Welcome.
I'm just finishing my new book A Religion of One's Own. The next steps are collaborating with editors at my publisher Gotham Books (Penguin). I'm also very excited about the new events listed here. The golf retreat in Ireland looks so good, I wish I could convey to you what a wonderful experience that should be. County Kerry is a beautiful place. I also always have a very good time at the New York Open Center, this time with two practical and profound mythic themes: Artemis and Hermes.
I'd be happy to get your feedback and further questions and comments.
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Events
April 6
New York Open Center
New York City
May 3-5
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
Lenox, MA
May 12-17
Golf Retreat in County Kerry
July 8-12
New England Educational Institute
Cape Cod, MA
July 19-23
The Sophia Center
Oakland, CA
The website - www.careofthesoul.net - will soon be updated with more events and details.
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 | Golf with a Soul Retreat with
Thomas Moore |
I've been interested in the spiritual and symbolic, even ritual aspects of sports for many years. When I had some heart problems seven years ago, I began playing golf as a means of exercise and relaxation, and I quickly found deeper meaning in the game. Now I've joined up with a small, intimate company in Ireland to create a five-day retreat for golfers. We'll play golf on beautiful courses in County Kerry and spend some time in conversation and reflection on the deeper meaning of the game, how to enjoy it more fully, how to relax deeply and play better, and how to experience it as a spiritual practice. I expect this little retreat to be both meaningful and fun.
I'm not a good player, so you don't have to worry about your skills. You can also come just for the retreat and enjoy the beautiful setting.
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A New Book in Progress:
A Religion of One's Own
Last July I made a contract with Gotham Books for a new book entitled A Religion of One's Own. I did a lot of travel in the fall, but now I'm working on the second revision of the book. I usually do four or five revisions. The book is going well, and I hope to submit the manuscript on March 1st, as the contract specifies.
Getting the contract was an extraordinary experience in itself. My agent arranged an auction over several days, and I had remarkable conversations with many people from five different publishing houses. The substance and spirit of those conversations restored my faith in publishing and encouraged me with the book.
I'm offering an alternative to the fading formal religious ways of the past and the secularism that is a pseudo-religion itself. I'm very much in the footsteps of the New England Transcendentalists, especially Emerson, Thoreau and Channing, in recommending that we seriously draw insight and inspiration from the traditions as we shape a religious practice suited to us individually. I see a future in which we need not belong to a religion but go deeply into many of them to find the insights and practices we need. We can do this alone or in an established community, but I think we should consciously select and shape our own ideas (theology) and practices. We could be spiritually creative and yet profoundly in debt to the wisdom and beauty of the traditions. In this book I spell out concrete ways to reinvigorate our religiousness in this way. I use the word religion, fully redefined, because "spirituality" tends to be too vague, abstract and self-centered.
Please look for this book and maybe for some previews as publication draws near.
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Spirit yearns for meaning, transcendence, and fullness. It asks for dedication to life and a mystical connection with all that is above and beyond us. Soul, on the other hand, is our ordinary life of deep connections, emotions, thoughts, and important attachments. Both soul and spirit need our attention?we are at our best when they work closely together.
This workshop teaches us how to be soulfully spiritual and spiritually soulful, learning to
- Engage with life and also be spiritually detached
- Contribute to society while also taking time for retreat to establish a vibrant spirituality
- Meditate and also pay attention to dreams.
Thomas Moore offers a mature spirituality, formed by honored traditions, yet contoured to individual lives. He aims at educating, inspiring, and working out individual concerns and situations. This program enters dark places, and also indulges in the humor and positive graces of a thoughtful life.
For more information or to register click here.
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Psychotherapy, Spirituality and the Soul
In this symposium, I will offer a way to practice soul-based psychotherapy, an approach that has ancient roots and has been developed by C. G. Jung, James Hillman and Thomas Moore. It is primarily for psychotherapists of all kinds, but since psycho-therapy here means caring for the soul in distress, which can include physical and social symptoms, the course is also designed for anyone looking for meaning and a release from suffering.
In this symposium, Dr. Moore will discuss ancient's myths related to therapy: Artemis, Daphne, Chiron, Acteon, Hermes, Aphrodite, Asklepios. A presentation on Jung will focus on his own methods of self-therapy, including play, active imagination, personification and artistic expression. Participants will learn James Hillman's work on images, his ideas on therapy, anima mundi (soul in the world), the polytheistic psyche, and the role of beauty. Participants will also learn how to use dreams and the arts in therapy and how to employ deep intuition and other traditional, mysterious ways of knowing.
This is a spiritual, intuitive, artistic and truly depth approach to therapy that requires personal work on the part of the therapist. Therefore, the accent will be on becoming a person of soul and spirit while helping others deal with their own mysteries, challenges and initiations.
For more information or to register for this course click here
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Two Half-Day Workshops at the Open Center, NYC April 6, 2013
Becoming an Individual:
The Myth of Artemis
In these times of intense media exposure and narrow education and work requirements, it isn't easy to live your own life and become a true individual. The Greek mythic figure of Artemis inspires love and respect for your own values, vision and style. She embodies aggressive protection of your hopes and potentialities. This workshop considers the many details of her story in support of being a strong, selfpossessed person comfortable with your own tastes and thinking. It teaches how to cultivate your "virgin soul," your own pristine inner nature and your dignity and value as a person.
Living on the Boundaries: The Myth of Hermes
American life is still influenced by the Puritan founders. Many feel the need to be excessively virtuous and rule-bound. The Greek myth of Hermes offers valuable alternatives, showing ways of being creative and expressive that are more playful than orderly. He turns many accepted values upside down. Both C. G. Jung and James Hillman said that Hermes is absolutely necessary for healing the soul. D. W. Winnicott was another therapist that embodied the values of Hermes. This workshop explores the stories of Hermes as they model a free, imaginative and unusually deep approach to life and work. He was called the psychopompos, the guide of souls, and this session offers lessons in guiding your life by soul.
For more information or to register click here.
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