Care of the Soul

Rating:
Summary: What Claptrap
Review: "Soul" turns out to be something like "pornography": Moore cannot define it, but he knows it when he sees it. Everybody knows he or she has one (do they?), and all of the world's troubles can be attributed to sick souls...whatever they are. Since Moore never really pins down what "soul" is, he does not have to worry about being consistant or inteligible. He is free to intrepret dreams, Greek myth, and Jung in whatever way fits his thesis--which seems to be that people are complex and they should accept their complexity. Do we need a book for that? Moore talks about the troubled people he has seen in his theraputic practice, but I am not sure he ever talks about helping them in any meaningful way. (I have to admit that I gave up halfway through the book; life is too short to waste on New Age claptrap like this.) Since he is only "caring" for souls, not "curing" them, I guess it does not make any difference, but I ache for those people who found this book a help and a guide.

Rating:
Summary: Neocons and New Age Types Don't Get It!
Review: As I read through the bad reviews of this book, it became clear to me that each bad reviewer was a Neocon or something close to that. These people want a black and white world devoid of paradox. They write and speak in buzz words and catch phrases ("psychobabble" "moral authority", etc.) and otherwise engage in a group regurgitation of moralistic cliches. Too bad. They just don't get it.

I will agree that Care of The Soul could easily be misinterpreted by New Age types. They seem to want to live in a world that has easy and fixed answers, too. They, like the Neocons, miss the point altogether: Literalism harms the soul.

And this is Moore's premise, I believe. Literalism might make you feel secure in your beliefs, but it will cause you problems in your life. What to do then?

Keep exploring. How? Unless you are a Neocon or a New Age type and don't have one, use your imagination. And realize this: none of us ever knows all there is to know about anything. I know that sounds simplistic, but I am astonished at how often people (including me) speak as though they have forgotten that simple truth.

If you need the Dr. Lauras, Rush Limbaughs, and Bill Bennetts of the world to validate or invalidate your life according to their edicts (which they themselves have hypocritically violated so very often)then this book is not for you. But if you have sufficient psychological strength and an imagination nurtured by love and intellectual curiosity, Care of The Soul will help you to look deep inside your self (selves)where every imaginable joy and sorrow, pain and ecstasy, and everything in between exists (Where else could they? Again, how easily we forget). If you can endure all the paradox you find (no easy answers remember), you will grow (sometimes painfully, sometimes joyfully, sometimes imperceptibly) towards greater consciousness of all that is important in life while knowing always that the journey doesn't end until death (or possibly beyond - who knows?).

And one last thing: Please don't take everything I say literally. Use YOUR imagination and intellect to have an exciting journey toward deeper self/other understanding and realization.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, Thoughtful Book On The Sacred
Review: Evidently the author is a neighbor of mine, given the fact that he lives less than a dozen miles away in another local rural hamlet. Yet I knew virtually nothing about him or his masterwork until a friend gave it to me as a present, telling me with a chuckle and a knowing look that I needed some work on my soul. Indeed. For anyone attempting to take amore spiritual path, this book certainly provides some essential grist for grinding away on the eternal issues facing each of us, the battle for good against evil within our own hearts. The narrative of the book reminds me of no one more than Thomas Merton, and in this fashion, Moore, also once a monk, as was Merton retraces some familiar pathways for those of us who were earlier exposed to a dollop of his thought in undergraduate or graduate school.

Yet it would be grossly unfair to Moore to simply dismiss him as being nothing more than a revisionist of Merton's weighty and somewhat puzzling observations and prognostications about the world and our place in it. Moore does much more than that in this thin yet provocative and thought-stirring tome; what he winds up offering the reader is nothing less than a life-embracing philosophy. Moore encourages the reader to cultivate his or her own peace, dignity, and depth of character by grounding ourselves in meaningful and eventful daily rituals, things that firmly plant us in our natural surroundings. In times such as these, when the media and the outside world tries to overwhelm us with all they want to sell us and convince us we need from them to live more meaningful and more fulfilled lives. It is hard to do justice to the benefit one can derive from reading about the simple virtues or the provocative truths he offers in this book. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Who Am I?
Review: From beginning to end this book on tape accompanied me through my day, highlighting the routine activities of gardening and housework. As I listened to Moore's words, I felt more and more aware of the importance of each thing I did, decision I made, person I talked to, smile I sent another's way. Thomas Moore's intelligence and education is only surpassed by his human understanding, compassion and ability to relate the Soul's needs to the common person, making them feel unique and important in their endeavor to do their best in this life. This is truly an all encompassing book for anyone who seeks fulfillment out of life. It can be done!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I had high hopes for this book as I thought it would address spirituality in a humanistic way. At first, I thought I agreed with the 'accepting of self' philosophy, but gradually statements made by the author just didn't ring true. I kept on thinking that maybe I was resistant to the reevaluation of my own thought processes, but gave up when the author spoke of a patient who found out her husband was cheating on her and the author's response was that she had control issues (!?!) and was acting like a victim. I think at that moment, perhaps she feeling victimized. But instead of telling her to 'embrace her victim', she is a control freak. Then he presents depression like it is some kind of choice, instead of a chemical imbalance. Perhaps depression can spawn creativity, but you have to be able to get out of bed first -- and that is a problem. I gave up on the book after that.

Rating:
Summary: Search for Soul
Review: I have to admit, I was hoping to find a simple and concise definition of the soul in the first few pages. Sigh, it's not there.

What I did find is a vague and complex description which lasts the entire book. I'm come to appreciate this approach though. I believe it is consistent with the nature of the soul. At least, what I've come to understand the soul to be. A machine might produce a simple guide to the soul but a machine has no soul. It is very human, and soulful, for the author to struggle and explore. This book is both a guide to the soul and an example of the author's well developed soul.

I've read very few books in my life. So when I started this book I was cautious. I don't want to be misled or waste my time. This book required a lot of concentration but it was worth it. I used this book to help me deal with a new job in a large corporation.

Even before I had this book I complained that my new work environment was a soul robbing hell hole. I used the term "soul robbing" but I really didn't understand what that meant. This book helped me see how robot-like attention to procedures, treating people like cogs in a machine and being devoted to one "right" way all violate the nature of the soul. I have the same job now but I compensate. I may not change the company but I can at least hold on to my soul.

This book also confirmed some of my own thoughts about what's important. I used to tell yoga teachers that I come to class mostly just to learn how to be a kid again. I was partly serious and partly joking. Now, after reading this book, I'm more convinced than ever that being a kid is the right direction. A lot of what the author values in soul work (wonder, curiosity, patience, honesty, simplicity, vulnerability, appreciation, action, vision and love) seem natural for the type of kid I want to be. I'm relieved that I don't have to create a soul from scratch. Hopefully it's just a matter of reclaiming the soul I started out with.

This book is full of interpretations. Of dreams, myths and poetry. So I think the author would be sorely disappointed in me if I didn't look deeper for what's behind this book. Here goes... This book is about the soul but it was written for love. I believe Thomas Moore wrote this book as an expression of his love for a woman. Her name is Joan Hanley. And I would give anything to know how this book affected their relationship. I know, many who have read this book will think I'm crazy. But, I swear, I found this in the pages.

Read this book and you'll be able to tell all your spiritual friends that you've got soul. Study this book, pour over it and read it like you're going to teach it and you'll understand we all have soul. But don't stop there. Read it and be open to the possibilities why one man would pour so much energy into such a tenuous subject. Read it and wonder.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Have and Must Give
Review: I remember sitting by my fireplace reading "Care of the Soul" years ago. Little did I know, this one book would transform my life.

Care of the Soul is my favorite book. It is written in a narrative style that not only enables the reader to embrace their soul, but has the ability to teach how to create a more meaningful life. From the smallest daily endeavor to lifes larger moments, applying the underlying principles in Care of the Soul gives readers the ability to find true happiness in everyday life.

I have only read this book once. I had to give it to someone immediately and share what I had learned. Needless to say, I have purchased and given this book to others more times than I remember. Of course, this is not the type of thing you keep to yourself if you truly understand the meaning within the words. Nor do you need to re-read the book. By reading this book once, I became more fulfilled in my everyday life, more intent on pursuing my dreams, and more successful in my endeavors.

I highly recommend this book, although many may not understand that this is not a book to "read" but to "apply."

Rating:
Summary: The sleeper awakes
Review: It is the nature of people to try and pigeonhole this writing in some category or another. Several times though the book there is a warning against this. I my self see him as a hybrid of Jung and Catechism.

However I find this a revolutionary work that allows one to see the world in a new or ancient light. We have an opportunity to require or gain a perspective, a reality, a dimension that Thomas Moore calls soul. If nothing else reading the introduction will make this clear. I do not want to paraphrase Moore's works.

The book is well written and the layout is perfect to take you from ground zero of the process of Care of The Soul to a whole new life. However for me I felt a little like reading Dave Berry where he takes the normal and mundane and expands it beyond logic. You wonder how you got there.

He gets into interpreating dreams but not the standard stuff in other dream books. And shows how to relate tem to the topic of Care of The Soul. Somehow he bypasses a subject that I would be interested in. I use dreams to be more creative in work. Usually I can come up with unique solutions or insights in the middle of the night.

By the time you reach chapter eleven "Wedding Spirituality and Soul" you can see he is more into Jung than S. Freud. Also items that start to look like hypnosis byproducts ate creeping into the conversation.

Towards the end of the book he gets more concrete and wraps up lose ends.

Bottom line is you can not just read the book; you must live it to, to know it. And then again there is no guarantee.


Rating:
Summary: A few gems in the trash
Review: This is my second book by Moore that I've read. I have found him to be an alternative thinker. He writes some great things criticizing the course of modern society however some of his positions on morals are just unthinkable for a former monk. I agree with the reviewer who questions Moore's advice to the women whose husband was cheating on her. I've found some good insights while digging through this earthy volume.



Rating:
Summary: Exploring Spiritual Potentialities Within
Review: We already know that it is possible to "feed" the brain as well as the body. Moore explains why and how it is also possible to "feed" the soul. For me, that is the core concept in his book. He sees this book as a "fiction" of self-help because "no one can tell you how to live your life. No one knows the secrets of the heart sufficiently to tell others all about them authoritatively." Hence Moore's focus on the care of the soul which, if sufficient to the soul's needs, enables us to achieve spiritual health at a time when "the mind is separated from body and spirituality is at odds with materialism." In Part IV, he shifts his and his reader's attention to "Care of the World's Soul," an obligation which the world's great religions require of those who profess to be devout Muslims, Jews, or Buddhists as well as Christians. This book will not be of substantial value to everyone because many people are unwilling and/or unable to absorb and then digest what may seem to them to be a simplistic invitation: To feed the soul with at least as much care as they now feed their minds and/or their bodies. Nonetheless, I hope at least a few of them allow Moore the full opportunity to share what he offers by reading his book with an open mind.