Product Description

The best-selling author of Care of the Soul explains how readers can relate to the world around and to nature in a more meaningful way by finding the spiritual and soulful heart of ordinary life. $250,000 ad/promo. BOMC & QPB Dual Main. Tour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296764 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Where better to care for the soul than in the details of our daily lives? And so this profound yet practical sequel to Moore's massive bestseller, Care of the Soul, explores how we may nurture our souls while eating, dressing, traveling and so on. The soul, according to Moore, is a kind of sea of intelligence and responsiveness to life; it animates, yet exceeds, the individual. The soul can never be fully known or possessed, only glimpsed. Yet when we learn to open to it, it can pull us into the beautiful mystery of our lives. "In a condition of enchantment, we stop doing and the soul acts," writes Moore of a possible soul-based therapy. "We stop interpreting and the soul is revealed." The soul's power of enchantment can be engaged not just by listening in the therapist's office, but by living surrounded by?and in harmony with?the textures, tastes and images that inspire the imagination. Some of Moore's reflections are simplistic, even dogmatic (for instance, that concern over the healthiness of our food will diminish its resonance) or too romantic. But this important book will dare many to believe that life really is full of enchantment, if only we can go beyond our habitual literal-mindedness and narcissism to experiment with that broader state of attunement that Moore calls soul. $250,000 ad/promo; BOMC and QPB dual main selections; simultaneous audio from HarperAudio; author tour; U.K., translation, first serial, dramatic rights: Michael Katz.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
As he has done in his previous books, former monk and best-selling writer Moore (Meditations, LJ 1/95) continues to explore the ways in which soulful living invests ordinary experiences with magic and enchantment. This collection of parables and anecdotes about contemporary life traces the effects of soulful living on everyday practices as wide-ranging as sex and sports. Moore casts simple and often simplistic reflections in an elegant prose that will appeal to fans of the work of Matthew Fox and M. Scott Peck. Most libraries will want to purchase Moore's book for his numerous readers.
-?Henry Carrigan Jr., Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Moore is most enchanting in his musing on the composition of our lives: we are made of music, of poetry, and of play. Our lives are not so much stories as "loose-leaf novels," which defy encapsulation in narrative. There is no grand unifying theory here, though the spirit of Jungian theory--especially as developed by James Hillman--breathes in every page of the book. There is something closer to music, played with ordinary things--heard, seen, and felt as enchantment. There are jarring moments--as in Moore's suggestion that we need "ear police" and his reading of graffiti largely in terms of debris. But even in those moments, Moore allows a word from John Cage that will help readers hear music and poetry in spite of policing that has more to do with control than enchantment, and he allows that graffiti may be an assault, not so much on our senses, as on our disenchantment. Readers familiar with Moore's previous work will not be disappointed. Those who encounter him here for the first time are sure to find him enchanting. Steve Schroeder

Customer Reviews

Bringing the Magic Back In
Moore addresses a very important question: How can we bring back magic into our lives? We are used to living in a rational, practical society, argues the author, with the result that we have neither time, nor ability to stop, think, and savor the strangeness and beauty of things. We have over-rationalized our existence to the point where spirituality suffers. Some things, the authors counsels are, well... not very practical. Can we really afford to keep old and dilapidated buildings because they can enchant us when we intentionally romanticize them? But the utility of Moore's book lies in learning how to accept what is and endow it with spirit, magic, and meaning. Even if we must grow up, we need not give up the romantic spirit that makes life fascinating.

A Gentle-No Promises Prescription for the Ills of this Life
In this book, Moore builds on the material expressed in his earlier books, Care of the Soul and Soul-Mates, by considering the essentials of art, culture and society. A thought-provoking and re-energising read, without overt self-disclosure, false pretensions or weak, misguided self-illusions. Moore skillfully weaves his own special web of spiritual significance that stretches beyond our culture itself: by going straight to the centre of all human experience. An intellectually modest, yet soulfully rigorous book that is still highly capable of having literary and philosophical relevance to even the simplest of considerations. It's also a great interpretation of much of our long-forgotten human thought and endeavours from our past, present and the future, as well as allows you to realistically think about your own, unique cherished experiences yet to come.

Loved It!
After having never gotten around to Moore's previous best sellers, I finally bought this one. I enjoyed it very much, and found much to savor. It is NOT a book to read through all at once; rather, it's a smorgasbord that I have found myself musing on, reflecting on, and returning to again and again.