51. Thomas Moore gives 10 suggestions for tending the soul

By Tom O'Connell

Called "the official soul man" by a workshop participant, author Thomas Moore said, "Philosophers try to peddle truth, and that always bothers me." He is a writer and lecturer who has been recognized throughout the world, and he's not materialistic. 

The author of the bestseller "Care of the Soul" told psychotherapists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine session the best cure for occupational burnout is to "live from a deep place" inside oneself and to do this without trying to interpret it. "Take that destiny upon yourself. The creator must be a world for himself...so lighten up."

Moore also provided a 10-point program of action that can be a guide for people recovering from addiction, as well as those who think they're not addicted, i.e. everybody.

1) Love from a deep place. Moore says most of our institutions are not based on such depth; they're "horizontal." We need to go deeper with our relationships.

2) Read only beyond your depth....do spiritual reading. He says not to read anything that won't take us to a deeper place, and few current books take readers there. His own view is "if it's been written in the last 100 years, don't read it."

3) Have a few friends in whom you can confide. Citing the philosopher Epicurus, Moore says friendship should top our list of pleasures, in the home and family, at work, in avocations. "The soul needs to be fed and nourished." Friendship does that.

4) See through the honors, the credentials. He cautions against getting caught  in the "credential syndrome" and various "honors." Healthy relating is more important.

5) Be an individual. He quotes Emerson: "Nothing is more rare in any person than an act of his own." Moore says the "fantasy of normalcy" can be a way to avoid being an individual. He urges people to value their own "residing spirit." Just be your true self.

6) Work as hard as you wish but not to the point of being busy. "We can do what we want to do intensely without leaving the soul behind," he says. "We need madness of the spirit! Live passionately, in the extreme." He doesn't say to get addicted!

7) Make eros, not logos, your driving force. In striving to be very reasonable, we've neglected eros, he contends. "Eros is the center, the moving force of the life of the soul...where desire is, the soul will be present." Love is powerful, vital, and necessary.

8) Tend your home and let it influence everything you do, and let it be your anchor. "Tending the home is very valuable to the soul, including caulking and fixing."

9) Be a sexual person in your own way and in your own time. "We're sexual people in everything we do." He urges us to live and work "with intimacy, closeness....This might mean not being preoccupied with sex, finding oneself outside the usual notion of sex." Eros should be creative, not obsessive, he contends. "Lighten up."

10) Live a religious life and live a secular life, both with passion and piety. "The search for values, ethics, a sense of meaning, and relationship to the sublime does not contradict a strong, robust secular life." In living the life of the soul, he says, "goals and objectives make no sense." And he has a "rule of thumb" for us: "Never take things as they are presented; turn it your own way."

Thomas Moore is thought provoking, and he stresses "being real, being a genuine person." He says, "Counseling is caring for the soul." Good friends care for our souls too.

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