"Andrew Machon has a strong imaginal eye that looks at the world in a fresh and probing way. It is his images, so magnetic and stirring, so simple and yet so fresh, that draw me to his work. They show us what the world is and at the same time change it, giving it a new imaginal texture. We need this fresh imagination so that we don’t live in a stale universe of meaning. Life moves along, and our imagination has to keep pace.

There are inspiring images of nature in this book, but also chairs and manikins and ruins. Both nature and culture have a secret depth that can only be revealed by art and contemplation. Both natural objects and manufactured things have a soul, a mysterious depth that contains a secret vitality that we all need in order to be persons and personalities, subjects rather than objects."

Moore’s preface includes,

"A long tradition holds that art has powers of healing. If that is true, then this book should contribute to the healing of our troubled society. But how would this work, specifically and concretely? Readers could take time to contemplate the images and let the originality of the photographs make a slight change in vision. The artifice in the images, the fact that they have been “doctored” and processed, gives them the power to propose a new world. They may take you further into experience than you have ventured before, and that inward advance may be healing."

A Difference of One: rediscovering a loving and creative originality mirrors Machon's desire to provide "insight into the emergent and organic nature of individual and organisational change to foster how we work with change and discover its meaning."

Parenting is a spiritual and soulful calling

2008-01-24T06:03:00.000-05:00

Thomas Moore’s column for the November - December 2007 issues of Spirituality and Health is available (with free registration) in the Articles section of the magazine's site. "Sacred Time with Children" describes parenting as a spiritual and soulful activity. Moore writes,

"Many people seem to think of spirituality as ethereal, remote, and abstract. They think it has to do with meditating, depriving yourself, and becoming as virtuous as possible. But traditional teachings around the world suggest that spirituality is directly connected to the most ordinary human activities. When you’re a parent, you don’t have to go in search of ways of depriving yourself, and if by chance you should ever feel virtuous about your self-deprivations, your children will take that feeling away from you, too.

You have to be a guide for your child in the things that matter most: safety, health, learning, growing up, having a life vision, and living ethically. Who else has such a profound and far-reaching job? Parenthood is a calling — a way to find meaning in your own life. Spirituality is about transcending any limits on your vision. Raising a child, you are contributing to society and to the future. You are going beyond yourself, not just in your thoughts and ideals but in a real and tangible way. You may not be certain that you’re doing the right thing always, and you may never see the full fruits of your effort. So you live by faith, and isn’t that the essence of the spiritual life?

All the details of being a parent — cleaning, teaching, picking up, driving, paying for school and lessons, guiding, counseling, feeding, clothing, and entertaining — take on a spiritual dimension. You are doing them to transform a child into a thoughtful and engaged adult. You are ministering. You are a priest and priestess. You are unfolding the work you began when in the holy act of sex you made a person with a soul and spirit."

He further suggests, "Spiritual vision gives valuable emotional distance, disentangles your own past experiences and your complex emotions, so that you don’t pile them up on your child. In this way, spirit and soul work together to make good parenting."

Moore’s column for January - February 2008 is "Allowing Ourselves to be Seen by Art," and his March - April 2008 column, "Finding Life at Work," is the topic of his newest book, A Life at Work, to be distributed at the end of next month.

Events will celebrate mentor, James Hillman

2007-12-13T13:10:00.000-05:00

The Imaginal Institute is hosting an online facilitated conversation, February 1 to March 27, 2008 to honour the work of Thomas Moore's colleague and mentor, psychologist James Hillman. A celebration is also planned for James Hillman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from the evening of June 19, 2008, until noon on June 22.

Promotional material for the June event includes,

"There will be dialogues and discussions on Hillmanean topics (no formal papers or lectures), a sharing of ideas, images and conversations in the midst of genial collegiality and friendship. James Hillman will be present along with his family, friends, colleagues, a group of archetypal authors, analysts, artists, poets and philosophers, including Hillman’s official biographer. There will also be a group of entertainers helping to make this event a very special gathering.

The event will correspond with the release of a book tentatively entitled Archetypal Psychologies: Reflections in honor of James Hillman, edited by Stanton Marlan, which celebrates Hillman's work and the influence it has had in informing numerous psychological perspectives. It is anticipated that many of the authors will be present at this gathering, which include David Miller, Ed Casey, Ginette Paris, Mary Watkins, Michael Adams, Wolfgang Giegerich, Stanton Marlan, Michael Sipiora, Noel Cobb, Glen Slater, Ron Schenk, Pat Berry, Lyn Cowan, Greg Mogenson, Nor Hall, Tom Kapacinskas, Thomas Moore, Robert Romanyshyn, Sanford Drob, Sylvester Wojtkowski, Paul Kugler, Kazuhiko Higuchi, Toshio Kawai, Dick Russell and Robbie Bosnak."

An online registration form for the June event is available at the bottom of the linked page.

Bookclubs.ca describes Moore's A Life's Work

2007-11-21T00:23:00.001-05:00

Bookclubs.ca offers an expanded description of Thomas Moore’s new book, A Life’s Work: The Joy of Discovering What You were Born to Do, available February 26, 2008:

"A job is never just a job. It is always connected to a deep and invisible process of finding meaning in life through work.

In Thomas Moore’s groundbreaking book Care of the Soul, he wrote of "the great malady of the twentieth century…the loss of soul." That best selling work taught readers ways to cultivate depth, genuineness, and soulfulness in their everyday lives, and became a beloved classic. Now, in A Life’s Work, Moore turns to an aspect of our lives that looms large in our self-regard, an aspect by which we may even define ourselves—our work. The workplace, Moore knows, is a laboratory where matters of soul are worked out. A Life’s Work is about finding the right job, yes, and it is also about uncovering and becoming the person you were meant to be.

Moore reveals the quest to find a life’s work in all its depth and mystery. All jobs, large and small, long-term and temporary, he writes, contribute to your life’s work. A particular job may be important because of the emotional rewards it offers or for the money. But 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. Moore explores the often difficult process—the obstacles, blocks, and hardships of our own making—that we go through on our way to discovering our purpose, and reveals the joy that is our reward. He teaches us patience, models the necessary powers of reflection, and gives us the courage to keep going."

We haven't heard from Random House, yet, if an author tour is planned for this release.

Reconciling feelings of pride and worthlessness

2007-10-22T03:12:00.000-04:00

The table of contents for the November-December 2007 issue of Spirituality and Health magazine shows Thomas Moore’s most recent column, "Sacred Time with Children."

Available now in the S&H Articles area is his May-June 2007 column, "Living with Opposites" that may be read online after free registration with the S&H site. In this column, Moore talks about reconciling feelings of pride and worthlessness:

"Uncomfortable, symptomatic emotions are usually not character flaws, but raw material in need of refinement. If you worry about pride, yet feel worthless, you need to refine both feelings. Raw pride can’t handle defeat and runs away from it; raw worthlessness implodes. Going with the symptom of pride can help you locate a more expansive self-love; following worthlessness may lead to healthy questioning. Going with the symptom, you become a "big" person.

Most people I know are too small. They believe they have a limited destiny and little to give to the world. They don’t see how their small ideas can make a real contribution. Transferring their personal authority to someone else — a leader, a writer, or an organization — they give away too much. Identifying themselves as followers, they look to someone "above" them for permission to be who they are or do what they want, and they may draw their confidence from their associations rather than from themselves."

Moore then talks about a related desire for recognition:

"Closely related to the minor neurosis of pride and worthlessness is the desire for fame and recognition. Some people crave the fame and finances of the privileged few, and their painful awareness of being a "nobody" keeps them from accomplishing much.

Again, go with the symptom — the desire for attention. You may have to study, train, and get experience so you can accomplish something and enjoy the appropriate recognition. Sometimes a desire for fame is simply the heart speaking. Most of us need recognition. Recognition and fame are worthy goals for your dedication and hard work.

Parents, teachers, and leaders of all kinds might take this lesson to heart. It’s important to offer words of praise and recognition. It does no good to keep your feelings of gratitude and appreciation to yourself. We all need and even crave recognition. It helps us move on to the next job, and it makes us just a little bigger."

He concludes, "Pride and craving attention can be problems; nevertheless, they are an invitation to be big even in the small contours of our lives. The solution to having a big ego is to have a big heart."

Thomas Moore's Spirituality and Health columns are linked in the Barque: Thomas Moore's Work sidebar.

Meeting face to face after an online encounter

2007-10-09T02:37:00.000-04:00

In his The Soul in Love column for Beliefnet, Thomas Moore helps a reader with her concerns about meeting a man she became acquainted with through an online dating service. Moore talks about her physical and emotional safety, suggesting,

"... you meet him first in a public place, perhaps bringing a friend of yours with you. At the very least, tell a good friend when and where you are meeting."

Moore urges her to share her ideas about sex with her new friend,

"You're clear that you don't want casual sex. If you continue to exchange emails, you can let him know how you feel about it. You can be clear and brief and then go on to other things. If you're worried about the sexual part and don't say anything, it will be the elephant on the screen and may interfere. A man worth knowing shouldn't be put off by a brief, clearly stated expression of how you feel about sex."

In general, Moore recommends that her responses "be strong, assertive, and clear" and that she present herself as a confident, equal participant in the getting-to-know-you dance.

Beliefnet readers are encouraged to post their own reactions beside Moore's column, and they're invited to register at the free Barque: Thomas Moore Forum to discuss Moore's response.

Thomas Moore's contributions in Parabola

2007-09-18T18:35:00.000-04:00

Barque: Thomas Moore reader and supporter, Ken Blackham recently compiled a chronological list of Thomas Moore’s articles in Parabola magazine. Back issues may be ordered from the magazine site, or take this list while visiting your local library branch to peruse back copies. Many thanks, Ken.

Thomas Moore in Parabola Magazine
VOL. 08:2 Summer 1983: Animals
"Let the Creatures Be"
Psychologist James Hillman interviewed by Thomas Moore

VOL. 17:4 Winter 1992: Power and Energy
"The Planetary Powers" by Thomas Moore
Marsilio Ficino's views of astrological forces

VOL. 21:2 Summer 1996: The Soul
"The Soul's Religion" by Thomas Moore
Religion as--not versus--spirituality

VOL. 22:1 Spring 1997: Ways of Knowing
"Schooling Our Intelligence" by Thomas Moore
To meet the lesson of immediacy

VOL. 23:1 Spring 1998: Millennium
"On Memory and Numbers" by Thomas Moore
To keep count is to remember

VOL. 25:1 Spring 2000: Threshold
"Neither Here nor There" by Thomas Moore
Allies of transitional places

VOL. 27:3 Fall 2002: Grace
"The Marriage of Grace and Sweat" by Thomas Moore
An essential effort of transcendence

VOL. 28:3 Fall 2003: Chaos and Order
"A Hymn" by Thomas Moore
Honoring the positive attributes of disorder

VOL. 28:4 Winter 2003: Truth and Illusion
"Songs of Unforgetting" by Thomas Moore
Journeying beyond the river Lethe

VOL. 30:1 Spring 2005: Awakening
"What Do You See When You're Awake?"
Views from Martha Heyneman, Stephen Batchelor, Robert Aitken, Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Kate Wheeler, Marion Woodman, Thomas Moore, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Film featuring Moore to be shown in Sun Valley

2007-08-30T05:50:00.000-04:00

On Friday, September 14, 2007 at 7:00 p.m., the Sun Valley Opera House in Sun Valley, Idaho will show the film, The Power of Forgiveness as part of the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival, according to an announcement in SunValleyonline.com. The film, "scheduled for broadcast on public television in early 2008, features Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, best selling authors Thomas Moore and Marianne Williamson, as well as features on the Amish, Ground Zero and Northern Ireland. It also shows what physical, mental and spiritual benefits can come with forgiveness."

Prior to screening, attendees are invited to participate in the Shabbat Shuval, (the Sabbath of Forgiveness), at St Thomas Episcopal Church, at 5:30. On Saturday, September 15, an associated discussion on Forgiveness and Reconciliation will feature panel speakers.

Barque: Thomas Moore described the film in a December, 2006 post.

What to do when a partner isn't ready to marry

2007-07-13T07:43:00.000-04:00

For Beliefnet, Thomas Moore talks about disengaging when a partner isn’t ready for marriage. He tells the reader,

Many people in difficult marriages or going through divorce will tell you that they married before they were both ready. Timing is an important part of life.

Many studies have suggested that the maturity of the individuals in a marriage is a key factor in its success. You have to be ready as a person to enter the deep change that is marriage. Marriage is not just a living arrangement; it is a major turning point in life and a deeply mysterious third thing that arises when two people decide to enter into it. I suspect that many marriages fail because people don't understand how profound and mysterious it actually is.

His short anwer? Yes, move on and find someone else. Be the first to post a comment beside Moore's column or post a comment at Barque: Thomas Moore Forum.

Heartfelt heartache after the heartbreak

2007-07-05T03:46:00.000-04:00

Thomas Moore talks about the complexity of love while answering a question for Beliefnet, Finding Hope After Heartbreak. In his response to a woman who still thinks about her former partner, Moore says a lesson learned may be,

"When your love is substantial and solid, you have to be both attached and willing to let the other person freely make life decisions that go against your will and desire. Most of us would like to possess and even rule over our partners and lovers, but that isn't real love.

Love is always complex and paradoxical: a mixture of deep attachment and a willingness to let life flow, in oneself and in the other. This is a maturity of love you arrive at through painful initiations of the kind you are experiencing now."

Moore asks, "Do you think you could find it in yourself to acknowledge the strength and importance of your emotions and the role of this man in your life, and at the same time understand that he is living his own life and has made a choice in a direction away from you?"

He then suggests finding a concrete way to express this: directly through a letter or a final gift, or indirectly, by talking about the situation with a friend or writing a private diary entry.

Moore says, "... don't expect your disappointment and loss to completely vanish. These emotions, painful though they are, can give you maturity and complexity for the next relationship that comes along - and there almost certainly will be another."

Scientific efficacy of the "Burne-Jones Effect"

2007-05-08T06:39:00.000-04:00

Soul and Science in the March-April 2007 issue of Spirituality & Health is available online after free registration with the site.

In this column, Thomas Moore talks about his recent visits to medical institutions:

"During the past year, I have visited many medical schools and hospitals, lecturing on the soul and spirit in medicine. I know from years of acquaintance with the medical world that the soul-withering aspects of science contaminate the work of doctors and other medical personnel. So when I lectured at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota recently, I urged the staff to return to their sense of calling and to the images and longings they felt when they first entered medical school.

A surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, picking up on my message, told me how he feels alienated from his patients by an intrusive piece of equipment. His solution is to put a powerful painting on the wall to offset the mechanical hardware. I call this creative response to the intrusiveness of science the "Burne-Jones Effect." Edward Burne-Jones was the pre-Raphaelite painter of dolorous scenes of redheaded women and chivalrous men who seem a bit more soulful than is seemly. My wife, a serious painter and professor of art history, doesn’t see much value in Burne-Jones and his friends, but when I attended an exhibition of his work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, I thought I might faint — in pre-Raphaelite style — from the sheer intensity of color and form. Burne-Jones once said, "The more discoveries science makes, the more angels I will paint." This is the principle I adopt and recommend to anyone whose soul is being sucked out by the enthronement of fact."

Moore says, "Children and adults need recess, art, spirituality, and a magical, soulful life. At the moment, science is too anxious about verification and absolute certitude to be able to offer such things."

In the February 2007 issue, The Smithsonian magazine offers Doug Stewart's "Incurably Romantic" that shows Britain's Pre-Raphaelites back in favour.

Earlier excerpt about choosing meaningful work

2007-05-07T06:28:00.000-04:00

In anticipation of the release of Thomas Moore’s new book, The Worth of Our Work, here’s a page with a link, offered by Beliefnet on 1 May 2007, to an earlier excerpt about "work" from Moore’s tape series, Soul Life: Choosing Your Meaningful Work.

The recording plays approximately 1 hour and 43 minutes.

Column about growth through grief now online

2007-03-10T03:32:00.000-05:00

Thomas Moore's column in Spiritualty and Health's January - February 2007 issue, Growing Through Grief, may be read online after free registration with the site. Moore talks about differences between soulful and spiritual approaches to the loss of loved ones, with examples of loss through death. His comments are also applicable to accepting, through imagining, other kinds of loss, such as those of friendship, intimacy, or love:

"Maybe the soul enlarges and deepens from the sheer room it takes to be sad and to nurse precious memories. Maybe it even makes sense for us to talk to our departed friends and somehow to keep up the relationships, without any bother from the intellect about how such a thing may or may not work or whether it's sentimental or self-deceptive."

Moore emphasizes a theme found in Dark Nights of the Soul: "You let life flow through you, making you more and more human."

Dogs shouldn't be pegged with infidelity tag

2007-03-04T02:38:00.000-05:00

For Beliefnet, Thomas Moore answers a question about betrayal and suggests the reader take "a more complex emotional position" when responding to her boyfriend’s actions. In his answer, Moore says,

"Don’t split the betrayer/betrayed pattern into you on one side, your partner on the other. Realize that you, too, could betray someone one day because of your passion or plans or because you can’t see any other way. Having a more complex emotional position like this can really help.

If, after all this, you discover that the particular person you’re with seems to have no interest in loyalty and faithfulness, be strong and find someone who is more mature and more prepared to settle into a lasting union. Wait for the kind of person you want. But while you wait, work on your life. Make it more interesting so that people will need some security from you and will be motivated to share the emotional power with you."

Dogs are known for their loyalty so it may be a misnomer for people who stray.

The family's love as a backdrop for relationships

2007-01-06T04:36:00.000-05:00

A parent asks Thomas Moore about our understanding of love, to help a daughter navigate her close relationships. Moore responds with "The Illusion of 'Unconditional' Love" for Beliefnet and suggests,

"You could imagine love as made up of unconditional and conditional components, but the truth is, I don't like to use these words. "Unconditional" suggests perfection--not the human condition. Let's try "open" and "undefensive" love. You can find such love with people today, but it will always be mixed up with some hesitation, holding back, and illusion.

Love is dynamic. It can keep getting better as people get to know each other. But that implies that it's not perfect in its beginnings. It needs room to grow.

This kind of realistic, imperfect, growing love is much better than the extreme romanticism of pulp novels. Realism adds to the pleasure, because when you acknowledge the holes and dents, your love isn't threatened by illusions of perfection."

Read Moore's full answer and add your comments to the discussion area.

Feeling at home wherever we are in the world

2007-01-05T03:40:00.000-05:00

A cached copy of Moore's article in Resurgence magazine,"We need to bring the spirit of home into public places" is available on the shopping site Natural Collection. In this piece, Moore touches on home, homesickness, and homelessness. He says,
"'Home' is archetypal. That means it is not only about the childhood household or the house in which you live as an adult. It’s the more subtle sense that you are in a place where you can sleep easy and where the need for movement finds a little respite. There your soul finds rest and the feeling that it is where it belongs. The heart always needs to be at home, no matter where the rest of the body is. Even when you’re travelling or at work you may crave a taste of home."

Moore admits, "I also find that hotels often give me the buzz of home I need. People are surprised when I tell them that. How could a commercial hotel be satisfying to a man who writes about the soul? Maybe it’s because I love solitude, which for me is part of home. I may feel more at home in a big hotel than in the cosy house of someone who puts me up."

He also acknowledges that workplaces may exude sterility and an unwelcoming atmosphere, "The abstract lines and shapes of modern office buildings seem to portray a departure from home, maybe even a rejection. In glassy, angular, cool and marble buildings you may not be inclined to think of a worker’s family, or the role of friendship on the job, or a soulful place for a bite to eat. There, you may eat in a miserable lunch-room, windowless and decorated with a wall of dispensing machines and messy, uncivil piles of cheap napkins and plastic cutlery."

While suggesting that a sensitive approach "applies to hospitals, office buildings, clinics and schools. They don’t have to look like homes – no sentimentalising and romanticising of this idea – but concretely they can have some home spirit in them," Moore appreciates the shadow associations some may have with home.

What are the characteristics of true leadership?

2007-01-04T03:10:00.000-05:00

"The Spirituality in Leadership" in Spirituality & Health's November-December 2006 issue is available in the magazine's archives. In this Care of the Soul column, Thomas Moore answers,"How can we turn around today's self-destructive pattern of leadership?" by concluding,

We can shed the narcissistic secularity of the times and step outside the circle of self-regard that contains us. Parents can take on the joys and the weight of their spiritual calling and help their children sort out their values and find their active place in a needy society. Teachers can understand that theirs is a spiritual calling: They are not just imparting information but initiating children into a world where they will be leaders in their own ways. Businesspeople can see that in a materialistic approach to society, their efforts are merely for money, self-advancement, and personal success. If they can appreciate the spirituality in their daily work, they might enjoy a position of leadership where they can contribute directly to a society of peace, equality, and security.
We followers, members of the community, can go all out in honoring those who demonstrate spiritual vision and a big soul. We can also voice our concern when leaders fail in that vision and immaturely confuse personal gain with the joy of community. In other words, you — whoever you are — have a spiritual calling. You have a role in your family and community to lead with a big vision and deep values, not with ideological moralism. It does little good to wait for a leader like Gandhi or Martin Luther King. You can begin today to lead with wide open and transcendent vision, deep ethics, and tender compassion. You can also encourage your leaders to do the same, transforming self-interest into radical care for every person, every being, and the planet itself. Anything less is not worthy of being called leadership in a time of urgent need and threat to life.”

Thomas Moore's column for January-February 2007, which will be available at the end of February, is titled, "Growing through Grief."

Moore contributes to stories of transformation

2006-12-10T01:30:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey Kottler, Ph.D. and Jon Carlson, Ed.D., Psy.D. have written Moved by the Spirit: Discovery and Transformation in the Lives of Leaders, published by Impact Publishers, to be available next month. The book is promoted as describing "the single most transformative experience in the lives of some of the most prominent spiritual leaders, writers, and healers on the planet," including Thomas Moore, Riane Eisler, John Gray, and Jose Cervantes. According to the publisher, some of these events happened "in chapels and temples; on a walk in Ireland; on an icy New Hampshire road; or in the African jungle..." The book's promotional description says, "Asked to discuss their most cherished beliefs about being 'moved by the spirit,' the interviewees offered great insight into how each of us can make spirituality more a part of our individual needs, interests, and lifestyles."

Moved by the Spirit:
Discovery and Transformation in the Lives of Leaders
Paperback
ISBN 978-1-886230-68-2
Available 28 January 2007

Learning lessons of the battlefield with Arjuna

2006-10-28T04:45:00.000-04:00

Moore's column for September-October 2006, "Spiritual Wars", is available in the archive area of Spirituality & Health. Moore focuses on America's current war involvements while mentioning a story from Hinduism:

"It seems easier to kill thousands of people, the innocent as well as the violent, than to face our own gross biases and ignorance. In the Bhagavad Gita, that powerful book of instruction on how to be a person, Krishna tells Arjuna that if he wins on the actual battlefield, he will gain the earth. If he loses, he will gain heaven. Arjuna has to come a long way to understand that paradox.

America has accomplished a great deal for the human soul and spirit in its brief existence, but in many ways it is like Arjuna at the beginning of his lessons. He's confused about where the real battle takes place and what it means to win and lose. America has fought too many wars and still believes that the killing of children and their mothers and brothers is justified and even virtuous when there is an enemy to annihilate. There is no Krishna on the horizon to instruct us in the subtleties of the spiritual life, no one to convince us that victory is always defeat.

We think that it is weakness to avoid the actuality of bloodshed, that patriotism means having a human enemy other than ourselves. Currently, America seems to be picking fights, wanting blood, finding glory in having an enemy with a foreign face. But all of this literalism, this acting-out of what should be spiritual struggle over narcissistic passions, shows how far we have to go before we truly discover the meaning of spirituality."

His offering in the current issue, "The Spirituality in Leadership," will be available near the end of the year to readers who register (free) on the Spirituality & Health site.

Jung said soul isn't in you, you are in the soul

2006-09-08T07:02:00.000-04:00

Thomas Moore's "An Enchanted Life" is available in the archives of Spirituality & Health for July-August. In this article he says,

"Practicality and the exploitation of resources make it difficult to find enchantment in the modern world. Few things are as densely infused with spirit as a river, yet in town after town our rivers are hidden behind industry and commerce. A river could be the main source of soul in a village or town, but it has to be honored as something special, even magical, or it succumbs to pragmatism and efficiency. If I had the power to restore soul to America, I would start with its rivers, cleaning them up and making them beautifully accessible.

But enchantment is not to be discovered only in the natural world. Ficino considered architecture the most powerful of the arts. A building can put you under a spell by its materials and forms. Or, it may be built to be merely practical. In that difference lies its soulfulness or lack of soul, its ability to waken the soul and spirit or its power to put them to sleep. To know the difference and to construct enchanting buildings, you need depth of feeling and imagination.

The life of soul and spirit is not an abstract enterprise, a matter of knowledge and intention. It is a life of intense sensual engagement with the local, physical world around you. For a soulful world is a kind of incarnation of spirit and a spiritualizing of material. As Jung said, the soul isn't in you; you are in the soul."

To access Spirituality & Health's archival articles, please complete that site's free registration form.

Moore recommends, "Go with the symptom"

2006-08-13T05:34:00.000-04:00

While answering a question for Beliefnet about getting along with future in-laws, Thomas Moore stresses the importance of being clear about who you are.

"... learn how to be loyal to yourself — and especially to whatever qualities are being challenged. Find the strength to be firm in who you are no matter what someone else might say. Criticism is always a two-way street: one person complains, and then the other person caves in under the attack. Your job is not to cave in but to be proud of who you are."

Moore makes the simple and significant observation,

"In every marriage, a lot of people come together and get entangled in each other's lives — the two people exchanging vows, family members both close and distant, friends, animals, and even the inner figures that play a part in the lives of us all (your inner mother,weakling, hero, or adventurer, for example). So your starting point should be to be realistic about the future: If you get married, you'll be connected to your fiancé's family, including his sister, for the rest of your life."

In addition to urging the writer to voice her concerns and seek support from her fiancé, Moore shares his approach,

"I work by the principle, 'Go with the symptom.' If you feel too emotional, the solution is not to try to be cool and contained. Instead, you should respect your feelings: speak for them, make them known, use them as guides to let you know what you need. In other words, it's time to flex your psychological muscles."

Be the first to respond with your own views in the sidebar.

Sharing news that will affect your relationship

2006-07-24T05:16:00.000-04:00

How would you respond if the person you’ve been dating seriously, for five months, tells you something that you wish had been shared sooner in your relationship? For Beliefnet.com, Thomas Moore answers the question posed by a 40-something divorcee.

Moore suggests,

"Solid, engaged, mature, and thoughtful love can surmount many challenging obstacles. You need a philosophy, some good ideas deeply developed with your partner, to get you through years of complicated situations. You can do it, but now is the time to establish the foundation . . .

Remember to take life as it presents itself, not as you might idealize it. Open your heart, but don't close off your intelligence and your ability to be critical. Trust wisely with loving acceptance and forceful attention. . ."

Readers respond to the situation and to Moore’s answer in the sidebar.

Soul connects the physical with the spiritual

2006-07-08T05:56:00.000-04:00

Thomas Moore often speaks at institutions responsible for heath care, and he writes about deficiencies he sees in modern approaches to healing. In his column The Soul of Medicine for the May-June issue of Spirituality and Health, Moore touches on some of his concerns while offering an understanding of relationships involving body, soul and spirit.

"Let me paraphrase the first words I ever read by Marsilio Ficino, spokesperson for soul in fifteenth-century Italy. He begins his book on natural magic saying, "There are three things in the world: body, soul, and mind [later he refers to mind and spirit interchangeably]. If the spirit is left to itself, it will have no connection with the body. If the body is left to itself, it will have no tie to the spirit. What is needed is soul, between them and adjusted to each."

We have a good picture of the deep soul from the works of C. G. Jung, James Hillman, and others. It is the very depth of a person: the emotions and ties, the failures and fears, a sense of home and body, all intimate connections, dreams, loves, and reveries. Tradition says that this deep soul makes us human and unique. The soul is embedded in our everyday, ordinary, imperfect concrete world.

The spirit, in contrast, gives us cosmic vision, inspiration, principles for good living, a way to deal with our mortality, and the sense of unbounded transcendence. Both soul and spirit are essential and animate the body."

Religious differences have a role in marriage

2006-06-30T08:22:00.000-04:00

Twenty-three year old Ashley tells Thomas Moore that her 29 year old boyfriend won’t budge or compromise much about religious matters. Each partner comes from a different religious background and she is concerned about her family’s reactions if their relationship deepens. Moore’s response to this Beliefnet question includes,

"For myself, I can’t imagine being in a budge-less marriage. Marriage is all about budging and allowing room for two thoughtful and complicated adults to work out their lives in love and real companionship."

Add your views to the side panel on the Beliefnet site.

Setting boundaries for sharing in a relationship

2006-06-19T07:03:00.000-04:00

For Beliefnet, Thomas Moore answers a question about Unsure's boyfriend snooping on her computer. His answer touches on the boundaries of intimacy and the meaning of relationship.

Moore says,

"People intrude on us either because they think they can get away with it or because they assume more intimacy than is warranted."

Then he suggests ways for two people to see themselves together,

"A relationship is made up of two parts: each individual and their life together. If either of these components gets lost, you no longer have a relationship. Some people say a couple is two halves making a whole, but I think it’s two wholes making a loving two. Couples getting married sometimes quote Kahlil Gibran, "And stand together, yet not too near together. For the pillars of the temple stand apart." Or Rainer Maria Rilke, "love is not merging; it is the opportunity for the individual to become something himself." I’d recommend reading Rilke’s letter on love in Letters to a Young Poet. There, he offers many insights into this issue of love and privacy.

I believe that love between two people is having a passionate interest in each other, and yet respecting each other’s mystery. We will never know our partners completely, and that’s the way it should be."

Readers respond with their own experiences and advice to the young woman.

Shyness can be an attractive feature for a man

2006-06-03T05:19:00.000-04:00

As one shy person to another, Thomas Moore tells a young man how to relate to his shyness without having it define who he is. A Beliefnet reader describes himself as a 22-year-old virgin with a busy schedule, who would like to expand his social circle. Thomas Moore's response includes,

"Being shy with women can be a big problem, especially when the shyness is extreme. But as you allude in your letter, shyness can also be a strength. There are many ways of being a strong and interesting person, and being shy rather than outgoing is one of them. We shy people — I include myself in this category — can be great companions. We can love and be attentive and enjoy life. In fact, shyness is often just a way of keeping the lid on a powerful love of life and deep desire for sex and companionship. As always, things are often the opposite of what they appear to be."

Readers are invited to contribute their views.