Please introduce yourself

[Barque]

Greetings, we now have nine members in the forum. It might be helpful if we shared who we are, why we joined the forum, what attracts us to Moore's writing.I know lots of reasons to lurk on listservs. Please contribute at least one post telling us about your interests in Moore's work.

[Barque]

Welcome to Barque, forum members who have joined recently. This is a "self organizing" experiment. Its value is based on the contributions, reflections, and insights of current members. Sometimes there is a flurry of activity, sometimes it goes dark and sometimes things are perculating and then explode. I invite all of you to visit the related blog, Barque: Thomas Moore at http://barque.blogspot.com . Occasionally, Thomas Moore replies to forum posts. This week he is teaching on Cape Cod for the New England Educational Institute and it's a period of intense interaction. The recent 40-day program based on Moore's latest, A Life at Work is still accepting replies. It is categorized as Opus and you may find it a stimulating introduction to the book. As you can see from the first post in this category, we were nine members last year. Currently, the forum has 57 members and I hope it doubles before our next anniversary on Apirl 1, 2009. Please invite your friends, parents, colleagues, spouses, children, therapists, and others to join. As a member responded on a recent questionnaire, "The more, the merrier."

[Barque]

A year ago we had nine members in the Barque forum. Now, we are 64 people who have indicated an interest in Thomas Moore's work. We've lost a few members along the way and the forum has been quiet during the summer, but many of us may be into back-to-school mode or setting new directions for our lives. I encourage all Barque members who haven't done so, please introduce yourself in this particular discussion and share with other members, how you want to contribute to the forum's development. Any member may start a forum discussion, and contribute to those initiated by another member. Online communicating may be a new way of connecting for some members. Let's create a safe, supportive environment for Barque members to share our perspectives.

[quiet traveler]

Hello all! I am new to the forum. While on vacation this summer in Boston, I was browsing at a used book store and happened to come across Care of the Soul. I am only a few pages away from being finished now, but have enjoyed it so much--Moore has such a depth and breadth to his knowledge, but also is very grounded and practical. And his style is beautiful! :) So that's how I ended up here--just poking around looking for more ideas to munch on.

Other than that--I am a recent Psych grad (BA), recently married, and starting a different life in a new place. So right now, besides reading all the books I didn't get to in college, I am busy establishing myself here and sorting things out. I look forward to meeting everyone on the forum!

[Barque]

Many thanks, quiet traveler for sharing this information. Moore is speaking on Marco Island in February, 2009. Maybe you'll have an opportunity to listen to him in person then. Graduating, marrying, and moving suggest you have many opportunites to contemplate soul these days. After Care of the Soul, Moore wrote SoulMates. I hope you come across a copy of it to enjoy.

[Callie]

Hello!

Thomas Moore's work is a recent discovery for me (A Life At Work) ... and it has really opened up my eyes as to how shoddily I treat my soul when I don't give 'us' enough credit for all the actions we take each day. Now I am thinking I need to get a copy of Dark Nights of the Soul.

I live in London, UK and as well as mum to a wonderful teenage boy who's in the Armed Forces (his choice, not mine, but we are oh-so-proud parents!), I have two business hats. A Virtual Assistant and a Holistic Therapist and healing practitioner ... Thomas Moore's latest gem has had a profound effect on the way I view myself and my "humble" abilities.

[Barque]

Thank you Callie for taking the time to share how you came Barque. Please feel welcomed to start a discussion about A Life at Work if there's a particular topic that interests you. I think you will uncover new perspectives in Dark Nights of the Soul, another gem.

[Quixotic]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I am a mother of two beautiful individuals, I work a 60+ hour corporate job and I am stilled, stopped and fascinated by God, a higher source, all that is greater. A few weeks ago I finally realized and admitted that I am existentially lonely. I actually felt great relief as I discovered that my loneliness was not going to be solved by looking outside but rather by looking in and up. I have been an avid reader since 2005 when I began to spiritually bloom and with my existential lonely view, I headed straight to the book store and purchased Thoreau, Letters to a Spiritual Seeker. I loved him in college and knew I needed to revisit his words. On the cover of that book is a quote by Thomas Moore.... I had stumbled across Thomas Moore just a day before, so I also purchased his book Care of the Soul. I just finished Thoreau and plan to start Moore's book tonight.

[Waking]

Hello Awl,
I joined this group in the early part of this year and even though I already have a lengthy introduction in my own blog here at Barque I thought I should put something in here as well.

My name is Andy. I’m middle-aged and a proud & grateful father to a beautiful 3 year old boy and have been gainfully employed for nearly a quarter century as an “engineer” in the aerospace industry for a large corporation here in southern California where I’ve lived all my life. I’m the youngest of five in my family and always been the one who didn’t achieve the American dream (i.e. no degree, no house, and no spouse as you’ll see) although for everyone who did well in our kin, I made up for in all the serious mistakes and poor choices…

At present I’m in some swamplands of the soul (or a dark night of the soul if you will) in that my wife jettisoned herself from the marriage suddenly and without warning claiming only that she has been unhappy for a long time. She filed for a mediated divorce and appears amicable to sharing custody of our 3-year old son…unfortunately she’s adding injury to insult by taking half of my income for support. We never owned a house in our 15 years together having instead always struggled to make ends meet while she accrued an obscenely humongous student loan (equivalent to the value of a small house here in California) to obtain a Batchelor’s & Master’s degree. Our debt has passed over six figures…
My son doesn’t really know what’s going on and while I’m slowly adjusting it’s been devastating. Nevertheless I can sometimes see how all this will help me grow along spiritual lines and Moore’s books and recordings have been invaluable in helping me gain some perspective …

Moving on… I chose the nickname 'Waking' because if feel as if I'm progressively waking up from the slumber of unconscious identifications with my history and superficial ego roles.
My yearning is to move beyond the contempt I used to harbor in defense of my shadow qualities (fundamentalist/literalist, amongst others) and make progress towards being radically open to life's questions, soul questions without my previous irritable grasping after fact and reason.
That said, it’s obvious I'm hip on the late poet John Keats' concept of 'Negative Capability': “…I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason…”
I’ve adopted this as an antidote to the struggle between polarized either/or logic, win or lose zero-sum, right or wrong or black & white thinking, a tension of the opposites allows the transcendent potential to have its role. And negative capability opens me to a principle which includes neither/nor as well as both/and thinking in a more open fashion. This allows me to ask important questions while not necessarily insisting on hard & fast answers. I'm also looking at agnostic Buddhism with much interest…

I'm an ardent fan of Moore's recorded lectures & writings on soul and am also a serious student of James Hollis' work. I own all of Moore's books, audio and video as well as those of James Hollis & David Whyte - they all seem to compliment and resonate with each other.

On the fun of things, I've been an old school traditional rock climber since late 70's. I love reading poetry, physics, sci-fi and Jungian literature and am a hugh consumer of books on tape/CD for my 500 mile a week commute.

Following are my favorite quotes which have been treasured companions in my journey:

We dance around in a ring and suppose.
But the secret sits in the middle and knows.
―Robert Frost

Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable.
But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.
―H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted,
but beholds is as something unfathomably mysterious,
thought begins.
―Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 19

[Bill Johnson]

Waking, I loved your quotes. You obviously have a lot of resources to draw upon to help you move through your "swamplands" with grace.

[Bill Johnson]

Hello all,
I have been reading Thomas Moore's works on and off since Care of the Soul first came out. Though I read a broad range of authors in the spirituality/psychology category, I come back to Moore time and again to experience the unique combination of compassion, gentleness and practical wisdom that comes through his writings, and particularly to learn more about the value of using mythology to chart my spiritual path. I was raised Roman Catholic but parted ways with that tradition about 5 years ago. Instead i have been crafting a self-directed approach to spiritual growth based on wisdom gleaned from a wide variety of sources. Currently I am enjoying an investigation into the teachings of Sophian Gnosticism. and the rich legacy of St. Mary Magdalene. I am married 27 years with 3 grown children and have a degree in Psychology and Religious Studies. My occupation is in social services.
Thanks for making this site available. I may not have time to contribute regularly but will check in as often as possible.

[James Brodeur]

Greetings to you all. james here and i am new to this format and to thomas moore. i read him first a couple years back and have since experienced some life changing situations. i started rereading his work after rereading some of robert bly's work and they just kind of dovetailed into one another really giving me some incredible insight.
i personaly think mr moore is just incredible......everything i read i can relate to. i wish his ideas were more a part of secular society. i think he is truely a man for our times. melting together the old and the new. not throwing away everyting but taking the time to give the old new meaning and life through contemplation time in the cauldron.

[Rob]

Well put, James. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

Rob