Customer Reviews

The Soul's Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This excellent book is billed as the companion volume to Moore's Care of the Soul, but that is not the same as a sequel. Reading Care of the Soul is not a prerequisite to benefiting from The Soul's Religion. In fact, if you are just going to read one of them, I suggest this one.

In my work as a psychotherapist and author (Embracing Fear, HarperSanFrancisco) I have defined wisdom as "the accumulated knowlege of our ignorance." Thomas Moore understands and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging all that we do not know (our ignorance), and takes my definition into the spiritual realm by suggesting that it is in that often uncomfortable --- sometimes painful --- place of "not knowing" where we are most likely to meet God.

All great thinkers are independent thinkers and Thomas Moore challenges readers to think independently, rather than soliciting our membership to the "Thomas Moore Is My Guru" Fan Club. This book is an excellent guide into individual exploration of spirituality, and it never once loses touch with the real-world considerations of daily life. In brief: The Soul's Religion is useful. Can you tell that I recommend it?

This is a most luminous, magical, lyrical and compassionate book. There is much wisdom contained in 'Soul's Religion' & its more detailed than 'Care of the Soul'. Moore addreses life's crucial questions and meditates upon them with profound, ritualistic rhythm. He is able to translate, so eloquently and poetically, his finely-tuned sensibility with an understanding of decades of theological scholarship. Moore honours history and integrates it into his work with dazzling finesse. Moore reminds us of the artful philosophies of the Renaissance. Encourages us to revel and rejoice in the mystery of the Church. In divine, holy ignorance.
Solomon 6:'Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. He who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for he will find her sitting at his gates'

I have found her in this book.

I have been on a long and winding spiritual journey for twelve years. Part of those twelve years I attempted to become a minister in an enormous "red tape" denomination. I finally decided to turn the church loose and find out who God truly is.

Since that time I have been trying to define myself (spiritually). This book has truly been a key to that definition. The key authors that have guided me have been Thomas Merton, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Thomas Moore, Thomas Keating, and Harold Kushner. Each of the authors have played a major role in my spiritual development.

I recommend the book, "The Soul's Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life" by Thomas Moore, to anyone truly wanting to discover ways to the "core of life"!

Over several books, Thomas Moore has talked about the soul, how it defines who we are and helps shape the direction and essence of our lives. Just when you think he has said all that can be said on the subject, "The Soul's Religion" appears with page after page of fresh insights and analogies.

A refreshing part of this book and all his work is that he readily admits he does not have all the answers. In his words, he is "...a simple person struggling as much as anyone else." Yet, if he does not have the answers, he seems to know where they can be found, he guides us to the proverbial water where we can uncover them for ourselves.

Moore often refers to the mystics and philsophers of centuries past to help us find insights into the mysteries of the soul. There is no doubt that future generations will refer to his work. No one in our time has spoken so beautifully and masterfully about spirituality and the soul. His words have the ring of truth.

This companion volume to CARE OF THE SOUL presents the same intelligent blend of Jungian psychology and neo-Christian spirituality. But, whereas Care of the Soul stressed the psychological and psychotherapeutical aspect, this one concentrates on the spirituality side.

By neo-Christian (a Gallicism) I mean liberal, post-modern Christianity, NOT a New Age-style gallimaufry. If you have read Emerson or have ever heard an Unitarian-Universalist sermon, you'll know just what that implies. There is very little about Moore's ideas that is either supernatural or "magical". Mystery is within. The infinite or transcendental is essentially symbolic (nevertheless true, as one would expect of true symbols.)

Like Emerson, Moore is an interesting, provocative, elegant writer; and, like the sage of Concord, not always a notably clear one ! The more traditionally-minded mainline Christian need not necessarily agree with everything Moore says. But his epigrammatic style is full of thought-provoking statements for meditation. This is a useful book, as someone said.

Readers will enjoy this book most if they are relatively similar to Thomas Moore, the author. If a person was raised in a narrow minded faith and is hungering to look beyond it to other forms of spirituality, he or she is likely to find encouragement in this book. This would be especially true for Catholics. Thomas Moore is a former Catholic monk who now has "radically reinvisioned" his catholicism. He also is of an artistic bent, with a special affection for poetry and music. Having transcended the Catholicism of his youth, Moore remains a man of faith. He did not leave religion behind. He did not become anything like an atheist. In fact, he became a kind of polytheist. Any readers interested in a similar path, will probably enjoy this book.

However, anyone who likes clarity might be disappointed. Moore's writing style is exceptionally vague. I do not recall a single paragraph of this book that could be considered crisp or vivid. The book is vague from beginning to end. It all sounds rather good. I cannot argue with many of Moore's ideas and he mostly seems to know what he is talking about. The problem is that often I was not sure what he was talking about. There is an impressionistic, non-concrete, slant to his writing which makes his ideas hard to pin down. This is not mere style. He often shifts meaning, such as making a distinction between soul and spirit but then does not always stay true to his own distinction. He often redefines words or concepts in his own way, but fails to make his definition clear. He is also often imprecise with words. For example, the subtitle to the book is "Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life" but his approach is more broad than it is profound. He prefers breadth over depth. Just because souls are deep, or because life is itself profound, does not make his approach profound. There is not enough detail here for profundity to sink roots. Still, this is just what somebody from a narrow minded religion might need -- more breadth and wider scope. This could be a breath of fresh air to someone escaping the narrow confines of traditional religion. Nonetheless, it is broad; not deep nor profound.

I did develop at least two disagreements with Moore. The first is his separation of soul and spirit. In his view, the soul is the more earthy and grounded, while the spirit is high and flighty. He suggests that they are fundamentally different and feels that they must be joined together. I have my doubts about this entire paradigm, and his view tends to contradict many other spiritual writers who consider spirit to be part of soul. Suffice it to say that I did not find his paradigm helpful. It is also possible that I misunderstood it. As with so much of this book, his writing about soul and spirit was not a model of clarity.

His advocacy of a romantic spiritual life also left me shaking my head. He criticizes traditional religion for its sentimentality, but then advocates a romantic religion. To me, these seem but two sides to the same coin. Sentimentality is a longing for a golden age of the past, which probably never truly existed. Romanticism only seems like the opposite -- a hunger for a golden age of the future which probably cannot exist. Neither one is realistic. Indeed, I suspect that Thomas Moore has never, in his entire life, been accused of being a hard headed realist. His vague writing style and his final chapter's vision of the future are evidence of a preference for imagination and an aversion to realism.

This is a very autobiographical book. Moore talks about himself and his life quite a lot; ever so vaguely of course. One of the constant threads throughout the book is how his spiritual vision is so very different from traditional Catholicism. The book is a kind of counterpoint to Catholicism and Moore reminds us of it with great consistency. If you know little about the Catholic Church, this will likely be a distraction.

Ultimately, as I said at the beginning, this book is largely about leaving traditional religion in order to discover a broader spiritual viewpoint. It is not a bad place to start, and might be particularly useful to a Catholic who feels ready to leave the church. Although short on concrete guidance, it does provide encouragement. It might not get you to the promised land, but it will get you out of the house.

I am an ordained minister and a chaplain. This is my new favorite book. As Thomas Moore writes, each of us can only be the self we already truly are. I especially appreciate the personal experiences the author includes. His openness models the deep self-acceptance he advocates for all of us. There is an honest acceptance of the realities and sometimes pain that Life holds, and healthier approach to those dark periods from which we can learn and deepen. Thomas Moore's writing style is gentle and deeply genuine. I have enjoyed other books he has written, but this is, I believe, his Great Work.

Thomas Moore's "The Soul's Religion" uses events from the author's own life and those of his clients and friends to illustrate his points. It is this liberal sprinkling of stories/experiences which kept me reading. Mr Moore's humble and thoughtful approach to living was refreshing to come home to after work.

The author introduced a number of fascinating ideas derived from the work of others, and convinced me of the merit of some of the ideas he has merged together to create his way of life. The book is a bit long in the pen in points and restates some ideas a few too many times. None-the-less I will read it again as it is one of those dense books that will bring out fresh insights with each read.

It is an enjoyable book that gets you thinking.

I just finished re-reading this wise and encouraging account of Moore's personal evolution and found it to be very appealing. It has the feel of an apologia (in the sense of Coleridge's brief poem), without the anxious defensiveness often associated with that term. Moore sets out here to "link soul and spirit," his apt image for the religious calling.

"To believe," he writes (page 26), "is to be attentive to that seed that is part of our makeup. It will grow us into what we are called to be."

Moore imagines belief as a kind of "profound cultivation" which, when practiced by individuals, within or beyond the religions, can help those seeds drive roots deep into the soul.

Read this book... and grow well!

I think the concept of nourishing ones' inner life is important but might better be found in Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul and the existential concepts in Freedom and Accountability at Work, by Peter Koestenbaum.
In this book Thomas Moore takes us through his spiritual journey which may well be interesting for some and I am sure was cathartic for him. He is also an eloquent writer; to that extent I found merit in his pen and leveraged this inspiration into a few poems myself.