-Thomas
Moore, Care of the Soul
There
are so many things I love about the writing of Thomas Moore. He is such a wise
and insightful man and the thing that resonates most with me is his insistence
on using myths and stories (instead of theories and analysis) to better understand
ourselves. He turns the tables on notions of “caring” and “curing”. So often,
when there is something I don’t like about myself, I want to eradicate that
thing, make it go away forever. Cure it.
But Thomas Moore takes a different approach, one that is braver and scarier and
more holistic. In Care of the Soul, he talks about pressing into the thing you
want to go away, instead of avoiding or exterminating it – because that will
never work. Instead, he suggests that at the center of the problem (anger or
envy or insecurity or whatever else) is the solution. Lying there in the heart
of the beast is the seed (or the star) that needs to be cherished and preserved
and brought into the light. The point isn’t to kill the beast, but to listen to
it and love it and, in time, learn tame it.