Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life.

Just a few weeks after its publication, Thomas Moore's book, Care of the soul, climbed to the top of the best-sellers list in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is not unusual for books on psychology and spirituality to sell briskly here in California, but the breadth and style of this book place it in a different class from the average self-help book. I found it quite useful.

Care of the Soul offers a sophisticated mix of psychology, mythology, theology, art, and practical spirituality. The eclecticism reflects Moore's own intellectual and spiritual odyssey. He spent twelve years in a Catholic religious order, but left the seminary shortly after Vatican II. He then acquired degrees in music and theology, and eventually received a Ph.D. in religious studies from Syracuse University. Later he became an apprentice to James Hillman, an archetypal depth psychologist, who taught him the importance of mythology as a language of the soul. Moore currently works as a psychotherapist, lecturer, and writer. Care of the Soul presents his "soul-centered" philosophy and practical approaches to sacredness sin ordinary life.

Moore believes that as a culture we are not so much drifting away from spirituality, but are, in a certain sense, more spiritual than we need to be. According to Moore spirituality traditionally refers to "any attempt to approach or attend to the invisible factors in life and to transcend the personal, concrete, finite particulars of this world." It is associated with a "quest for the highest vision, universal moral principles, and liberation from the limitations of ordinary human life." Spirituality in this sense can function as a counter-cultural force of liberation in societies characterized by rigid social roles, strong ties to family and clan, reverence for ancestral traditions, and embeddedness in the natural order. Under such conditions, spirituality can open up a realm of freedom and possibility beyond the constrictions and limitations of everyday life.

But in a society like our own, an entirely different approach is required. Ties to family, community, and tradition are already weakened by a pervasive climate of individualism. Appreciation of art and symbol and the sense of felt connection to nature and our own bodies are undermined by an overly abstract and intellectualized approach to life. The sense of transcendence, detachment, and flight from the everyday world emphasized in traditional spiritualities runs the risk of reinforcing our cultural bias toward historical dislocation, social alienation, and lack of felt connection to ordinary life.

The root of the problem. Moore believes, is loss of soul. The term soul, like spirit, never quite reaches the status of a "clear and distinct idea." In the book, its meaning unfolds only gradually in images and associations. Shaped more by Renaissance philosophers, Romantic poets, and depth psychologists than by dogmatic theologians, Moore's idea of "soul" refers to a quality or dimension of experience that has to do with dept, value, relatedness, feeling, and imagination. In contrast to the transcendent quality of spirit, soul is "tied to life in all its particulars - good food, satisfying conversation, genuine friends, and experiences that stay in the memory and touch the heart. Soul is revealed in attachment, love, and community, as well as in retreat on behalf of inner communing and intimacy."

Caring for soul consists in bringing imagination - a "poetics" - to common issues and struggles related to family, childhood, romantic love, and other everyday issues. Moore explores the ways we typically, or fail to imagine, the deeper dimensions of meaning present in ordinary situations. He attempts to stretch our imagination wide enough to embrace contradiction and paradox by amplifying these personal human dramas with plots and characters from ancient myths. He uses the language of myth to consciously articulate the needs and desires of the soul that are, as it were, speaking unconsciously through our personal problems. By touching the universal stories at the core of personal stories, a sense of depth and mystery is restored to everyday life. Moore points out that listening to the voice of soul is quite different from engaging in problem solving. Change takes place, but not according to our conscious plans or as a result of the muscular efforts of the ego. Care for the soul need not be problem-centered at all. Another way to cultivate soul is to live daily life artfully. Art is an invitation to contemplation, and Moore describes living artfully in terms of bringing contemplative attention and artistic sensitivity to the details and choices of daily life.

Care of the soul is fundamentally a sacred art rather than a secular science. The needs of the soul simply can't be met within a modern, secular, ego-centered paradigm. Soul requires a religious sensibility and an active spiritual life.

Moore's discussion of the relationship between soul-making and formal religion is the least satisfying aspect of the book. He suggests that a return to formal religion may be good for the soul if this can be accomplished in an intellectually and emotionally satisfying way. This may require becoming a "personal reformer" to one's inherited religious traditions, as Moore himself claims to have become in relation to his own Catholic roots. He assumes that most of his readers share his problematic relationship to institutional religion. His intention seems to be to reach out to those alienated from formal religious practice in order to encourage them to take a second look at the soul-making potential of sacred texts and rituals. But his relationship to Catholic tradition impressed me as somewhat soft and nostalgic. Moore recalls fondly the beeswax candles, relics, and rubrics of his Catholic boyhood, but he offers very little on the soul-making opportunities presented by participation in a living community of faith. His spirituality seems in the end too private and individualistic to satisfy the deep longing of the soul for engagement with a particular community and embodiment in a particular religious tradition.