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A Religion of One's Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World
The New York Times bestselling author and trusted spiritual adviser offers a follow-up to his classic Care of the Soul .
Something essential is missing from modern life. Many who’ve turned away from religious institutions—and others who have lived wholly without religion—hunger for more than what contemporary secular life has to offer but are reluctant to follow organized religion’s strict and often inflexible path to spirituality. In A Religion of One’s Own , bestselling author and former monk Thomas Moore explores the myriad possibilities of creating a personal spiritual style, either inside or outside formal religion.
Two decades ago, Moore’s Care of the Soul touched a chord with millions of readers yearning to integrate spirituality into their everyday lives. In A Religion of One’s Own , Moore expands on the topics he first explored shortly after leaving the monastery. He recounts the benefits of contemplative living that he learned during his twelve years as a monk but also the more original and imaginative spirituality that he later developed and embraced in his secular life. Here, he shares stories of others who are creating their own a former football player now on a spiritual quest with the Pueblo Indians, a friend who makes a meditative practice of floral arrangements, and a well-known classical pianist whose audiences sometimes describe having a mystical experience while listening to her performances. Moore weaves their experiences with the wisdom of philosophers, writers, and artists who have rejected materialism and infused their secular lives with transcendence.
At a time when so many feel disillusioned with or detached from organized religion yet long for a way to move beyond an exclusively materialistic, rational lifestyle, A Religion of One’s Own points the way to creating an amplified inner life and a world of greater purpose, meaning, and reflection.
Something essential is missing from modern life. Many who’ve turned away from religious institutions—and others who have lived wholly without religion—hunger for more than what contemporary secular life has to offer but are reluctant to follow organized religion’s strict and often inflexible path to spirituality. In A Religion of One’s Own , bestselling author and former monk Thomas Moore explores the myriad possibilities of creating a personal spiritual style, either inside or outside formal religion.
Two decades ago, Moore’s Care of the Soul touched a chord with millions of readers yearning to integrate spirituality into their everyday lives. In A Religion of One’s Own , Moore expands on the topics he first explored shortly after leaving the monastery. He recounts the benefits of contemplative living that he learned during his twelve years as a monk but also the more original and imaginative spirituality that he later developed and embraced in his secular life. Here, he shares stories of others who are creating their own a former football player now on a spiritual quest with the Pueblo Indians, a friend who makes a meditative practice of floral arrangements, and a well-known classical pianist whose audiences sometimes describe having a mystical experience while listening to her performances. Moore weaves their experiences with the wisdom of philosophers, writers, and artists who have rejected materialism and infused their secular lives with transcendence.
At a time when so many feel disillusioned with or detached from organized religion yet long for a way to move beyond an exclusively materialistic, rational lifestyle, A Religion of One’s Own points the way to creating an amplified inner life and a world of greater purpose, meaning, and reflection.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
310 people are currently reading
2042 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Moore
137 books595 followersThomas Moore is the author of the bestselling book, Care of the Soul, Ageless Soul, and fifteen other books on deepening spirituality and cultivating soul in every aspect of life. He has been a monk, a musician, a university professor, and a psychotherapist, and today he lectures widely on holistic medicine, spirituality, psychotherapy, and the arts. He lectures frequently in Ireland and has a special love of Irish culture. He has Ph.D. in religion from Syracuse University and has won several awards for his work, including an honorary doctorate from Lesley University and the Humanitarian Award from Einstein Medical School of Yeshiva University. He also has a B.A. in music from DePaul University, an M.A. in musicology from the University of Michigan, and an M.A. in theology from the University of Windsor. He also writes fiction and music and often works with his wife, artist and yoga instructor, Hari Kirin. He writes regular columns for Resurgence and Spirituality & Health.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
December 8, 2013
Curiosity led me to pick up A Religion of One’s Own, since I’ve always felt my personal ‘religion’ is one I developed piecemeal, to meet my own innate beliefs. I had to discover what Dr. Moore had to say on the subject. Would he discount my ‘scrapbook spirituality’, or would I find justification within the pages of his book?
There were moments here and there, when I had to slow down my reading, in order to digest the concepts he proffered, and there were other moments when I nearly hollered aloud, “That’s right!”. There were still other moments when I realized tears were welling and my breathing was measured, as I saw my own journey reflected in Dr. Moore’s words. I found answers to perplexities that have confused me for years. I found issues I had put on hold and neglected to take up again.
All in all, I realized that the journey is never-ending. One’s personal spirituality is a living entity within, and must grow, change, and become, even as the holder of such tenets must do. Thomas Moore has created a valuable guide for anyone who seeks an individual truth for spiritual peace. Thank you, Dr. Moore!
There were moments here and there, when I had to slow down my reading, in order to digest the concepts he proffered, and there were other moments when I nearly hollered aloud, “That’s right!”. There were still other moments when I realized tears were welling and my breathing was measured, as I saw my own journey reflected in Dr. Moore’s words. I found answers to perplexities that have confused me for years. I found issues I had put on hold and neglected to take up again.
All in all, I realized that the journey is never-ending. One’s personal spirituality is a living entity within, and must grow, change, and become, even as the holder of such tenets must do. Thomas Moore has created a valuable guide for anyone who seeks an individual truth for spiritual peace. Thank you, Dr. Moore!
April 13, 2018
NOTE: Goodreads has this book attributed to the wrong Thomas Moore. This book was written by the still-living Thomas Moore, former monk, educator and psychologist, not the 19th century Irish poet.
In this book, Thomas Moore calls on the reader to consider the concept that secular and spiritual are two sides of the same coin, that if one wants to have a life with deep meaning and fulfillment, the secular and sacred become intermingled and fluid in definition. In other words, religion has to become a personal and meaningful part of every day, not just an obligatory few hours one day a week.
Moore has a deep history with orthodox religion. He was a monk for many years, entering the monastery as a very young age. He later became a religion professor, then a psychologist. His break from the official church seems to have been amicable, and he obviously has fond memories of his former affiliation with the Church. So, he is not writing about personalizing religion from an adversarial point of view or bad-mouthing it. What he is saying is a version of "all roads lead to Rome" -- that many religions have valid rituals, concepts and doctrines that are probably pieces of the same puzzle, and that if an individual consciously studies those various pieces, s/he will likely find something of value that can be useful and meaningful.
Moore takes a while to start getting to the point. I suppose he felt the need to provide a bit (ok, a lot) of his own history first in order to establish his credentials to the reader. Maybe I was impatient with this part because I had previously read another of his books. The style is conversational, and he does have a unique history, so it's not too off-putting. (I just wish it had been more concise.) Once he's on track, however, he offers many practical examples of how the secular and sacred can be brought together to create a deeper and more personally relevant spiritual practice. This is not a how-to book, but a "consider this" book.
So, is this cherry-picking what conveniently supports our ID or already dearly held opinions? Is it rifling through the spiritual bargain bin looking for a deal? Maybe. But Moore says over and over that what he's proposing is not a shallow picking and choosing from among the world's traditions and religious just to find what's already comfortable, but a serious and in-depth study of the things that speak to our soul in order to find those things that not only make our lives more meaningful, but also make us exercise our spiritual muscles, challenge our intellect and creativity, and strive to be more disciplined and dedicated to the concept of wholeness.
I can't say I agree with everything he says, but I think that is a good thing. To blindly agree with everything is the very thing Moore argues against.
In this book, Thomas Moore calls on the reader to consider the concept that secular and spiritual are two sides of the same coin, that if one wants to have a life with deep meaning and fulfillment, the secular and sacred become intermingled and fluid in definition. In other words, religion has to become a personal and meaningful part of every day, not just an obligatory few hours one day a week.
Moore has a deep history with orthodox religion. He was a monk for many years, entering the monastery as a very young age. He later became a religion professor, then a psychologist. His break from the official church seems to have been amicable, and he obviously has fond memories of his former affiliation with the Church. So, he is not writing about personalizing religion from an adversarial point of view or bad-mouthing it. What he is saying is a version of "all roads lead to Rome" -- that many religions have valid rituals, concepts and doctrines that are probably pieces of the same puzzle, and that if an individual consciously studies those various pieces, s/he will likely find something of value that can be useful and meaningful.
Moore takes a while to start getting to the point. I suppose he felt the need to provide a bit (ok, a lot) of his own history first in order to establish his credentials to the reader. Maybe I was impatient with this part because I had previously read another of his books. The style is conversational, and he does have a unique history, so it's not too off-putting. (I just wish it had been more concise.) Once he's on track, however, he offers many practical examples of how the secular and sacred can be brought together to create a deeper and more personally relevant spiritual practice. This is not a how-to book, but a "consider this" book.
So, is this cherry-picking what conveniently supports our ID or already dearly held opinions? Is it rifling through the spiritual bargain bin looking for a deal? Maybe. But Moore says over and over that what he's proposing is not a shallow picking and choosing from among the world's traditions and religious just to find what's already comfortable, but a serious and in-depth study of the things that speak to our soul in order to find those things that not only make our lives more meaningful, but also make us exercise our spiritual muscles, challenge our intellect and creativity, and strive to be more disciplined and dedicated to the concept of wholeness.
I can't say I agree with everything he says, but I think that is a good thing. To blindly agree with everything is the very thing Moore argues against.
Spiritual traditions around the world, large and small, have two major gifts to offer: wisdom and beauty. Those who understand religion as truth etched in granite probably wouldn't make much of these soft benefits. For them, religion is about hard conviction and absolute correctness. But you can build a life on wisdom and beauty, cherishing insight into human experience and the glorious expression of that insight in art and craft. The first approach may make you crusty and inflexible, but the second may make your life beautiful.
This is one of the main differences in the new personal religion: going deep rather than being right.
-- Thomas Moore
November 25, 2016
"Your first task is to find the place where your soul is at home." — Thomas Moore
I still struggle with that.
I found this book...validating, and written by a former monk who still enjoys a rather monastic lifestyle, but embracing the secular world. I have always viewed the major conventional religions' all-or-nothing approaches as unsettling and unrealistic as a one-size-fits-all solution to our existence. The planet's staggering population and the diverse conditions in which we are all born has always pointed to a more individual recipe for caring for one's soul, since we all appear to be on different journeys and in different cultures. I originally adopted the portions of the world's religions that gave me peace and didn't assault the gift of rational thought I was blessed with. However, lately have honed in on specific practices that really feel like "me" and bring me some much needed peace in this crazy world. Thomas Moore walks a similar path, though far more devoutly.
I thoroughly enjoyed his reflections on Georgia O'Keefe, Emerson, Thoreau, and others, and felt like he was actually speaking to me at one point:
"In a religion of your own, the first thing is your own special vision, and then ways to embody your vision concretely. Emerson lectured, Thoreau built a cabin and wrote a diary, Dickenson wrote poems, Kevin Kelly arranges flowers, Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach, you may make gardens, I study and write books."-Thomas Moore
..... I DO make gardens!! :)
I also loved his exploration of Religion versus Being Religious, particularly this passage:
"Morality means acting in ways that are sensitive to the needs of the other and of the world that is in our care. Moralism is the assumption that you know what is the right behavior for everyone and that it can be itemized in a list of right and wrong that everyone should follow."-Thomas Moore
Good stuff.
His section on Art and Soul Work was also engaging:
"We look at painting of the crucifixion of Jesus and think too much about the person Jesus and the membership-only religion of Christianity. Instead, we might contemplate the greater mystery of a young visionary persecuted for his values and his challenge to authority and tradition. This is a fate we all might face."-Thomas Moore
On pursuing your own religion....
"You may one day understand that to be a joyful person you have to stand out from the pack and live your own life - follow your wyrd [anglo saxon term for personal destiny, or 'to become']. You may become eccentric and do things that society questions and your loved ones worry about." -Thomas Moore
Yep - and I love it. This book was a nice reminder to stop letting world events steal my joy, and continue projecting my own happiness out into the world.
I still struggle with that.
I found this book...validating, and written by a former monk who still enjoys a rather monastic lifestyle, but embracing the secular world. I have always viewed the major conventional religions' all-or-nothing approaches as unsettling and unrealistic as a one-size-fits-all solution to our existence. The planet's staggering population and the diverse conditions in which we are all born has always pointed to a more individual recipe for caring for one's soul, since we all appear to be on different journeys and in different cultures. I originally adopted the portions of the world's religions that gave me peace and didn't assault the gift of rational thought I was blessed with. However, lately have honed in on specific practices that really feel like "me" and bring me some much needed peace in this crazy world. Thomas Moore walks a similar path, though far more devoutly.
I thoroughly enjoyed his reflections on Georgia O'Keefe, Emerson, Thoreau, and others, and felt like he was actually speaking to me at one point:
"In a religion of your own, the first thing is your own special vision, and then ways to embody your vision concretely. Emerson lectured, Thoreau built a cabin and wrote a diary, Dickenson wrote poems, Kevin Kelly arranges flowers, Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach, you may make gardens, I study and write books."-Thomas Moore
..... I DO make gardens!! :)
I also loved his exploration of Religion versus Being Religious, particularly this passage:
"Morality means acting in ways that are sensitive to the needs of the other and of the world that is in our care. Moralism is the assumption that you know what is the right behavior for everyone and that it can be itemized in a list of right and wrong that everyone should follow."-Thomas Moore
Good stuff.
His section on Art and Soul Work was also engaging:
"We look at painting of the crucifixion of Jesus and think too much about the person Jesus and the membership-only religion of Christianity. Instead, we might contemplate the greater mystery of a young visionary persecuted for his values and his challenge to authority and tradition. This is a fate we all might face."-Thomas Moore
On pursuing your own religion....
"You may one day understand that to be a joyful person you have to stand out from the pack and live your own life - follow your wyrd [anglo saxon term for personal destiny, or 'to become']. You may become eccentric and do things that society questions and your loved ones worry about." -Thomas Moore
Yep - and I love it. This book was a nice reminder to stop letting world events steal my joy, and continue projecting my own happiness out into the world.
December 2, 2015
This book is not a critique of formal religion, but about creating a religion of your own, even if you are a committed member of a particular religion. Here is his list of things to keep in mind in creating a religion of your own:
1. Redefine traditional terms and ideas.
2. Don't be too literal about community.
3. Feel that you have a right to learn from and practice anything from the world's spiritual and religious traditions.
4. Understand that many things, if not everything, that are usually considered secular are sacred, if you have the eyes to see it.
5. Be a mystic in your own ways.
Don't think of ethics and morality as a list of things you shouldn't do.
7. Wisdom, compassion, and method.
8. Use the arts for your spiritual education and welfare.
9. Be intelligent about everything involved in your spirituality, but also use your intuition, trust it, and develop it with concrete methods.
10. Embrace eros; don't be afraid of it.
I also like his suggestions for DIY therapy:
1. Keep a daily record of your dreams.
2. Talk to family members about early experiences and about personalities.
3. Talk to friends about your personal issues.
4. Read some good psychology books.
5. Spend time quietly in nature.
6. Walk meditatively.
7. Resolve some troublesome relationships.
8. Study your fears and longings.
9. Write out your personal myth, the deep story you are living.
10. Paint or draw the scenes and characters of your "inner" life.
1. Redefine traditional terms and ideas.
2. Don't be too literal about community.
3. Feel that you have a right to learn from and practice anything from the world's spiritual and religious traditions.
4. Understand that many things, if not everything, that are usually considered secular are sacred, if you have the eyes to see it.
5. Be a mystic in your own ways.
Don't think of ethics and morality as a list of things you shouldn't do.
7. Wisdom, compassion, and method.
8. Use the arts for your spiritual education and welfare.
9. Be intelligent about everything involved in your spirituality, but also use your intuition, trust it, and develop it with concrete methods.
10. Embrace eros; don't be afraid of it.
I also like his suggestions for DIY therapy:
1. Keep a daily record of your dreams.
2. Talk to family members about early experiences and about personalities.
3. Talk to friends about your personal issues.
4. Read some good psychology books.
5. Spend time quietly in nature.
6. Walk meditatively.
7. Resolve some troublesome relationships.
8. Study your fears and longings.
9. Write out your personal myth, the deep story you are living.
10. Paint or draw the scenes and characters of your "inner" life.
September 15, 2016
I didn't like this book. What is it about Thomas Moore that bores and frustrates me?
His topics are so important. This book tries to answer the question, How can a person integrate a personal form of religion that is courageous, deep-seated, fate-driven, informed, and intelligent? This seems so urgent in a time when organized religion has failed so many.
It's a great theme for a book, and Moore takes his stab at it thoroughly. What I don't like about his writing though is that he presents his ideas straightforwardly, without any nuanced voice, and without any poetry. It's just words, talking about ideas. They are pretty and well-intentioned, but they do not raise the blood in any way. I for one need my blood raised when I'm being guided through such a precious and important process. I found Care of the Soul similarly off-putting.
If you don't want to read the book, following some of its advice will do just as much good. I'll just give it to you right here. Moore recommends "self-therapy" as an aspect of the Personal Religion. Here are some elements of it. In my opinion, this list could just replace the book altogether
* Write the personal myth you're living.
* Tell your stories.
* Read in psychology.
* Spend time quietly in nature.
* Meditate.
* Study your fears and longings.
* Paint or draw the scenes or characters of your inner life.
If you do read this, I hope you will connect with Moore's style of writing. The subject matter couldn't be more important.
His topics are so important. This book tries to answer the question, How can a person integrate a personal form of religion that is courageous, deep-seated, fate-driven, informed, and intelligent? This seems so urgent in a time when organized religion has failed so many.
It's a great theme for a book, and Moore takes his stab at it thoroughly. What I don't like about his writing though is that he presents his ideas straightforwardly, without any nuanced voice, and without any poetry. It's just words, talking about ideas. They are pretty and well-intentioned, but they do not raise the blood in any way. I for one need my blood raised when I'm being guided through such a precious and important process. I found Care of the Soul similarly off-putting.
If you don't want to read the book, following some of its advice will do just as much good. I'll just give it to you right here. Moore recommends "self-therapy" as an aspect of the Personal Religion. Here are some elements of it. In my opinion, this list could just replace the book altogether
* Write the personal myth you're living.
* Tell your stories.
* Read in psychology.
* Spend time quietly in nature.
* Meditate.
* Study your fears and longings.
* Paint or draw the scenes or characters of your inner life.
If you do read this, I hope you will connect with Moore's style of writing. The subject matter couldn't be more important.
April 24, 2018
En lo que va del año es el libro más difícil que he leído, no porque este complicado de hecho es como estar tomando un café con un tío buena onda pero me ha enfrentado a miedos, dudas, ruptura de paradigmas.
Si estás dispuesto hacer un viaje al análisis de tu propia espiritualidad te lo recomiendo en caso contrario busca otra opción de lectura.
Si estás dispuesto hacer un viaje al análisis de tu propia espiritualidad te lo recomiendo en caso contrario busca otra opción de lectura.
March 24, 2015
A fantastic reminder to slow down and be grateful for things seen and unseen. I can see myself coming back to this book over the years. It was had some encouraging and challenging ideas. Basically, be conscious of the world around you and be open to new experiences and ideas.
"To create a religious life of your own, you have to think things through and be critical of the information you find. You may have to do some digging to find good resources and then experiment until you are satisfied. You have to ask probing questions and when you realize the teacher or community you have landed on isn't worthy, move on. You may have to travel, read, study, go on a retreat, take a workshop, or search the Internet to find answers to your questions, answers that don't insult your intelligence. In the spiritual realm especially, you need a nose for flimflam and unsubstantial ideas." (Pg 266)
"To create a religious life of your own, you have to think things through and be critical of the information you find. You may have to do some digging to find good resources and then experiment until you are satisfied. You have to ask probing questions and when you realize the teacher or community you have landed on isn't worthy, move on. You may have to travel, read, study, go on a retreat, take a workshop, or search the Internet to find answers to your questions, answers that don't insult your intelligence. In the spiritual realm especially, you need a nose for flimflam and unsubstantial ideas." (Pg 266)
February 29, 2020
DNF. I find Thomas Moore to be condescending. In offering everything for one's personal religion, he really offers nothing of value here. Maybe I would've appreciated this book years ago. I walked away from the book halfway through with a list of random to do items - look at some art, walk in nature, etc. - with little substance. Needless to say, I'm disappointed.
October 7, 2019
I have friends who enjoy visiting churches and synagogues.
Always a delightful excursion. From everyone we learn something, receiving the traditions of others into our lives. Dr Moore is always speaking about a thriving soul. I enjoy his thoughts, his open mind.
Always a delightful excursion. From everyone we learn something, receiving the traditions of others into our lives. Dr Moore is always speaking about a thriving soul. I enjoy his thoughts, his open mind.
December 12, 2025
Incredible. Awesome book. Highly recommend for anyone exploring or developing their spirituality or wanting to deepen their experience with religion.
I learned a lot from this and made tons of notes for other authors/books/concepts/traditions/historical figures to explore in the future!
I learned a lot from this and made tons of notes for other authors/books/concepts/traditions/historical figures to explore in the future!
October 19, 2017
I had an interesting reaction to this book. Moore argues that neither being entirely secular nor following a traditional religious path will fully enliven the soul and lead to the richest life.
On the one hand, yes. I would agree with much of Moore's list at the end.
1) Redefine traditional terms and ideas.
2) Don't be too literal about community.
3) Feel that you have a right to learn from and practice anything from the world's spiritual and religious traditions.
4) Understand that many things, if not everything, that are usually considered secular are sacred, if you have the eyes to see it.
5) Be a mystic in your own ways.
6) Don't think of ethics and morality as a list of things you shouldn't do.
7) Wisdom, compassion, and method.
8) Use the arts for your spiritual education and welfare.
9) Be intelligent about everything involved in your spirituality.
10) Embrace eros; don't be afraid of it.
Lots that's helpful here. As is true with Moore's discussion of the spirituality of sexuality, where "spiritual sex" includes ethics, generosity, ritual, partners, vision, contemplation, beauty, community, prayer, and ecstasy.
And this: "secularity is the full embrace of this world with all its allurements, pleasures, and fascinations, as well as its troubles and tragedies and imperfections." (141-2). That's different from "secularism", which is an enemy of the religious and spiritual.
And one more positive - this juicy quotation from Nicholas of Cusa, the 15th century theologian, "A theology of unknowing is necessary for a theology of knowing because without it God would not be worshipped as infinite but rather as a creature, and that would be idolatry." (33)
My chief problem with this book is its dogmatism. Moore insists that life inside a religious institution will leave you stuck, but very few people have the time to construct one's own spiritual practices, traditions, myths, images, etc. It's a luxury of the well-educated privileged. And isn't it the height of arrogance to think that one person can construct a personal religion that is full of more beauty, truth, life, and wisdom that a centuries-old tradition and set of practices?
Rather, why not be utterly dedicated to the personalization that Moore advocates, but within a tradition? For me, that is my path, and it is within the tradition of Jesus, who I have experienced as the way, the truth, and the life of God, and one who leaves me not just with a personalized religion, but with a person who communes in it with me.
On the one hand, yes. I would agree with much of Moore's list at the end.
1) Redefine traditional terms and ideas.
2) Don't be too literal about community.
3) Feel that you have a right to learn from and practice anything from the world's spiritual and religious traditions.
4) Understand that many things, if not everything, that are usually considered secular are sacred, if you have the eyes to see it.
5) Be a mystic in your own ways.
6) Don't think of ethics and morality as a list of things you shouldn't do.
7) Wisdom, compassion, and method.
8) Use the arts for your spiritual education and welfare.
9) Be intelligent about everything involved in your spirituality.
10) Embrace eros; don't be afraid of it.
Lots that's helpful here. As is true with Moore's discussion of the spirituality of sexuality, where "spiritual sex" includes ethics, generosity, ritual, partners, vision, contemplation, beauty, community, prayer, and ecstasy.
And this: "secularity is the full embrace of this world with all its allurements, pleasures, and fascinations, as well as its troubles and tragedies and imperfections." (141-2). That's different from "secularism", which is an enemy of the religious and spiritual.
And one more positive - this juicy quotation from Nicholas of Cusa, the 15th century theologian, "A theology of unknowing is necessary for a theology of knowing because without it God would not be worshipped as infinite but rather as a creature, and that would be idolatry." (33)
My chief problem with this book is its dogmatism. Moore insists that life inside a religious institution will leave you stuck, but very few people have the time to construct one's own spiritual practices, traditions, myths, images, etc. It's a luxury of the well-educated privileged. And isn't it the height of arrogance to think that one person can construct a personal religion that is full of more beauty, truth, life, and wisdom that a centuries-old tradition and set of practices?
Rather, why not be utterly dedicated to the personalization that Moore advocates, but within a tradition? For me, that is my path, and it is within the tradition of Jesus, who I have experienced as the way, the truth, and the life of God, and one who leaves me not just with a personalized religion, but with a person who communes in it with me.
August 4, 2014
A book by one of my favorite authors, Moore presents a possibility for those who find spirituality important yet are somewhat disenchanted with organized religion. Not opposed to organized religion (he was studying for the priesthood in the Catholic Church) the suggestions he presents would benefit those with or without a religion. Following the same path that many have come to expect, Moore believes it is possible and essential for all to have a "religion" even if it is one that is created by the person. The emphasis is on a personal religion, this is not a book on how to start your own church. If you enjoy positive views, flexibility in how you see life and religion then you may find his book helpful. If you are adamantly aligned with a religion and happy with it, you may not find this book helpful. It isn't a book that pushes structure but freedom to see things how you need them. For a strongly religious person, they can find an opportunity to personalize their experience and for those who are just starting down this path, they can add as much as is comfortable. If you are a fan of Moore then you will find this addition to fit well in the collection.
October 26, 2013
This was my first book that I received from entering the Goodreads giveaways in which you are able to read books before they are actually released. "A Religion of One's Own" is a fantastic book that enables the reader to do just want the book says, "guides to creating a personal spirituality in a secular world." I always struggled with how organized religion requires you only believe that organized religion is right and everything that deviates even slightly is wrong. The book explains how to get in touch with your soul and spirit and instead of being a follower of religion you become a creator of your own religion. In doing so, you learn how to keep from separating the holy and profane, therefore, you are able to see the spirituality in the secular rather than only what is considered traditionally religious. This book is an eye opener and is highly recommended for anyone seeking spirituality but is disillusioned by the inflexible rules of organized religion. I am giving this book as a gift to family and friends as it is a life changing read that I want everyone to experience.
September 14, 2015
Thomas Moore is rocking my world in 2015. This is the 3rd book I've read by him this year, and each one has captured my imagination and thrown me into a whirlwind of reflection. This particular book is one of only a few that when I finished, I immediately turned back to the beginning to start again, wishing to find my way as deeply as possible into the meat of his message. During my second read, I'm taking detailed notes. This is a book I want to study and from which I have already gleaned immediate application. I love how Moore describes how I am and how I wish to conduct my religious/spiritual life. He writes of notions I've long felt but have never been able to articulate, and he suggests many concrete practices that feel right to me. I'm thrilled to let Moore lead me places I want to go.
July 26, 2015
"Creating a Personal Spirituality" is a better name for this book than something indicating building a religion of one's own. When it comes to creating a personal religion, I feel as if Moore's missed the point and gone off of the deep end in a few places (such as when he offers up the idea of periodically dressing like a monk).
However, he does make a distinction between the spirit and the soul. The spirit of a person, according to Moore, is our infinite, transcendent aspect. The soul is our everyday, ordinary, emotional ego type aspect. The book talks only about nourishing the latter - which is why I'd recommend a new title. I'm not sure I would call that building a new religion. Instead, it is a series of how-to ideas on how to nourish ourselves in this life.
However, he does make a distinction between the spirit and the soul. The spirit of a person, according to Moore, is our infinite, transcendent aspect. The soul is our everyday, ordinary, emotional ego type aspect. The book talks only about nourishing the latter - which is why I'd recommend a new title. I'm not sure I would call that building a new religion. Instead, it is a series of how-to ideas on how to nourish ourselves in this life.
April 19, 2021
I couldn't find the icon for this having been an Audible. Oh well, I found this book mentally stimulating, thoughtful, as Moore always is, and also slightly easier to follow than some of his more philosophical works.
Moore first defines what, in his opinion, is missing about traditional "religions" as a group and then explains how people can create their own religious rituals and traditions that they may find more soul satisfying.
Don't get me wrong, the book is chock full of stories and examples from religions and myths around the world. I will actually be buying a paper copy of it because there are places in it I want to go back o and highlight. But I am glad I had the opportunity to listen to it first, it was great to ponder on as I walked.
Moore first defines what, in his opinion, is missing about traditional "religions" as a group and then explains how people can create their own religious rituals and traditions that they may find more soul satisfying.
Don't get me wrong, the book is chock full of stories and examples from religions and myths around the world. I will actually be buying a paper copy of it because there are places in it I want to go back o and highlight. But I am glad I had the opportunity to listen to it first, it was great to ponder on as I walked.
October 4, 2016
Enjoyed this book and recommend it simply because it is inspirational and provides gentle guidance on how to consider that having a religious connection (outside of a standard, secular religion) is essential for a healthy soul. Embracing a "religion of your own" simply helps you find a way to deal with your life in order to provide a means of healing whatever life has thrown your way. For me, it has served as a means to see things from different perspectives, and this book gives different examples of how to do so.
April 19, 2014
What I appreciate most about A Religion of One's Own is that it shows how one can meld traditional religion, spiritual intuition, and personal discipline into a deep and meaningful practice without it being kooky. Unlike so many new age forms of spiritualism, Moore's approach also requires something deep of the participant - in mind and in action. I'm still figuring out where to take it from here, but that's really the point.
June 24, 2018
There were many great pieces of wisdom in this book, but at times I struggled to relate with the author’s wide view of religion. I’m not finding fault with this, but attribute my struggle to my own religious upbringing being, well, less than broad. I thoroughly enjoyed and was enthralled with the chapters on mysticism, sensuality and intuition, which put into words some of my own “religious” beliefs that I’ve been developing on these topics but had not found language for.
April 21, 2018
Worth a re-read.
November 12, 2025
The title rubbed me the wrong way at first. But as I continued, while the idea of creating a “religion“ of ones own still doesn’t sit with me very well, discovering a spirituality of one’s own now seems essential. This thought-provoking book feels like an invitation to open ones spiritual journey to more things than sitting in a church or engaging in scripture reading.
September 2, 2024
A read that helped me reshape a lot of my spirituality and little practices. A nice recommendation if you are trying to find your own path in a messy world and too many opinions.
February 11, 2026
Introduction
Nothing is more important than bringing soul to everything we do. But there can be no soul without a vivid sense of the sacred, without religion.
p.2
When you’re religious in a deep way, you sense the sacred in things – a faint and mysterious pulse. Both in the world, and in yourself you catch sight of the numinous, a hint of something more than human. In developing a religion of one’s own, it’s important to cultivate an eye for the numinous, a sacred light within things or an aura around them, the feeling that there is more to the world than what meets the eye. You don’t have to be naïve or literal about this; it’s simply a capacity in human beings to catch a glimpse of the infinite in the finite world, or deep vitality and meaning in what would otherwise be hollow and only material.
p.4
I’m recommending a courageous, deep-seated, fate driven, informed, and intelligent life that has sublime and transcendent dimension. To be religious even in a personal way, you have to wake up and find your own portals to wonder and transcendence.
p.12
Greeks use the same word for “butterfly” and “soul”.
p.17
Chapter 1
“The world is ruled by letting things take their course.” Laura Livingston
p.33
Just imagine what it would do for your religion if you shifted your sense of the miraculous from some astounding feat of a master magician to a profound appreciation of the miracle of rain. You would be a different kind of person living a different kind of life. You wouldn’t be sad from the weight of your religious obligations, but rather joyful with the beauty and holiness of the natural world.
p.35
And how many churches is man made sensible that he is in an infinite Soul; that the earth and heavens are passing into his mind; that he is drinking forever, the soul of God?
The best way is to live a more soulful life, allowing for mystery and arranging life around that mystery. This keeps the reality of God, but emptied of our ideas of who or what God is. Faith and atheism blend into a sacred theology. You don’t need the word “God.”You need the reality, the sense of otherness in creation and an opening to the transcendent.
p.36
Chapter 2
Anyone can be an ordinary mystic. You may not experience a regular loss of ego and absorption in the divine, but now and then you may feel lifted out of your body and become lost in a beautiful piece of art or a scene in nature. As a parent, you may have a moment of bliss as you step back and look at your children. As a creative person, you may finish a project and suddenly feel lightheaded with the joy of having created something worthy. You may enjoy occasional bursts of wonder and know what it means to extend the boundaries of a self.
p.42
One of the benefits of a religion of one’s own is its ordinariness and simplicity. You don’t need a magnificent ceremony, especially ordained minister, or a revered revelation to give you authority. You don’t have to get anywhere. There are no goals and objectives: nothing to succeed in and nothing in which to fail.
p.43
“Walk like an elephant and sit like a frog.” -Suzuki
p.44
“Mystics encounter a reality in the depths of the self that is, paradoxically, other and irrevocably separate. The experience is ineffable and can’t be explained in rational terms. Mystics encounter of presence that transfigures their lives, transcending the combines of their limited and isolated echoes. They feel at one with the world.” -Karen Armstrong
p.47
Georgia O’Keeffe’s mysticism was so deep that she didn’t want to reduce her vision to sex, which is only a piece of a greater whole. Sex is a portal to life a way of peeking outside the realm of the human ego and into the realm of mystery and wonder. Both sex and mysticism have a way of getting out of hand and overwhelming us and making our own religion. We might remember O’Keeffe’s way: give everything to the work but maintain your modesty, your reserve, and your privacy.
p.57
Chapter 3
My guess is that half of my clients declined to take the risk (of taking the road less traveled). They all have their reasons, but it always comes down to preferring the comfort of the messy status quo over the promise of a challenging new way of life.
p.79
Thoreau adds to that advice: “I might pursue some path, however solitary and narrow and crooked, in which I could walk with love and reverence.”
p.80
You are born with your spirituality; you don’t have to go looking for it. It is a huge presence that wants to live through you and be embodied in your life. Your spiritual self was born in a dream, and when you dream you are returning home. Your natural self is at home in the land where everything is both a physical fact, and a poetic metaphor when you dream you are returning to the home, the very womb of your spirit and a world that speaks the language of your soul.
p.82
Chapter 4
Many people want to change, but also want everything to stay the same. They’re not yielding, because they don’t want their hard ice to melt and the water to begin flowing. When you feel a softening, when you realize that something hard in you is moving towards melting, you can let it happen. Melting is a good metaphor for exactly what is needed in many peoples lives. They’ve been frozen, hard, rigid, cold, and fixed, and now can soften.
p.91
Your glowing ideas about a spiritual existence need the bitter, salty, and chaotic feelings. Keep your symptoms in mind and don’t try to get rid of them. Be patient. As you hold them and explore them, they will release some of their hold on you. Often they transform from troublesome habits to useful traits.
p.97
Chapter 5
With many desires, you have to be patient and keep tracking them, peeling away layer after layer. Usually the process of sorting out the desire for a person from the need for a different life involves painful struggle, and patience. The pressure to do something may become so strong that it’s difficult to take the time to sort things out. But I always council patience – watching, waiting, making small moves. Once the process is over, it’s much easier to see what was going on. In the thick of passion, it’s difficult to have a good perspective. As the classical text says, Eros is a path of fire. One desire leads to another, not randomly but moving closer to the heart of the matter, towards the deeper desires of the soul and spirit.
p.123
Sometimes, obviously, erotic desire, calls for sexual experience and an actual relationship. In fact, finding a lover with whom you can be engaged and passionate, may free your erotic tension for larger game. Only then, are you free to explore your desires in life. A good sex partner and should promote the greater role of eros in your life, and ultimately a good lover will lead you to the very source of your life. Sex is not only a metaphor for spiritual eros, it is its vehicle. It can get you started on a journey toward a goal far off in the midst of your own religion.
p.124
Hillman is suggesting that our need to hold our lives together and insist on being settled and fixed is not just a mistake but an emotional protection against life’s dynamism, a disturbance of mind and heart. He implies that when something new comes along, the effect might be deeply unsettling, precisely because of our strong need for stability.
p.126
The secret is not to be too literal about a new passion. Don’t get into a place where you ask yourself: should I or should I not act on my desire? A triangle is an opportunity for a new vision about life and not necessarily about a new relationship or love interest. when faced with a tempting opportunity to try another marriage or another sexual partner, the question may not be what should I choose but what is life asking from me now? Do you have the courage to face your delusions and be alive?
p.128
You need a philosophy of life that honors your sexuality. Think it through. Arrive at a point when you understand that your sexuality is not just biological, but is your vitality and source of creative power. It is a positive resource for connecting soul to soul with your partner and in a broader sense with people. It allows you to be fully in this world, sensing it and feeling it as part of yourself. Your sexuality makes you sensitive, as well as sensuous, and spiritual, as well as physical.
p.132
Sometimes ethics demands us not to do what’s right, but what’s best.
Trusting your sexuality means, knowing that your desire desires, however, inappropriate, have meaning.
See it as your higher nature, providing the energy and push to make something extraordinary of your life.
p.133
Chapter 6
Sacrament: an outward sign signifying an inward grace.
p.140
In the realm of art in general, the sacred and the secular inhabit a passageway, where the two overlap, sometimes giving you the dizzy feeling of being in two worlds. This two worlds in one sensation helps heal the gap between religion and secularism.
p.144
***I am the theologian. I go around, looking for the sacred in the secular in order to teach it and sustain it. It’s my job and the work of poets to have the eyesight that grasps the sacred wanted it appears in the secular.***
p.150
We must break out of the narrow sense of self or the self as a closed room. You don’t need to know what is outside the room of your world, but you do need an open door.
p.152
Reflection, especially in the form of meditation, art, and writing, wakes us up. To be attuned to the mysteries at work in our lives is to behold the spirit or the sacred in our otherwise secular experiences. And that perception of the sacred transforms life, raises it to a new level. It makes us alive rather than dead and causes the world itself to resurrect.
The theology of resurrection that we find in several religious traditions is about your resurrection, now, in this life. Will you remain soul dead? Or will you wake up with a spiritual imagination, and appreciation for the sublime? The resurrected person has an open heart and a perceptive mind when he was so dead, he was not capable of compassion. Now that he has resurrected, his heart is awake and at work when he was soul dead, he took everything at face value. Now he sees through the literal, enjoying the precious power of insight that reveals the many levels of meaning in every event, person, and object in his world. How do you resurrect in your everyday life? You learn to see through the literal all around you to the greater mysteries at work.
p.154
Chapter 7
As you contemplate a statue or a painting, you receive the spirit associated with the art piece, and that spirit may be healing and nourishing.
p.162
Art as the power to affect us, and for that reason has served the spiritual traditions of the world and all of human memory. But that power is a two way affair: the observer has to know how to be in the presence of the artwork for it to have its impact.
p.163
Everyone has a “dream thing” to bring to life and work: an active imagination, an open inspiration, and the ability to unveil the invisible, spiritual realm to be revealed. Just as Georgia O’Keefe relied on her worldly spirituality to bring out the eternal in the ordinary, you, too, can render the whole of your life and everything in a sacred. In everything you do, you can evoke the holiness of material, sensual life. Many people have the potential, but not the awareness to awaken their “dream thing,” their own sacred imagination, to resurrect themselves in their world.
p.165
Encounter a piece of art that has depth and suitable complexity, and you walk away changed and are challenged to live differently.
p.167
The place of books, words, and letters in your life, may be part of your own personal religion. But now you should find your own method and style. Oscar Wilde spoke of the importance of style. I want my words to be forceful, beautiful, an individual, and you too, can find your own method and style for your insights.
p.169
Georgia O’Keeffe looked closely at the land around her and found divinity. When it is said that art serves spirituality or religion, the usefulness of art is not just to offer an illustration of spiritual ideas, but to take the observer to a place of special vision and realization. It can bring you to a point of awareness, where the spiritual is in play, and in many cases, this is just the starting point for further exploration of the mysteries.
p.170
Many people don’t realize how central the imagination is to religious and spiritual experiences. The object of faith and wonder is impossible to express in our usual logical in factual language. We need images that approximate our spiritual intuitions.
p.173
Chapter 8
Emerson had written that only a poet can really know astronomy and the other sciences because he goes beyond facts and reads the things of the world as signs.
p.189
****We are what inspires us, not what we intend to make ourselves to be.
p.199
A religion of one’s own is not a reasonable, placid, or convenient way to be spiritual. It’s an opening to the full thrust of what it means to be part of vast, mysterious, and powerful existence. Like all real religion, it is basically a willingness to stand at the edge of our existence, like Rilke at Lands End, open to the full potency of what it means to be alive.
Recall the strength of certain desires and longings. The soul is filled with potential urges that overcome the will, and can cause distress. As you amass the ingredients of your own religion, prepare yourself for a life requiring courage and focus. This is where the spiritual warrior and the spiritual Jihad come in to play to maintain your religious convictions, you will need every bit of courage you can summon up in every ally and resource you can reach for religion is not just a nice thing to do, it’s a matter of life and death
p.200
Chapter 9
I had no assurance that I would find a more meaningful existence, and I didn’t have any clues as to what the future could be. I was at the mercy of pure intuition asking me to surrender. Intuitions can be challenging: they are difficult to grasp, keep, trust, and understand. Yet they are essential, especially in spiritual matters.
p.207
Keep deepening your question until an answer evolves. The best way of deepening is to pursue a string of intuition, discovering to some extent through trial and error, where your destiny lies truly significant, positive changes take place in the midst of considerable discomfort.
The first prerequisite for a religion of one’s own is the ability to be connected to the mysteries without having to explain them.
p.209
A religion of one’s own is a process, not a ecstatic state, with forward and backward movements it is rarely a steady evolution. It is both painful and where are some and full of uncertainty. It is spiritual and psychological, theological and emotional, social and intensely individual like the work of an alchemist, it involves frequent changes in various temperatures, colors, and smells as one adventure follows another.
“What a relief it was for me to discover not only that no idea of ours, let alone any image, could adequately represent God, but also that we should not allow ourselves to be satisfied with any such knowledge of Him.”-Etienne Gilson
p.210
A book can help you formulate your vague intimations and sharpen them. It can spell out more clearly what you have found in the fuzzy regions of your tracking. It can take your thoughts and wonderment further, not necessarily providing clear answers, but furthering your process.
p.211
“For your spiritual life to be active, you have to put your body where your spirit is. We must find a way to unite the way of the spirit with the work of the flesh.” -Martin Sheen
p.212
I take synchronicities as signs and guide posts. Reading them regularly and giving them some attention makes your world come alive. You live with imagination rather than with facts. You notice levels of meaning that would otherwise pass you by. In this realm of imagination and startle, you are less encased in your head and more in touch with the life of the world, especially its signals and invitation invitations.
p.214
A human life is profoundly, mysterious and calls were deeper and less rational ways of responding.
p.217
Ficino said that this kind of daily magic is like grafting, the limb of one kind of tree to the trunk of another. The power is natural, but we have to “graft” our ourselves suddenly into nature in order to enjoy the special powers that are so unusual as to be magical.
p.219
Chapter 10
The magus of old teaches us, first, to time our lives and activities well. Stay in tune with the rhythms of nature and the pulse of our lives. Be open to the kairos, the right timing, and the good signs. Abstain from eager desires when the climate isn’t right and then move ahead when indications are strong.
The alchemist, another kind of magus, stress at his oven and glass vessels and adjusts the heat. Know how to boil and simmer and remove from the heat. Understand the purposes of cool and hot, as the ancient Greek philosophers advised. No, too, what to keep moist and what to dry out, what to add to your life and want to take out. An alchemical imagination of ordinary life is part of natural magic.
p.228
The magus think that like cues like: when two things are similar, often in relatively insignificant ways, they can share power.
p.229
The result of your magic may not be pure, imperfect, because life is complicated and rarely black-and-white.
p.233
Chapter 12
Religion teaches us how to relate to the mysteries in such a way that they give us our humanity and make our lives worth living. I appreciate my five virtues as being basic for my own religion.
p.255
Spirituality as a dimension of living, not a way out of life. Thoreau, the secular monk, said he went to Walden to “front the essentials of his life.” The purpose of our own religion is similar: it’s a way of facing the life that is given to us and making the most of it.
p.258
Postlude
Early Indian theology said that there are three essentials in their religious life: sat-cit-ananda. Being-awareness-bliss.
p.267
I’m using the word bliss precisely and carefully. Bliss is the special pleasure you find when you live from the center of your life, when you are in tune with your fate, and when you have an opening in your mind and heart to the source of life, acting in accord with the deep laws of your nature. This is Ananda-joy, bliss, or deep pleasure.
I want to distinguish between ordinary happiness and bliss. Bliss is neither a superficial pleasure nor an extravagant wish. Understood against the background of the religious traditions, it’s the special joy and relief of being in tune with nature, including your own nature. It’s a religious virtue and the result of a long period of search, experiment, and practice.
When Jesus taught the beatitudes, he used a special word that we traditionally translate as “blessed,” as in “Blessed are the meek.” But his word “makarioi” refers to the island of Bliss, where the gods and goddesses go to find peace and rest. It’s a place of divine repose, not just superficial happiness. For humans, bliss is not an option; it’s essential if we are to enjoy health of body and soul and remain free of desperate, symptomatic acting out.
p.268
***Bliss is the joy that arrives when you are released from the pressure to be a small self. Bliss descends when you open yourself to life in all of its abundance and breathtaking power and let it so suffuse you that you forget your worries about being somebody and justifying your life. You give in. You let life take over. You become a holy person instead of a secular egoist, and then you discover that your holiness is the base of your own religion.
p.269
Nothing is more important than bringing soul to everything we do. But there can be no soul without a vivid sense of the sacred, without religion.
p.2
When you’re religious in a deep way, you sense the sacred in things – a faint and mysterious pulse. Both in the world, and in yourself you catch sight of the numinous, a hint of something more than human. In developing a religion of one’s own, it’s important to cultivate an eye for the numinous, a sacred light within things or an aura around them, the feeling that there is more to the world than what meets the eye. You don’t have to be naïve or literal about this; it’s simply a capacity in human beings to catch a glimpse of the infinite in the finite world, or deep vitality and meaning in what would otherwise be hollow and only material.
p.4
I’m recommending a courageous, deep-seated, fate driven, informed, and intelligent life that has sublime and transcendent dimension. To be religious even in a personal way, you have to wake up and find your own portals to wonder and transcendence.
p.12
Greeks use the same word for “butterfly” and “soul”.
p.17
Chapter 1
“The world is ruled by letting things take their course.” Laura Livingston
p.33
Just imagine what it would do for your religion if you shifted your sense of the miraculous from some astounding feat of a master magician to a profound appreciation of the miracle of rain. You would be a different kind of person living a different kind of life. You wouldn’t be sad from the weight of your religious obligations, but rather joyful with the beauty and holiness of the natural world.
p.35
And how many churches is man made sensible that he is in an infinite Soul; that the earth and heavens are passing into his mind; that he is drinking forever, the soul of God?
The best way is to live a more soulful life, allowing for mystery and arranging life around that mystery. This keeps the reality of God, but emptied of our ideas of who or what God is. Faith and atheism blend into a sacred theology. You don’t need the word “God.”You need the reality, the sense of otherness in creation and an opening to the transcendent.
p.36
Chapter 2
Anyone can be an ordinary mystic. You may not experience a regular loss of ego and absorption in the divine, but now and then you may feel lifted out of your body and become lost in a beautiful piece of art or a scene in nature. As a parent, you may have a moment of bliss as you step back and look at your children. As a creative person, you may finish a project and suddenly feel lightheaded with the joy of having created something worthy. You may enjoy occasional bursts of wonder and know what it means to extend the boundaries of a self.
p.42
One of the benefits of a religion of one’s own is its ordinariness and simplicity. You don’t need a magnificent ceremony, especially ordained minister, or a revered revelation to give you authority. You don’t have to get anywhere. There are no goals and objectives: nothing to succeed in and nothing in which to fail.
p.43
“Walk like an elephant and sit like a frog.” -Suzuki
p.44
“Mystics encounter a reality in the depths of the self that is, paradoxically, other and irrevocably separate. The experience is ineffable and can’t be explained in rational terms. Mystics encounter of presence that transfigures their lives, transcending the combines of their limited and isolated echoes. They feel at one with the world.” -Karen Armstrong
p.47
Georgia O’Keeffe’s mysticism was so deep that she didn’t want to reduce her vision to sex, which is only a piece of a greater whole. Sex is a portal to life a way of peeking outside the realm of the human ego and into the realm of mystery and wonder. Both sex and mysticism have a way of getting out of hand and overwhelming us and making our own religion. We might remember O’Keeffe’s way: give everything to the work but maintain your modesty, your reserve, and your privacy.
p.57
Chapter 3
My guess is that half of my clients declined to take the risk (of taking the road less traveled). They all have their reasons, but it always comes down to preferring the comfort of the messy status quo over the promise of a challenging new way of life.
p.79
Thoreau adds to that advice: “I might pursue some path, however solitary and narrow and crooked, in which I could walk with love and reverence.”
p.80
You are born with your spirituality; you don’t have to go looking for it. It is a huge presence that wants to live through you and be embodied in your life. Your spiritual self was born in a dream, and when you dream you are returning home. Your natural self is at home in the land where everything is both a physical fact, and a poetic metaphor when you dream you are returning to the home, the very womb of your spirit and a world that speaks the language of your soul.
p.82
Chapter 4
Many people want to change, but also want everything to stay the same. They’re not yielding, because they don’t want their hard ice to melt and the water to begin flowing. When you feel a softening, when you realize that something hard in you is moving towards melting, you can let it happen. Melting is a good metaphor for exactly what is needed in many peoples lives. They’ve been frozen, hard, rigid, cold, and fixed, and now can soften.
p.91
Your glowing ideas about a spiritual existence need the bitter, salty, and chaotic feelings. Keep your symptoms in mind and don’t try to get rid of them. Be patient. As you hold them and explore them, they will release some of their hold on you. Often they transform from troublesome habits to useful traits.
p.97
Chapter 5
With many desires, you have to be patient and keep tracking them, peeling away layer after layer. Usually the process of sorting out the desire for a person from the need for a different life involves painful struggle, and patience. The pressure to do something may become so strong that it’s difficult to take the time to sort things out. But I always council patience – watching, waiting, making small moves. Once the process is over, it’s much easier to see what was going on. In the thick of passion, it’s difficult to have a good perspective. As the classical text says, Eros is a path of fire. One desire leads to another, not randomly but moving closer to the heart of the matter, towards the deeper desires of the soul and spirit.
p.123
Sometimes, obviously, erotic desire, calls for sexual experience and an actual relationship. In fact, finding a lover with whom you can be engaged and passionate, may free your erotic tension for larger game. Only then, are you free to explore your desires in life. A good sex partner and should promote the greater role of eros in your life, and ultimately a good lover will lead you to the very source of your life. Sex is not only a metaphor for spiritual eros, it is its vehicle. It can get you started on a journey toward a goal far off in the midst of your own religion.
p.124
Hillman is suggesting that our need to hold our lives together and insist on being settled and fixed is not just a mistake but an emotional protection against life’s dynamism, a disturbance of mind and heart. He implies that when something new comes along, the effect might be deeply unsettling, precisely because of our strong need for stability.
p.126
The secret is not to be too literal about a new passion. Don’t get into a place where you ask yourself: should I or should I not act on my desire? A triangle is an opportunity for a new vision about life and not necessarily about a new relationship or love interest. when faced with a tempting opportunity to try another marriage or another sexual partner, the question may not be what should I choose but what is life asking from me now? Do you have the courage to face your delusions and be alive?
p.128
You need a philosophy of life that honors your sexuality. Think it through. Arrive at a point when you understand that your sexuality is not just biological, but is your vitality and source of creative power. It is a positive resource for connecting soul to soul with your partner and in a broader sense with people. It allows you to be fully in this world, sensing it and feeling it as part of yourself. Your sexuality makes you sensitive, as well as sensuous, and spiritual, as well as physical.
p.132
Sometimes ethics demands us not to do what’s right, but what’s best.
Trusting your sexuality means, knowing that your desire desires, however, inappropriate, have meaning.
See it as your higher nature, providing the energy and push to make something extraordinary of your life.
p.133
Chapter 6
Sacrament: an outward sign signifying an inward grace.
p.140
In the realm of art in general, the sacred and the secular inhabit a passageway, where the two overlap, sometimes giving you the dizzy feeling of being in two worlds. This two worlds in one sensation helps heal the gap between religion and secularism.
p.144
***I am the theologian. I go around, looking for the sacred in the secular in order to teach it and sustain it. It’s my job and the work of poets to have the eyesight that grasps the sacred wanted it appears in the secular.***
p.150
We must break out of the narrow sense of self or the self as a closed room. You don’t need to know what is outside the room of your world, but you do need an open door.
p.152
Reflection, especially in the form of meditation, art, and writing, wakes us up. To be attuned to the mysteries at work in our lives is to behold the spirit or the sacred in our otherwise secular experiences. And that perception of the sacred transforms life, raises it to a new level. It makes us alive rather than dead and causes the world itself to resurrect.
The theology of resurrection that we find in several religious traditions is about your resurrection, now, in this life. Will you remain soul dead? Or will you wake up with a spiritual imagination, and appreciation for the sublime? The resurrected person has an open heart and a perceptive mind when he was so dead, he was not capable of compassion. Now that he has resurrected, his heart is awake and at work when he was soul dead, he took everything at face value. Now he sees through the literal, enjoying the precious power of insight that reveals the many levels of meaning in every event, person, and object in his world. How do you resurrect in your everyday life? You learn to see through the literal all around you to the greater mysteries at work.
p.154
Chapter 7
As you contemplate a statue or a painting, you receive the spirit associated with the art piece, and that spirit may be healing and nourishing.
p.162
Art as the power to affect us, and for that reason has served the spiritual traditions of the world and all of human memory. But that power is a two way affair: the observer has to know how to be in the presence of the artwork for it to have its impact.
p.163
Everyone has a “dream thing” to bring to life and work: an active imagination, an open inspiration, and the ability to unveil the invisible, spiritual realm to be revealed. Just as Georgia O’Keefe relied on her worldly spirituality to bring out the eternal in the ordinary, you, too, can render the whole of your life and everything in a sacred. In everything you do, you can evoke the holiness of material, sensual life. Many people have the potential, but not the awareness to awaken their “dream thing,” their own sacred imagination, to resurrect themselves in their world.
p.165
Encounter a piece of art that has depth and suitable complexity, and you walk away changed and are challenged to live differently.
p.167
The place of books, words, and letters in your life, may be part of your own personal religion. But now you should find your own method and style. Oscar Wilde spoke of the importance of style. I want my words to be forceful, beautiful, an individual, and you too, can find your own method and style for your insights.
p.169
Georgia O’Keeffe looked closely at the land around her and found divinity. When it is said that art serves spirituality or religion, the usefulness of art is not just to offer an illustration of spiritual ideas, but to take the observer to a place of special vision and realization. It can bring you to a point of awareness, where the spiritual is in play, and in many cases, this is just the starting point for further exploration of the mysteries.
p.170
Many people don’t realize how central the imagination is to religious and spiritual experiences. The object of faith and wonder is impossible to express in our usual logical in factual language. We need images that approximate our spiritual intuitions.
p.173
Chapter 8
Emerson had written that only a poet can really know astronomy and the other sciences because he goes beyond facts and reads the things of the world as signs.
p.189
****We are what inspires us, not what we intend to make ourselves to be.
p.199
A religion of one’s own is not a reasonable, placid, or convenient way to be spiritual. It’s an opening to the full thrust of what it means to be part of vast, mysterious, and powerful existence. Like all real religion, it is basically a willingness to stand at the edge of our existence, like Rilke at Lands End, open to the full potency of what it means to be alive.
Recall the strength of certain desires and longings. The soul is filled with potential urges that overcome the will, and can cause distress. As you amass the ingredients of your own religion, prepare yourself for a life requiring courage and focus. This is where the spiritual warrior and the spiritual Jihad come in to play to maintain your religious convictions, you will need every bit of courage you can summon up in every ally and resource you can reach for religion is not just a nice thing to do, it’s a matter of life and death
p.200
Chapter 9
I had no assurance that I would find a more meaningful existence, and I didn’t have any clues as to what the future could be. I was at the mercy of pure intuition asking me to surrender. Intuitions can be challenging: they are difficult to grasp, keep, trust, and understand. Yet they are essential, especially in spiritual matters.
p.207
Keep deepening your question until an answer evolves. The best way of deepening is to pursue a string of intuition, discovering to some extent through trial and error, where your destiny lies truly significant, positive changes take place in the midst of considerable discomfort.
The first prerequisite for a religion of one’s own is the ability to be connected to the mysteries without having to explain them.
p.209
A religion of one’s own is a process, not a ecstatic state, with forward and backward movements it is rarely a steady evolution. It is both painful and where are some and full of uncertainty. It is spiritual and psychological, theological and emotional, social and intensely individual like the work of an alchemist, it involves frequent changes in various temperatures, colors, and smells as one adventure follows another.
“What a relief it was for me to discover not only that no idea of ours, let alone any image, could adequately represent God, but also that we should not allow ourselves to be satisfied with any such knowledge of Him.”-Etienne Gilson
p.210
A book can help you formulate your vague intimations and sharpen them. It can spell out more clearly what you have found in the fuzzy regions of your tracking. It can take your thoughts and wonderment further, not necessarily providing clear answers, but furthering your process.
p.211
“For your spiritual life to be active, you have to put your body where your spirit is. We must find a way to unite the way of the spirit with the work of the flesh.” -Martin Sheen
p.212
I take synchronicities as signs and guide posts. Reading them regularly and giving them some attention makes your world come alive. You live with imagination rather than with facts. You notice levels of meaning that would otherwise pass you by. In this realm of imagination and startle, you are less encased in your head and more in touch with the life of the world, especially its signals and invitation invitations.
p.214
A human life is profoundly, mysterious and calls were deeper and less rational ways of responding.
p.217
Ficino said that this kind of daily magic is like grafting, the limb of one kind of tree to the trunk of another. The power is natural, but we have to “graft” our ourselves suddenly into nature in order to enjoy the special powers that are so unusual as to be magical.
p.219
Chapter 10
The magus of old teaches us, first, to time our lives and activities well. Stay in tune with the rhythms of nature and the pulse of our lives. Be open to the kairos, the right timing, and the good signs. Abstain from eager desires when the climate isn’t right and then move ahead when indications are strong.
The alchemist, another kind of magus, stress at his oven and glass vessels and adjusts the heat. Know how to boil and simmer and remove from the heat. Understand the purposes of cool and hot, as the ancient Greek philosophers advised. No, too, what to keep moist and what to dry out, what to add to your life and want to take out. An alchemical imagination of ordinary life is part of natural magic.
p.228
The magus think that like cues like: when two things are similar, often in relatively insignificant ways, they can share power.
p.229
The result of your magic may not be pure, imperfect, because life is complicated and rarely black-and-white.
p.233
Chapter 12
Religion teaches us how to relate to the mysteries in such a way that they give us our humanity and make our lives worth living. I appreciate my five virtues as being basic for my own religion.
p.255
Spirituality as a dimension of living, not a way out of life. Thoreau, the secular monk, said he went to Walden to “front the essentials of his life.” The purpose of our own religion is similar: it’s a way of facing the life that is given to us and making the most of it.
p.258
Postlude
Early Indian theology said that there are three essentials in their religious life: sat-cit-ananda. Being-awareness-bliss.
p.267
I’m using the word bliss precisely and carefully. Bliss is the special pleasure you find when you live from the center of your life, when you are in tune with your fate, and when you have an opening in your mind and heart to the source of life, acting in accord with the deep laws of your nature. This is Ananda-joy, bliss, or deep pleasure.
I want to distinguish between ordinary happiness and bliss. Bliss is neither a superficial pleasure nor an extravagant wish. Understood against the background of the religious traditions, it’s the special joy and relief of being in tune with nature, including your own nature. It’s a religious virtue and the result of a long period of search, experiment, and practice.
When Jesus taught the beatitudes, he used a special word that we traditionally translate as “blessed,” as in “Blessed are the meek.” But his word “makarioi” refers to the island of Bliss, where the gods and goddesses go to find peace and rest. It’s a place of divine repose, not just superficial happiness. For humans, bliss is not an option; it’s essential if we are to enjoy health of body and soul and remain free of desperate, symptomatic acting out.
p.268
***Bliss is the joy that arrives when you are released from the pressure to be a small self. Bliss descends when you open yourself to life in all of its abundance and breathtaking power and let it so suffuse you that you forget your worries about being somebody and justifying your life. You give in. You let life take over. You become a holy person instead of a secular egoist, and then you discover that your holiness is the base of your own religion.
p.269
June 2, 2023
This is one of the rare books that will truly impact my philosophy on life. Moore gives practical suggestions on how to craft a beautiful, meaningful life, whether you subscribe to a formal religion, are an atheist, or anything in between. His approach to the concept of religion is gentle & openminded in a way that I haven’t encountered anywhere else. Most importantly, his goal is to encourage everyone to find their own way—not to get anyone else to do things exactly as he does them.
“…a religion of one’s own is not a reasonable, placid, or convenient way to be spiritual. It’s an opening to the full thrust of what it means to be part of a vast, mysterious, and powerful existence. Like all real religion, it is basically a willingness to stand at the edge of our existence.”
“…a religion of one’s own is not a reasonable, placid, or convenient way to be spiritual. It’s an opening to the full thrust of what it means to be part of a vast, mysterious, and powerful existence. Like all real religion, it is basically a willingness to stand at the edge of our existence.”
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March 2, 2020ik ben groot fan van Thomas Moore, vooral van zijn eerste boek Care of the Soul
toch ben ik hier in blijven steken
toch ben ik hier in blijven steken
November 15, 2014
A RELIGION OF ONE'S OWN: A GUIDE TO CREATING PERSONAL SPIRITULAITY IN A SECULAR WORLD
BY THOMAS MOORE
Thomas Moore presents a guide for individuals to create their own spirituality outside the bounds of the traditional organized religious organizations. It is book that in our age speaks loudly to a the major portion of society that has difficulty with organized religions and their set beliefs.
From my own experience it speaks to me in that it is the way in which through the years, not knowing it, I came to be who I am, and am becoming. Recently a 25 year old friend, whom I have known since he was 14 came to visit, I believe one of the reasons for seeing me was to explain why 7 years ago, his senior year in high school, he basically withdrew from communication. It was a great conversation. He commented: "I began to pull into the mainstream and you remained on the edge, and you were always so generous with me no matter what I did, and you were generous with everyone, and caring and I did not understand."
I grew up and practiced a traditional ministry, but when I came out, my world was not out from under me. Everything I believed was in question,. and through that journey of questioning I developed a "religion of one's own." A spirituality that speaks to me, that guides me and sustains me. On the surface I am a very orthodox Christian, and I am very Christ-centered, but through the fire of the journey I have come to see people as very fragile creatures, and that God in Christ loves each one of them for who they are. I can not bring my own judgment on others when I am the "biggest bastard of all," and I know that, and I know that Jesus redeemed me. One young man commented "you must have done some really awful things to do what you do now, to hang out with us," and the truth is I hang out with everyone regardless because I am redeemed, and forgiven, not to get ":karma". I have come to see that wealth stops the development of one's life. I encourage people to live simply and give the rest to those who do not have it. I have come to see all of us as spiritual beings in whatever we believe or do not believe in, and therefore there is no right or wrong way to believe. And I do live on the edge, I push the envelope. I call it the way I see it, regardless of my own persona consequences, without apology. Like my friend Dr. Will Tuttle I stir the fire within people, and I do that without apology. People often ask me, "Why don't you have a partner? Why don't you have a significant other?" And again that comes from my journey, I remember a time a long time ago I thought about settling down with someone, and my boss at the time said, "You can have the one, or you can serve the thousands." And I chose the thousands, and that has been the greatest gift of all, to serve, to love, to care for the thousands. I have found being removed from my former denomination was God's gift of leading me to develop a religion of my own, in other words to let God create from the fires within me the place to where he leads me. It is a painful experience, but Moore is correct in that it is the fulfilling way to live one's life. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
VegInspiration
The contemporary vegan movement is founded on loving-kindness and mindfulness of our effects on others. It is revolutionary because it transcends and renounces the violent core of the herding culture in which we live. It is founded on living the truth of interconnectedness and thereby consciously minimizing the suffering we impose on animals, humans, and biosystems; it frees us all from the slavery of becoming mere commodities. It signifies the birth of a new consciousness, the resurrection of intelligence and compassion, and the basic rejection of cruelty and domination. It is our only real hope for the future of our species because it addresses the cause rather than being concerned merely with effects. Dr. Will Tuttle
BY THOMAS MOORE
Thomas Moore presents a guide for individuals to create their own spirituality outside the bounds of the traditional organized religious organizations. It is book that in our age speaks loudly to a the major portion of society that has difficulty with organized religions and their set beliefs.
From my own experience it speaks to me in that it is the way in which through the years, not knowing it, I came to be who I am, and am becoming. Recently a 25 year old friend, whom I have known since he was 14 came to visit, I believe one of the reasons for seeing me was to explain why 7 years ago, his senior year in high school, he basically withdrew from communication. It was a great conversation. He commented: "I began to pull into the mainstream and you remained on the edge, and you were always so generous with me no matter what I did, and you were generous with everyone, and caring and I did not understand."
I grew up and practiced a traditional ministry, but when I came out, my world was not out from under me. Everything I believed was in question,. and through that journey of questioning I developed a "religion of one's own." A spirituality that speaks to me, that guides me and sustains me. On the surface I am a very orthodox Christian, and I am very Christ-centered, but through the fire of the journey I have come to see people as very fragile creatures, and that God in Christ loves each one of them for who they are. I can not bring my own judgment on others when I am the "biggest bastard of all," and I know that, and I know that Jesus redeemed me. One young man commented "you must have done some really awful things to do what you do now, to hang out with us," and the truth is I hang out with everyone regardless because I am redeemed, and forgiven, not to get ":karma". I have come to see that wealth stops the development of one's life. I encourage people to live simply and give the rest to those who do not have it. I have come to see all of us as spiritual beings in whatever we believe or do not believe in, and therefore there is no right or wrong way to believe. And I do live on the edge, I push the envelope. I call it the way I see it, regardless of my own persona consequences, without apology. Like my friend Dr. Will Tuttle I stir the fire within people, and I do that without apology. People often ask me, "Why don't you have a partner? Why don't you have a significant other?" And again that comes from my journey, I remember a time a long time ago I thought about settling down with someone, and my boss at the time said, "You can have the one, or you can serve the thousands." And I chose the thousands, and that has been the greatest gift of all, to serve, to love, to care for the thousands. I have found being removed from my former denomination was God's gift of leading me to develop a religion of my own, in other words to let God create from the fires within me the place to where he leads me. It is a painful experience, but Moore is correct in that it is the fulfilling way to live one's life. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
VegInspiration
The contemporary vegan movement is founded on loving-kindness and mindfulness of our effects on others. It is revolutionary because it transcends and renounces the violent core of the herding culture in which we live. It is founded on living the truth of interconnectedness and thereby consciously minimizing the suffering we impose on animals, humans, and biosystems; it frees us all from the slavery of becoming mere commodities. It signifies the birth of a new consciousness, the resurrection of intelligence and compassion, and the basic rejection of cruelty and domination. It is our only real hope for the future of our species because it addresses the cause rather than being concerned merely with effects. Dr. Will Tuttle
July 1, 2017
At first I thought if I or anyone else would consider reading a book with a title like this one, it would be a sure sign of impending or actual heresy. While I suppose that always remains a possibility, it has occurred to me that if "religion" means to "re-connect," then how else could my connection with God and the transcendent be anything but my own connection? While there certainly is or might be an element of community in this experience, I cannot make a spiritual connection through the one that you have, can I? Evangelicals are fond of inviting others into a "personal relationship" with Christ. So, my religion must be my own, one that resonates with me ... personally.
Having said that, Moore does a good job of mining the ordinary to resacralize it, endeavoring to find God if possible in all things, places, events, and experiences and teaching the reader how to do so. Expansive and inclusive. Being attentive to the quiet whisperings and faint voices that call us into the divine.
Having said that, Moore does a good job of mining the ordinary to resacralize it, endeavoring to find God if possible in all things, places, events, and experiences and teaching the reader how to do so. Expansive and inclusive. Being attentive to the quiet whisperings and faint voices that call us into the divine.
October 5, 2017
I wonder if seeing everything through the eyes of myth to the exclusion of other perspectives isn't a distortion... This book is just Thomas Moore doing what he does - implying not only that every practice is good for some people, with which I would agree, but also implying that every practice is good for him AND a part of his practice, which realistically wouldn't give him time to eat, sleep, or shit. For me, once Moore gets beyond article length, he starts to become a giant written sleeping pill.
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January 12, 2021Honestly, I started skimming about halfway through, because it became quite repetitive. I think this could have been simply a lengthy article rather than a book. The basic summary - you can find the spiritual in everything around you and use that to create a “religious” life, including taking bits and pieces from multiple religions. Art, music, nature, etc... Strangest part was the chapter that suddenly started discussing self therapy? Never really related it to spiritual life? It almost seemed as though a chapter from another book got inserted randomly? Love the concept - just not the book.
September 25, 2019
A Different Take on Religon
He has reached many of the same conclusions that I've reached. It seems to me each person has a particular and unique understanding. I really like his suggestions on consciously and purposely creating the best religion for each of us. I see so many centering their lives on unworkable patterns - from hand-me-down and worn out religions, from hideously distorted religions to worshipping at the altar of sports or consumerism. My blog deals with this and all things spiritual.
He has reached many of the same conclusions that I've reached. It seems to me each person has a particular and unique understanding. I really like his suggestions on consciously and purposely creating the best religion for each of us. I see so many centering their lives on unworkable patterns - from hand-me-down and worn out religions, from hideously distorted religions to worshipping at the altar of sports or consumerism. My blog deals with this and all things spiritual.
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