NOTE—I stay in touch with former Epinionator Fr. Kurt Messick through email and his exemplary articles posted at authorsden.com, which I encourage you to do also. The link to my review of his poetry book,
A Chorus Of Voices, is below as well as my reviews of three more books from the author whose book he and I are reviewing here. Last time my psychiatrist character felt some stress while talking candidly with Voxpoptart.
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I grab my bag, leap to my feet, slam the locked door of my little car and hasten across the church’s parking lot. I’m a few minutes late and distracted, but when Fr. Kurt immediately opens his windowless door to his windowless office, we’re both all smiles and hug a little.
“Well,” he draws out, breaking the silence, “don’t you remind me of a spring daisy with your bouncy pigtails and fresh, shining face! It’s been much too long, dear. Please, have a seat and tell me to what I owe this pleasure and... hopefully you’ve read
Care of the Soul? We can discuss how you might hear it calling you to new thoughts or directions in your life, not that your life necessarily needs changing. Since you called for an appointment, perhaps you want more of a soul-filled life?”
Nodding I murmur, “Something like that, Fr.” I look around the simply-furnished room with only comfortable chairs, a couple of candles, oil reproductions and a small bookcase with a vine growing on it. Smiling at the thirty fivish-looking priest, I take a seat opposite him and retrieve my book from my bag. “I’d like to start with a passage from the book.”
“Just one from the 305 pages, dear?”
“Hmm, maybe not! But let’s start here where Thomas Moore sums up the book well.
‘Care of the soul is not a project of self-improvement nor a way of being released from the troubles and pains of human existence. It is not at all concerned with living properly or with emotional health. These are the concerns of temporal, heroic, Promethean life. Care of the soul touches another dimension, in no way separate from life, but not identical either with the problem solving that occupies so much of our consciousness...’ And here I thought I was supposed to help people solve problems! I love this. It goes on,
‘We care for the soul by honoring its expressions, by giving it time and opportunity to reveal itself (reading this book maybe?)...’”
“Many therapists, and ministers, think that their job is solve problems for people. Most of the time, they are wrong,” Fr. Kurt adds, resting his arms on his knees. Then, leaning forward, he asks, “Did your soul reveal itself while reading it?”
“Ah, but first I need to be able to recognize it, don’t I? Moore shows us how it shouldn’t be confused with spirit or ego, which wants to puzzle solve and improve oneself, but his book includes spiritual guidance and psychological advice as well as explorations of soul. It’s a lot to absorb with my brain and my soul...?” I shrug, smiling.
“Why don’t we go through the chapters that really spoke to you, dear? I was rereading it today and isn’t the first about honoring symptoms as a voice of the soul? How does that help you recognize your soul?”
I nod again, flipping to the first chapter. “Okay, Moore is this psychotherapist who used to be a monk, a sought-after expert in 'archetypal psychology' who got a Ph.D in religion and thinks that psychology and spirituality should be like one and the same.”
Fr. Kurt nods with a smile as I glance up. "M. Scott Peck and his book,
The Road Less Traveled, have a very similar outlook."
"I'll check it out, Fr. Anyway, from the beginning Moore shares his therapeutic experiences with clients and how they approach their problems or dreams from a fix-it, worldly attitude and he gives them a different perspective or way to imagine their situations that honors their souls.”
“And these symptoms they’re complaining about, dear, maybe feeling too dependent, too depressed, too violent or too whatever, are the soul’s way of asking for attention.”
“Exactly! Isn’t it exciting how Moore shows us that his clients needed to
accept their feelings before they could deal with them...not just try to get rid of them? Like he says, what we repress, especially symptoms, will come back as a fetish. In the biggest section of the book, the second, which is
Care of the Soul in Everyday Life, he really gets into how Greek mythology, Freud, Jung and Renaissance philosophers can help us understand our symptoms with The Myth of Family And Childhood, Self-Love And Its Myth of Narcissus, which really shows up all through the section, Love’s Initiations with the tragic story of Tristan and Isolde, um, I skipped Jealousy and Envy: Healing Poisons...”
“Why?” he asks and I grimace. “Let’s look at that and also narcissism because they have a lot to say to each other. As Moore comments, the ancient story of Narcissus isn’t just a story of a boy who looks into the pool of water and falls in love with his reflection.”
I shift in my seat, wondering if I should’ve mentioned skipping that tiresome chapter about the shadow side of our emotions, jealousy and envy. “Right, he doesn’t realize it’s his image and so desires to be united with it, hopefully leading to his self-transformation. It’s the neurotic narcissist who gets hung up on one idea of himself, as if he doesn’t see the face in the water as ‘other’. Guess we shouldn’t define ourselves or limit our dreams, right? Look at ourselves more objectively?”
He sits back, grinning. “It's difficult, I know. Moore isn’t doing anything new with this book, but recapturing a very old idea of the soul-centered world, or the world with a soul, like in the writings of Plato, experiments of Renaissance theologians, letters and literature of poets like Rainer Maria Rilke and finally Freud. It’s bridging mind and body with soul...”
“Or Wedding Spirituality With Soul, a later chapter in the third section,
Spiritual Practice and Psychological Depth. He could’ve placed this section second, I thought, because it was so helpful in understanding his thought process…The last short section,
Care of the World’s Soul, made me reflect on whether
buildings could have soul, but I do agree that all living things have one and that should be honored.”
He chuckles. “Remember that part where Moore recommends a therapist for buildings in need of attention? He says eccentricity is good, though.”
“Oh, yeah! We’re soul-filled if we’re weird, hahaha, so I must have plenty of soul! Moore’s a bit wordy and repetitive, but fascinating and insightful all the same. I really want to approach my work with the soul’s needs in mind to better help my clients, so I’m very glad I called you and you asked me to read
Care Of The Soul, Fr.”
“I’m glad, too, dear.” Checking his watch he sighs. “I unfortunately have another appointment so...” I slip the book in my bag and we both stand. “Let me know how it goes for you, okay?”
“I will, Fr. Kurt. Thanks!” I smile and step forward to give him a hug, then leave with a wave.
My review of A Chorus of Voices:
http://www.epinions.com/content_97416351364
My review of Moore's The Soul of Sex:
http://www.epinions.com/book-review-32BE-C48561B-38B0ADD8-prod5
My review of Moore's Soul Mates:
http://www.epinions.com/content_89386094212
My review of Moore's Original Self:
http://www.epinions.com/content_91987152516
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