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Thomas Moore Takes Us On A Pagan's Journey/Calling All Souls W/O
Date of Review: Mar 6, 2003
The Bottom Line: That pagan 29th_Candidate is still writing his entry!
An excerpt from Original Self:
...it may well be that the desperate search for a partner is merely the expression of personal emptiness, and if that is the case, any relationship will be founded on weak grounds and will not satisfy the yearning for connection. The expression 'soul mate' can mean a partnership in which the soul is engaged, in which one's own soul connects with another's. This is no small thing, and it reaches far deeper than the resolution of any superficial search for romance. Part of what we long for…is intimacy with and the expression of our own soul. Pp136
This review should have been written weeks ago for DavidMac's and my write-off, Calling All Souls, so consider it a late entry. Frankly I took my time enjoying the very restful, meditative book by one of my favorite writers, Thomas Moore. I already reviewed his earlier book, Soul Mates, for the write-off, but this one is structured more like a daily devotional without a Table of Contents, for there are no titles on the three-page sections. It's like going on a journey with no goal in mind or sight.
The person that will be most attracted to the book is looking to explore the depths of their soul little by little with Moore as he begins each meditation with quotes from Buddhists, poets like Emily Dickinson and other deep thinkers like Henry David Thoreau, Saint Augustine, Anne Sexton and so many others I've never heard of.
His meditations form around his creative response to these quotes and encourage us to look at ourselves, others and society a little differently with our souls engaged. One section begins with a quote from Pico della Mirandola, who said that Saturn indicates an intellectual nature and makes people contemplative. Moore then reflects that it's all right to be sad or depressed or 'in Saturn' as people in the Renaissance and Middle Ages referred to the depressed state. It doesn't have to be a dangerous disease, but can be filled with imagination or creativity, for our soul is trying to come out if we let it; but if we treat depression like an abnormality, we won't be able to free our soul.
These reflections are about untraditional people for untraditional people who enjoy their memories, solitude, being in the eternal now, not being smart but slightly reckless about life, perhaps celibacy, perhaps regression of soul as much as progress. They are in tune with the seasons of their souls. They go on living even when meaning fails them and life throws them a curveball or they mess up.
Moore champions the arts for educating us in being the people we wish to be and who do not contribute to the general lack of unconsciousness, yet paradoxically at his age of fifty plus he is trying to figure out how to live with little consciousness and just relax and enjoy life as a passenger rather than a driver. Original Self certainly reflects that.
There may be only 148 pages in this beautifully-written book, illustrated with pictures of woodcut figures by Joan Hanley, but Moore leaves one feeling very satisfied in his soul for embracing his 'daimon' or guiding spirit that can become a demon if ignored. I just told my sweetie this book would make a great birthday present because no matter how many times I read it, his thoughts never lose their magic.
You don't have to be a monk like he was for twelve years to indulge in the book. If you can believe that life is a divine comedy and that pagans are not condemned to hell, but appreciate the holiness of every aspect of life, then you are discovering the face you had before you were born. You are discovering your original self.
Now you may find your soul mate, pagan. Enjoy the book!
For links to all the wonderful entries, see my profile.
