Thomas Moore, author of the best-selling Care of the Soul, now presents a long-awaited companion book, The Soul’s Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life. In a time of heightened interest in spiritual themes, The Soul’s Religion offers a substantive and unique perspective on the subject. A psychotherapist, lecturer and former Catholic monk, Moore has a varied background with degrees in theology, musicology and philosophy. The culmination of life experience and ideas, as well as Moore’s own personal spiritual odyssey, provide the foundation for this extraordinary book. The content is rich and personal, and new insights and meaning are found with each reading. As Moore described in Care of the Soul, the soul is nourished by a vital spiritual experience. Without this connection a person cannot enjoy all that life has to offer. In his new book, he elaborates further on lessons involved in the cultivation of spirituality with a series of interesting and nontraditional meditations. His approach involves the acceptance of wonder and uncertainty, and a willingness to move through life without a plan or goal, recognizing mystery as the real substance of a spiritual and religious existence. He describes alchemy as a natural process of transformation and spiritual depth, beginning with a descent into the stuff of everyday life, but ending with the release of the winged spirit and an effective way towards a fullness of spirit.
According to Moore, the spirit is not always found in a positive quest for meaning sometimes it occurs only after we have been broken and torn apart by failure and sadness. As Moore sees it, God is to be found in the thick of life or not at all. Moore confesses that the religion he envisions in this book is difficult to spell out. Nevertheless, his meaningful presentation is masterful and powerful, in no small measure because the author is intimately acquainted with the lessons himself. In this provocative book, the reader is challenged to re-imagine how a rich and personal spiritual life can be within the grasp of every seeker. Karen Jenks is a nurse in Nashville.
