Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life [Hardcover]

Thomas Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

A guide to finding spirituality, depth, and meaning in modern life proposes a therapeutic way in which readers can look more deeply into emotional problems and sense sacredness in ordinary things. 35,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Care of the Soul is considered to be one of the best primers for soul work ever written. Thomas Moore, an internationally renowned theologian and former Catholic monk, offers a philosophy for living that involves accepting our humanity rather than struggling to transcend it. By nurturing the soul in everyday life, Moore shows how to cultivate dignity, peace, and depth of character. For example, in addressing the importance of daily rituals he writes, "Ritual maintains the world's holiness. As in a dream a small object may assume significance, so in a life that is animated by ritual there are no insignificant things." This is the eloquence that helped reintroduce the sacred into everyday language and contemporary values. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

A radical and profoundly capacious view of human nature is the foundation for this eloquent discourse on living an imaginative, "soulful" life--one that embraces both body and spirit--in modern times. Challenging contemporary psychotherapy and its "muscled, strong-willed pursuit of change," Moore ( Dark Eros ), a therapist and religious historian who trained as a Catholic monk but did not make final vows, poses an attentive, accepting approach to everyday life that emphasises "modest care and not miraculous cure." Calling upon theories of C. G. Jung, Freud, Plato and such Renaissance thinkers as Marsilio Ficino and Paracelsus, the author reexamines Western archetypes and myths, citing Demeter and Persephone, Narcissus and Odysseus as well as Jesus for guidance in appreciating "the paradoxical mysteries that blend light and darkness into the grandeur of what human life and culture can be." Taking issue with current psychological precepts, beginning with the assumption that we have control over much of our lives and including our reverence for innocence and a belief in the triumph of the good, Moore urges that "we let the soul speak and show itself as it is, not as we wish it would be." His interpretations, particularly of myths, are not evenly persuasive, but all are well-considered and provocative. In graceful, deceptively gentle prose, he rejects formula, rigidity and a self-worth measured by accepted norms and thus upends contemporary spiritual and religious mores. The book is invigorating, demanding and revolutionary. 35,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060165979
• ISBN-13: 978-0060165970
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark effort, August 27, 2001

By 

M. Consol (Livermore, CA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (Paperback)

As a person who has read scores of books about spirituality and metaphysics, this is the most influential and refreshing I've read in 20 years. "Care of the Soul" is a beautifully written book about simple living and high thinking. The quality thoughts expressed in this book are worthy of being re-read throughout one's life. Thomas Moore has made a stark departure from the metaphysical and New Age movement with a book that is, quite simply, a guide for soulful living. Moore doesn't talk about karma, reincarnation, salvation, gurus or higher plains of consciousness. He doesn't become entangle with his own ego nor does he reiterate the conventional wisdom so many books of this genre parrot. On the contrary, this book challenges convention at every turn. "Care of the Soul" is about the here and now, the importance of mythology, ritual, imagination and beauty. It's about finding ritual and sacredness in our everyday routines. It deals with subjects ranging from family relationships, jealousy and earning a living to depression, aging and dying. Yet, Moore doesn't offer trite or handy answers or techniques for solving problems or smoothing the human experience. The human experience, with all its agonies, is not something to be circumvented, in Moore's view. And it's not something subject to overnight transformation. Rather, the human experience is a process to be embraced and made whole. I thoroughly disagree with an earlier review that called this a "simple" book best read by people 18 to 28 years old. Very few people of that age bracket would have the frame of reference or wisdom necessary to fully mine and understand the concepts and imagery Moore deals with. Buy this book and read it. You will cherish it and pass it along to the people you care about.

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it and make up your own mind, December 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (Paperback)

I agree wholeheartedly with Thomas Moore's assertion that "loss of soul" is a major problem facing us today. People who are cut off from soulful family and friendship may find themselves in a cultural void, a barren world where problems are solved with pills and the media replaces real community. We have lost ourselves in the chaotic din and senseless rush. We are more sophisticated than ever, yet we remain unsatisfied. Do we know what will really satisfy us? Can we be still and take an honest look at ourselves? Are we making the best use of the one short life that has been given us?
If you recognise these questions, then 'Care of the Soul' might help you begin to answer them. Moore has a sense of the sanctity of human life, he urges us to see each life as precious and has respect for what each individual presents, however unpleasant it may seem. Every story and pathology is meaningful and can reveal truths about not just the individual but also about their family and society. When I first read the book I was most impressed by the chapter on narcissism, which remains the most authoratative account of self-love I have read. We are used to hearing that we must love ourselves before we can truly love another, but do we really know how? Moore correctly interprets the story of Narcissus not simply as an example of the symptom of narcissism, which is how it is often misinterpreted, but as the myth of true self-love, and he tells it with the insight you might expect from a therapist. This alone was a revelation and changed my life. I wonder if when Narcissus recognises himself he is experiencing the well~known 'Thou Art That' of Indian philosophy.Other key themes such as jealousy, power and depression are explored also.
A previous reviewer wrote that Moore thinks we should not change. I think this is a misrepresentation. Change is an inevitable part of life and cannot be avoided. But the feeling that we need to be someone different is a rejection of ourselves. I think we have to accept our past before we can be free of it, then change occurs naturally, out of stillness and reflection. Other reviewers have discussed what age range this is suitable for, Moore himself says that it is never too early or too late to begin caring for the soul. I read it in my early twenties and wish I had read it sooner, I know people who are much older and would still benefit from it`s message.
This book is the best introduction to spiritual life I have read and I feel grateful for it almost every day.
Thankyou Mr. Moore!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Light in the Universal Darkness, November 25, 2002

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (Paperback)

In a time when the communications in writing and on the radio and television waves all appear to be proclaiming Armageddon, when crime is mounting not only in the terrorist activities throughout the globe but also on our hometown sidewalks, streets, neighborhoods and schools, and when lasting relationships and friendships seem to be taking on the semblance of extinction - in these perilous and sad times Thomas Moore's CARE OF THE SOUL glows with particular meaning. In this wondrously simple book Moore reacquaints us with the self and the sacredness of our individual being (or soul). He encourages us to be introspective, find the core of our being, honor the beauty of our uniqueness, love our human frailty, and in doing so we can grow to be a whole person, capable of loving our self and extending that love to all of mankind. Does that sound banal in the year 2002? Well, perhaps that is our universal failing. Would that we could broadcast this book's message in place of all the media blitz of war and death and terror and gloom! And perhaps if we individually read and absorb Moore's thoughtful teachings then the sharing of this new self respect could alter the course of current events. A beautifully written, incredibly valuable book, and a worthy gift to ones you love!