Sunday, April 19, 2009

More Thomas Moore

Knapweed LotusImage by pictoscribe via Flickr

"Care vs. Cure (of the soul) - A major difference between care and cure is that cure implies the end of trouble. If you are cured, you don't have to worry about whatever was bothering you any longer. But care has a sense of ongoing attention. There is no end. Conflicts may never be fully resolved. Your character will never change radically, although it may go through some interesting transformations. Awareness can change, of course, but problems may persist and never go away." p.19

Mr. Moore outlines for us readers that just caring for the soul will not guarantee a life of blissful non-conflicting situations, will not erase problems probably still around from time to time or in other words, no promise of radical change to earthly burdens and woes. Whoops, then why would I bother with all of this care stuff?

"If you attend the soul closely enough, with an educated and steadfast imagination, changes take place without your being aware of them until they are all over and well in place. Care of the soul observes the paradox whereby a muscled, strong-willed pursuit of change can actually stand in the way of substantive transformation."

I think this last statement implies that IF indeed I care for my soul with nourishment and steadfastness that if and when existing problems recede and then at a later time return, my soul will have reached the point of "handling" said issues with a strength and courage unbeknownst to me prior to the care expended on sustaining my spiritual self.

This reflection on Mr. Moore's words and upon my own strength and resolve to continue steadfastly in the daily nurturing of my soul - my spiritual self, gives me some courage in my ability to persevere through bad times when they come and with confidence that the good times will return. Of course, with no solid guarantee of any positive future behavioral efficiency......

So, if care of the soul sounds reasonable, logical, possible for me (or you) why would we ever hold back? Is there something in the way of my/your caring for your soul?



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4 comments:

  1. I am not convinced you should have a reason or a hoped for outcome when you nurture your soul. Care for your soul because it is you, it is lovely, it is loved. There is no other reason necessary.

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  2. Barbara,

    100% in agreement here. However, I don't do it for the outcome but the inevitability of the outcome, I believe, is a wonderful byproduct of the whole nurturing act.

    Thank you so much for your contact - your points of view always stretch me again:)

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  3. But what is soul? Is it anything separate from my body, my mind, my heart? Or is it the thread that weaves all of me together? I haven't read the book so I wonder how Mr Moore describes 'soul'.

    I wonder if it's awareness, consciousness, life itself. Is it the journey towards the Light. Is it the call to be whole as the Father is whole? Is it my relationship with God? Would it help knowing who I am first before knowing how to care for whatever soul is? Or is it enough to simply strive to Love deeply, authentically, without reserve, with all I've got?

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  4. Hi Roy - such good questions you got me started on tomorrow's post! THANKS.

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