Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Have we ignored our souls?


Currently I'm reading a book Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore. It's fascinating reading. I want to post an excerpt from the introduction here:

"The emotional complaints of our time, complaints we therapists hear every day in our practice, include:

emptiness
meaninglessness
vague depression
disillusionment about marriage, family, and relationship
a loss of values
yearning for personal fulfillment
a hunger for spirituality

All of these symptoms reflect a loss of soul and let us know what the soul craves"

As I read this I thought about how, as a society, the mainstream culture in America, we really have ignored our souls.

We read self help books. We seek to improve; almost as if perfection is an attainable trait. We seek to be control of our lives and frequently the lives of those around us. We live in pursuit of entertainment, power, intimacy, material things, sexual fulfillment and status. We somehow think that if we can find the right job, or relationship, church or therapy it will bring us these things we pursue. But if we lose our soul, none of these things will be satisfying.

Jesus once said:

"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?"
(Mark 8:34 The Message)

2 comments:

Editor said...

Hi Tracy,
I hope you enjoy reading the rest of Moore's Care of the Soul. It's a wonderful guide to soulful living. If you develop an interest in Moore's work, please visit Barque: Thomas Moore at http://barque.blogspot.com. It points to additional insights by Moore available online and it links to a related forum.

Tracy said...

Thanks for this post "editor"; the site is interesting. My husband just picked up the book because it caught his fancy and he wanted a gift for me. The book is turning out to be a great choice and I appreciate the info about the site because Thomas Moore is not someone about whom I knew anything prior to this book.

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