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All Blog Posts (56)

Starting School - Fitting in without losing the magic

We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires and comets inside of us. We are all born able to sing to birds and read the clouds, and see our destiny in grains of sand.’ Robert McCammon, (*1957) Boy’s Life

And then, as we get older, we learn that magic so acceptable in a practical world – we get yelled at, told off, encouraged to ‘colour within the lines’ and to not make up stories.

My son started school this week – he was so excited, and… Continue

Added by Beth Follini on September 14, 2009 at 6:17pm — 2 Comments

Hello to all. I am very happy to have found my way here today. This morning a friend read to me from Mr. Moore's article in this month's Spirituality and Health magazine. It's an excerpt from his new…

Hello to all. I am very happy to have found my way here today. This morning a friend read to me from Mr. Moore's article in this month's Spirituality and Health magazine. It's an excerpt from his new book, and she is inspired by the idea of 'rethinking' the gospels. I am too. It also made me remember how I much help I received from Mr. Moore several years ago. I was in a very dysfunctional relationship and could not figure out why. Then I read about 'the work of the soul', and Mr. Moore's… Continue

Added by Pam Campbell on September 7, 2009 at 2:49am — 4 Comments

Raising Paradise

Thomas Moore points to the late John Moriarty as a major influence. In digging through Moriarty’s oeuvre I’ve been surprised to note this remarkable Irish philosopher makes almost no mention of gardening – his livelihood since he parted ways with academia as a young man. I’m surprised because I am myself a gardener - indeed, I lurk around the fringes of the ‘paradise gardening’ community, the avant-garde(ners) exploring that vital… Continue

Added by Nick Routledge on July 10, 2009 at 1:02am — 3 Comments

Yes!

Here's an inspiring alternative to mainstream media, which tends to divide and sour our everyday appetite for fresh and substantive ideas on how to live well and learn: http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=3015

Rob

Added by Rob on March 23, 2009 at 12:07pm — 1 Comment

Further reflections from The Soul of Religion

If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise. — William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

"This ironic foolishness is not literal stupidity. It is something infinitely subtle […] As such it is compatible with clear thought and good judgment […] Those who have written in praise of the fool, such as Plato, Erasmus, Jung, Yeats, Blake, Dickenson, and Lao-tzu, were all brilliant minds but they were aware of an entirely different kind of intelligence."… Continue

Added by Waking on March 11, 2009 at 5:00pm — 11 Comments

My Reflections on Tom's Writing

"Every human life is a profound mystery. Deep and invisible currents make us who we are, and the world around us is full of secret intentions and laws. One response to all this mystery is to treat it as a problem to be solved and to do everything possible to be informed and in control. But another way is to bow down in ignorance and confess our limitations. " [p.xv]

These opening passages to The Soul’s Religion are touchstones along the road I trudge. I take them… Continue

Added by Waking on March 5, 2009 at 4:30pm — 3 Comments

What to do?

Lately I’ve been transcribing audio snippets I capture with the digital recording feature on my Smartphone while listening to recordings of James Hollis and Thomas Moore on my long commute. I’ve also recently typed up certain themes I found personally resonant in Moore’s “The Soul’s Religion”. It’s kind of tedious and more often than not I find myself inspired but less than committed to actually following through with my intentions along these lines.

Incidentally, I’m also very keen… Continue

Added by Waking on February 26, 2009 at 1:30pm — 4 Comments

Holyday fathering, financial worries, dharma and friendship sangha

I've been off work for the last week and a half for holiday vacation and have had my little one during the days and most of the evenings keeping him out of daycare so we can spend some quality time together... truth be told I've become a bit weary...but he's more than worth it!

Actually, I'm more stressed over the worry of the overwhelming financial burden my (soon to be ex) wife will pursue to force on me through our next mediation divorce meeting Friday...

Anyhow, I got a… Continue

Added by Waking on January 4, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Moar Poetree

A Coat

I MADE my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). Responsibilities and Other Poems. 1916.

Added by Waking on January 4, 2009 at 9:06pm — 1 Comment

Soam Poetry Bloggin

Mergers and Acquisitions

By Edward Hirsch (1994)

Beyond junk bonds and oil spills

beyond the collapse of Savings and Loans

beyond liquidations and options on futures,

beyond basket trading and expanding foreign markets, the Dow Jones

industrial average,

the Standard and Poor’s stock index,

mutual funds, commodities,

beyond the rising tide of debits and credits, opinion polls, falling

currencies, and signs

for LA Gear and… Continue

Added by Waking on January 4, 2009 at 9:04pm — No Comments

a cold night with my soul

I’m going through this divorce and lately I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship both in and out of family.

I've been reaching out for friendship and not having much response. I honestly feel as if I don’t have any friends to really connect with…

I’m single parenting my little three year-old fifty percent of the time now and I just found out he has some form of autism…I’m optimistic he will develop progressively better once we get him into an early intervention program with… Continue

Added by Waking on November 24, 2008 at 1:00am — 2 Comments

Gaia Anyone?

I tend to believe that we live in a clockwork universe, where God created everything and then pretty much vanished from the scene to wait for time to run out, but leaving us our free will. Otherwise, I think, if God somehow had a hand in the world where natural disasters take thousands of lives, he'd be complicit in murder.

But another idea occurred to me a few days ago. What if he does have a hand in this world and, while respecting our free will, perhaps the Earth is alive, and he… Continue

Added by Neill on July 1, 2008 at 11:00am — No Comments

Opus course based on A Life at Work will begin on Monday 21 April 2008

We will start the free online course Opus, based on Thomas Moore’s A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You were Born to Do on Monday, April 21, 2008. For forty consecutive weekdays, a passage from the book will be posted with a suggested activity for that day in a Forum Discussion categorized as Opus. Registered members of Barque are warmly invited to reflect on the passage, follow the activity and share their reactions and responses with other members as a reply to that… Continue

Added by Barque on April 15, 2008 at 5:52pm — No Comments

Poetry Blog entry, 'Bloegtry'

Fearing Paris

Suppose that what you fear

could be trapped

and held in Paris.

Then you would have

the courage to go

everywhere in the world.

All the directions

of the compass

open to you,

except the degrees east or west

of true north

that lead to Paris.

Still, you wouldn’t dare

put your toes

smack dab on the city limit line.

You’re not really willing

to stand on a… Continue

Added by Waking on April 11, 2008 at 1:00pm — 2 Comments

on the road

I'm just completing my stay in the San Francisco Bay area after speaking at Sonoma State University for the Institute of Imaginal Studies and at a beautiful church in Santa Rosa for Copperfield Bookstore. I also spent a couple of hours recording with Michael and Justine Thoms, old friends who live in Ukiah and run New Dimensions. One more stop is One Taste, an urban retreat center in San Francisco.

I had trouble getting this book out originally because I keep tripping over myself as… Continue

Added by Thomas Moore on March 8, 2008 at 11:57am — 4 Comments

Jung at Heart Intro

Hi,

My name is Andy. I chose the nickname 'Waking' because if feel as if I'm slowly waking up from slumbering unconsciousness and the superficial ego roles I’ve identified along with my history. My wish is to move beyond the contempt I used to harbor in defense of my shadow qualities (fundamentalist/literalist, amongst others) and vector towards being radically open to life's questions, soul questions.

On the outside of things, I'm a father and one-time founder of a local club,… Continue

Added by Waking on March 2, 2008 at 10:00pm — 2 Comments