A Religion of One`s Own by Thomas Moore - Book Report/Review Example

A Religion of One`s Own by Thomas Moore Thomas Moor dedicated all his life to the search of spirituality. He tried himself as a Catholic monk, a musician, a university lecturer and finally found his devotion in psychotherapy. His books are aimed to help people understand the essence of such common but complex concepts as soul, love, and religion. Moore is a gifted writer talking to his reader in a witty, eloquent, and inspiring manner about the most valuable things in life. The book “One`s own Religion” can be regarded as a guide desperately needed in our times by all the people who lack spirituality in their life and suffer from depressions, failures, and misunderstanding. Thomas Moore explains religion as acknowledging of soul existence in every material object or as sensing of “faint and mysterious pulse” of the world. Moore intentionally chooses the term “religion” as it presupposes action, search, and creation. Moore defines personal religion as experiencing of spiritual and reacting to this experience. It is capturing how Moore encourages searching for the sources of personal religion anywhere accessible. For some people it may be already existing traditional beliefs like Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, for others personal religion can be created with the help of music, literature, painting, nature, and work. Forming personal religion is a unique process of accumulating all the knowledge that can beget spirituality in the person. Moore claims that the absence of our own true religion throws us to the chaos, the world of pseudomyths, and uncertainty. The author addresses to the concepts of God and mysticism to illustrate his opinions in more precisely. God has to be found in material, concrete things surrounding us daily. Feeling and acknowledging mysticism of mundane life is essential for everyone. However, many skeptics claim that mysticism is the way to escape the reality, Moore contradicts that mysticism is actually the way to perceive the reality in deeper sense. Mysticism presupposes loss of ego and diving into eternal, feeling the presence of divine. Moore advices to turn every action into mystical and spiritual deed. Painting, writing a poem, walking can be your own mystical ritual and religion. The ability to lose oneself in daily actions uniting with eternal can turn every person into a mystic. It is stunning how the author uses numerous examples of people who have found their own religion like famous spaceman Edgar Mitchell, a painter Georgia O’Keeffe or even his uncle Tom, a farmer. Involving mysticism in a daily life through woodcarving, painting, just watching the sky makes you closer to the God. In such a way Moore suggests that the true religion is available to everyone regardless of age, sex, occupation. Moore also describes some concrete ways of forming personal religion. Working with dreams can be the first step in achieving spiritual sense as dreams connect us to our inner Self. “Dreams get to our very essence; they are mythic sacred texts that tell the deep story of our destiny and progress” (Moore, 2014). Nevertheless, practice of dreams interpreting can be a bit puzzling in the beginning because there is no evident logic in them as they are created with the help of free associations. However, the universal symbols, which they represent, can be valuable. Moore explains that he often uses dreams in his work of psychiatrist as they can be the key to the person`s problems. Keeping records of recurrent dreams can show certain development of personal psyche. In this chapter as elsewhere in the book, Moore refers to Jung, who was a passionate apologist of connecting psychology to mysticism and alchemy. He persuades that routine practice of dream interpreting helps to “see dream aspect of everyday life” and to understand such dramatic activities as art, sport, religious beliefs better. Moore also states that addressing one`s spiritual emotions is inevitable for the whole transformation and finding true religion. Working through your past emotions that were wounded and addressing the soul and the spirit are the required process of self-creation. Self-therapy, according to Moore, can become an effective tool of understanding inner fears, wounds, relationships, expectations. Sorting out life experience Moore compares to soul carving or alchemical procedure of philosophical stone creation. Such process is required as it liberates the person from his past and overwhelming emotions. Moore suggests storytelling as the first step of self-therapy. Telling a story or even recording it can serve as insight as it reveals certain hidden truths, shows doubtful images and indicates the symptoms. It is important to be aware of the symptoms of your personal soul, like freezing cold of the soul, moreover, to be sympathetic to these symptoms, bad habits. Getting rid of the symptoms is not efficient as it is important to go through life problems rather than make them disappear. It is also possible to transform complexes and symptoms into strengths. Moore claims that forming a true spiritual bond is a way of building one`s religion. He addresses to the concept of the “soul mate” the person to whom you are mysteriously connected. The author claims that agape, true love, arises from accepting another person`s mystery. Allowing and respecting another`s mystery is inevitable for allowing and respecting your own. Dealing with human basic states and emotions is what captures author’s attention. Moore uses his psychotherapist`s experience to give advice to those who cannot cope with masochism, aggression, and depression. Moore suggests treating depression in a new unexpected way. He claims that in Medieval and Ancient times melancholy was regarded as a gift, as it could give weight if the life was perceived too lightly. Depression might serve as an insight to understanding real inner dissonance, and it is important to accept depression and to talk about it. Dealing with anger and aggression is another crucial step in soul making. Anger serves as “natural, instinctive, protective, and healing way” of maturation and dealing with it, finding new ways of transforming it is another procedure of alchemical opus. Masochism is another symptom of the weak soul and another obstacle to becoming a person of depth. It is important to recognize inner strength, to differentiate it from force, and not to indulge your weakness. In the third part of “A Religion of one`s own” Moore regards the concept of eroticism and desire. Religion often denies sexual life and eroticism except marriage but Moore suggests that finding true eroticism can only benefit self-creation. Thinking about bad and good experiences of erotic can add to the progress of self-therapy: working out sexual fantasies, desires can help to understand deeper sense of Eros. According to Moore, Eros can be found everywhere, and eroticism as vitality is felt in every religion. Only finding divine origin of the world, acknowledging God within can give complete erotic satisfaction. Moore further passes to the concept of spiritual secularity. Secularity is defined by the author as accepting the world with its pleasure and joy as well as with its trouble and tragedy. Religion is often opposed to secularism, the study of secularity, as religious purity contrasts indulgence and temptation. Moore makes bright proposition to the reader to create personal religion while being secular and to intermingle these two concepts in order to achieve uniqueness. In the next part the author offers to perceive art as certain spiritual path. He illustrates his opinion with the examples of painters and musicians who got their inner depth thorough submitting themselves to the art. For them paints, musical instruments served as “portal to transcendental”. In the alchemical process of soul carving it is good to have a muse, the person who can guide you, inspire, and give advice. For some people muses are their beloved ones, parents or friends. Moore introduces a concept of daimon in his book “an urge, a voice, a sense of warning that can guide and inspire”. The daimonic can show itself in the form of a person or a place. The intuition can also lead the person to his concept of religion. Intuition is the way of receiving information that is faint and elusive but is essential for self-development. The practice of religion requires precise and thoughtful action. There exist overwhelming amount of literature, traditions, practices that can help a person to reach his own inner Self, to create profound spirituality, and to find God within. Soul carving is a long, interesting way, which can take the whole life. Moore in his book A Religion of one`s own shares precious personal experience of how to make this path shorter and more effective. References Moore, T. (2014). A religion of one`s own. New York: Penguin Group Read More