Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship

by Thomas Moore

This companion volume to Care of the Soul offers more of Thomas Moore's inspiring wisdom and empathy as it expands on his ideas about life, love, and the mysteries of human relationships.

In Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore explored the importance of nurturing the soul and struck a chord nationwide—the book became a long-term bestseller, topping charts across the country.

Building on that book's wisdom, Soul Mates explores how relationships of all kinds enhance our lives and fulfill the needs of our souls. Moore emphasizes the difficulties that inevitably accompany many relationships and focuses on the need to work through these differences in order to experience the deep reward that comes with intimacy and unconfined love.

Genres: Psychology, Spirituality, Relationships, Nonfiction, Self Help, Philosophy, Love

267 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Thomas 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.

Reviews

[Jaime]

as i get older
and continue to build my nest of love
i'm so taken by the lil birds
that have landed along side of me
to shake me and wake me
:
there are those rare gems
that when you look into their eyes
you know you sit warmly in their depths.

soul mates.

[Mark Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure what to do with the thoughts/feelings that have gripped me since reading Moore’s book. Over and over he writes of the “soul-work” we’re all challenged to engage in.

And really all along the way and right to the end he’s making an argument for facing off with and confronting everything that transpires in our lives without judgement, that love is the ground and life affirmation the end all: the good and bad, the dark and despairing, the difficult and confusing, the grand and glorious, the joyous and uplifting, all of it revealing and important in seeing clearly who and how we are in the world, and what we want to be.

He’s saying let it play out, pay attention, keep truckin’, even at your worst, the lowest moment in your life, imagine it, the darkest most challenging and insufferable moment of your life, he’s saying stand firm, lean in, be vulnerable, take the blows, be angry, be sad, be firm, be assertive, let go or give in, do not resist, and/or resist, yes yes, let it play out, be who you are and be who you aren’t, fearlessness and courage ever so paramount. There’s no fixed entity, ego, there’s just you in a moment, creating, acting, thinking and feeling. LIVE and LOVE!

This is not easy, to be fully engaged and alive to all of what we are and what our soul mates are. And here’s the deal, we don’t connect with everyone, some folks touch us immediately, attract us, we gravitate to them, and it can be absolutely inappropriate, and you can see pain and suffering in it, but it’s near unavoidable, you have to navigate the difficulties, listen, see, hear and feel, decide, or not decide, yes yes, live and love.

There’s insight and understanding that provokes and unsettles, and an odd and paradoxical feeling of comfort and confidence right along side a crazed fear and anxiety.

Much to ponder here. I am a changed person and there’s more to come as it all plays out. That’s what good books do to you. ♥

[Candace Whitney Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another amazing installment in Moore's lifelong quest towards avodacting the mysterious and unfathomable depths of the human soul and how it can possible amalgamate to another equally enigmatic human soul. Moore confronts moralism in sexuality as well as pondering the needs of soul - in that it often wants detachment just as much as attachment, coldness as well as passion. Though I consider myself a lover of soul and proponent of the soul's journey, Moore never ceases to press further into the process and combats the arid analysis of relationships and the "lets fix it" mentality through practical means, and encourages relationships to delve into every aspect of the relationship - even the vices - in an effort to hear what the soul of your being has to say. Always challenging, never simple, forever entrenched in the mythology of Jungian and Grecian archetypes, I find Moore more and more (hah) offering me a truth older and safer than I know...

If I had to sum up a few Moorian tenants:
1. Be a friend to yourself.
2. Do not repress even the slightest inkling/desire inside of you (he does not encourage acting upon every inkling but facing all the parts of yourself, the shadows as well as the sunlight, in an effort to let the soul be heard).

[Steve Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped to inspire a song I wrote for my soulmate:
Here is just a few words:
"Just two imperfect people, perfectly made for each other.
Willing to go the distance to find the perfect comfort for every imperfect heartache.
Just two imperfect people, perfectly made for each other...."
I appreciate Thomas Moore writings and understanding, even more so the way in which he communicates so that one soul can understand their mate.

[Yelda Basar Moers · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is a soul mate? I don't think the author here really explains it, so it is left as a mystery. I admit, it is difficult to define such a spiritual concept in concrete terms, and his title does say "honoring the mysteries of love and relationship," but an attempt to explain how people connect as soul mates would have been helpful.

Ultimately I found this book to be not so much about soul mates, but about the author's own beliefs about the workings of the soul and our connections with others. His explanations mix in his own experiences, myths, and the ideas of philosophers, poets and archetypal psychologists, but I felt that he neglected to explain how such a relationship works in our present day society.

I would recommend this book, but I think the reader may be more confused about the concept after reading it than before. It is an ephemeral and magical account of the topic, but lacks a real attempt to unravel or solve the mystery. The author is happy to leave the soul and its dealings as a mysterious, ineffable and unexplainable aspect of our lives. So where does that leave us? In my opinion, nowhere.

So be it! Let's leave it as a mystery. But I would have rather read an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson or a poem by Rumi if I wanted to remain on such amorphous grounds!

[Robin Woodcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appropriately read this book on a flight to San Francisco -- some of you will think it hippie dippy but I have to say, I really appreciated its introspective view and the encouragement of the author. Thanks to Clare
Gupta for passing it along! Also liked that while it's a little heady and even circular at times, there are good examples from mythology and references to Jung that sort of ground it. I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about themselves in relationships (platonic, romantic, familial) or generally in the secret sauce of what makes a relationship go, pause/detour or end. No clear answers, but makes you think.

[Mehrsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book twice—in a row. Like I finished it and then started it again and finished it. It is a Jungian/mythical view of relationships—marriage, friendship, community, self. it’s very wise and it will take me some time to think through all the riches in here

[Trisha Keiman]

One of my favorite writers. He teaches about ourselves, others and the world around us. This book focuses on the meanigns behind intimacy, separations, endings, beginnings, sexual conflicts and any other obstacles in our pursuit for intimacy. It basically tells us that if we are brave enough, willing enough to go these these motions, we will be enriched and our souls will thrive. He also explores being soulful in a community, society and with other nations. I love the way he adds a wide range of thoughts from Sufi poetry to Emily Dickinson or native american folktales.

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that the best advice one can gain from this book is to explore both the darkness and the light in love and life and see them as necessary cycles that will and must unfold. Live life as poetry unfolding. A very worthwhile read.

[Ganesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Moore's writing is soul candy. Maybe that's an inadequate metaphor. . . . Here's another stab at it: it's a magnificent, delightful feast for the soul.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoy Moore's interpretation of myths into the points he is trying to make, his thesis of the soul as an individual is I think not as interesting nor profound as the myths he poses as ways to make his point. Moore's genius lies with his ability to imbue the sacred with ordinary life. Life is a paradox and the soul and its needs are unpredictable. To have a successful relationship, one has to respect the movements of the soul and allow it to go where it wants to go. To live in a soulful relationship will allow us to fail in relationships as well as succeed; that is to live life without fear. He relates relationships as imperfect manifestation of the Christians God's Grace to us. I give this book a 2.5. A 2 because the book is a repetitive nature of his thesis and 0.5 because of his overall thesis that relationship as Grace.

Thomas Moore believes that dramatic shifts in action comes in small shifts in imagination; thus the book of soulmates is meant to have a small shift imagination that may change the outcome of how one sees relationships. He decries the surface actions in relationships that we need to somehow "mechanically fix" something instead of having the soul grow into what it is going to be. He states that "religion recognizes pain and failure as important in the soul's deepening and sophistication". He states that this applies to relationship too: "pain and difficulty can sometimes serve as the pathway to a new level of involvement. He states that technology in its focus on the efficient use of communication leaves out the use of the soul in its need to have intimate relationships. He states the souls are rooted in the past and resistant change thus an attachment to past relationships, places, or ideas. Attachment also goes against the feeling of freedom that we are taught to desire in the US. He states that the spirit of freedom, solitude, and detachment goes against the souls desire for attachment. I want both intimacy and solitude to do the mission I was sent on earth to do. He agrees with me that both are important to have a fulfilling life. We need to "be both intimately connected with another, and @ the same time preserve one's integrity and individuality". Both Daphne the nymph who flees from attachment and Apollo who has an impetus desire are important in relationships.

Moore states intimacy starts with loving the self since hating oneself will spill over to any relationship that one undergoes. He states that we are all individuals with our own wants and desires and these individualism should be honored. Conversations of wonder and open is a must for any relationship to thrive and grow. A deep relationship needs the person to know oneself as well the depth of the others soul. He states that "when a relationship is soulful, the soul's irrationality will be revealed for all to see".

He talks about the influences of our parental relationships, life philosophies and past relationships in shaping our current relationships. He thinks that the soul needs imagination to think of possibilities not already realized. He states that we all need to have self-love via self-acceptance not passive resignation.

He states the key to be marriageable is to have creative individual life and the person you are going to marry has their own life and when your 2 parallel tracks are meant to be then, it will be easy in marrying. Moore states that aside from the lofty image of marriage as a union b/w two souls, marriage always has a practical/mundane/bestial aspect to it. "We are drawn into intimacy by possibilities rather than by realities, by the promise of things to come rather than by proven accomplishments, and perhaps by seduction that are darker than the bright reasons to which we admit." "It is the primary task of the marriage partners not to create a life together, but to evoke the soul's lover, to stir up this magical fantasy of marriage and to sustain it, thus serving the particular all-important myth that lies deep in the lover's heart and that supplies a profound need for meaning, fulfillment, and relatedness." Furthermore, Moore states the importance to keep a little darkness in the marriage to spice it up. He states what are the lovers deep fantasies of the married partner that are deeper than even their own conscious awareness. As he so adequately puts, "what can I hold in my subtle left hand to charm her, as my right hand goes about the mundane business of making a living and building a home?" Moore feels that feelings and imagination needs to be engaged in marriage or else the magic is gone. Moore states that marriage needs to be seen as bondage and a degree of knowing masochism in approaching the subject may be in order. He states that marriage is not an avenue for instant happiness but rather a venue for the soul's growth. Moore states that "the industrious young women desires is the one who carries black currants---the darker animal world." Furthermore, he states that the soul needs mortifying experiences for it to grow.

The key to caring for the soul in marriage is to honor fate, the invisible force that brought the marriage together and is causing the soul to constantly grow, honoring the genius (procreative element in marriage) in its wants and desire for the married unit to grow in a new direction. Every marriage has its unique characteristics that needs to be teased out while every individual in that marriage needs to have their moment to grow within that marriage.

Moore states that family is the interconnectedness of people in a community where one interacts with the other. For him, a family is a grounding force that gives an individual purpose. Moore states it is bad to blame the parents for ones individual failures b/c it tethers people to the parents through blame while parents should live a happy and productive life as a healthy example to their children instead of hiding behind their children success. The family contains the sacred that makes people feel calmer when they come into contact with it. By raising the Virgin Mary to a close second Jesus, Catholics acknowledges the importance of the feminine within religion. He states that family tradition helps in giving life to a person's family spirit.

He states that if our soul is sick maybe what we need is friendship b/c it offers a feeling of relatedness. Practical friendship asks for containment and confidentiality in what the friend discloses to the other. It requires loyalty and presence. He states that friendship needs a period of incubation to see whether or not the friendship will flourish and once it flourishes then cultivation of the friendship is needed to make it thrive. Friendship entails a paradoxical blending of intimacy and individuality. Whereas a family is an obligation, friendship is a choice. The culture of paranoia goes against the culture of friendliness and trust that is necessary for people to cultivate friends. Just like a culture of friendliness is important for people to make friends, Moore states that manners facilitates friendships. Moore has an interesting way of looking at a community as convivial experience that is the individual only expresses his individuality in relation to the community and thus both become alive. He cites monks vows of poverty as letting go of personal affects in order for the community to thrive, chastity as the letting go of physical love and its accompanying attachment in order to fulfill a more important love of ones neighbor not centered on one individual, and obedience to the will of God in order to better fulfill ones potential on earth as ways to foster conviviality. He cites monastic vows as a way for individuals to serve the community.

Moore states that intimate communication need not bear the soul continuously, it can be just going for a walk together or working together. He says that conversation gives shape to what we believe. Through talking through ideas, we give it shape and form. Some ideas are purely intellectual, devoid of the soul. A good conversation purposelessly meanders and is less pointed and focus and is the kind of talk in which one feels one is really living. Conversation needs a person to listen while other person to talk. He states that "conversation is the sex act of the soul, and as such it is supremely conducive to the cultivation of intimacy."

Aside from conversation to feed intimacy, other people use writing letters as a better way to create intimacy. Letters are more thoughtful than conversation since we choose our words more carefully. Moore states "the person to whom we write our letters is more imaginal than actual". Unlike a conversation, a letter lets us take everything in before responding. Keeping letters is also a great way for the soul to be part of the past. Aside from the fact that the writer writes a letter to express his feelings, it allows him to reflect on his emotions and experience them.

Moore states that sex and romance are both enticing and dangerous; the quality of ambiguity and even duplicity is inherent in their nature. He states that Aphrodite is the goddess of love and deception b/c early sexual love can be deceptively simplistic that hides the complexity of pregnancy and STD later on in the relationship. Saying yes to Aphrodite's love and exuberant life is to invite the most painful initiations into its darkest mysteries. Moore states that staying open to ambiguity in life leads to the growth of the soul. Even though romantic illusions serve to extenuate the positive sides to a person's personality and decrease their defects, too much of this in a marriage can lead to disillusion and ultimately divorce since no one can ever live up to the ideals of "the perfect spouse". Moore states the ability to deal with different issues on the soul level is to use imaginations of different scenarios and to reconcile the wants of one into excepted conventional modes of being. In other words, it is simply a shift in thinking about the problem that allows one to live ones life without the necessary conflict that comes with it. He states that Aphrodite love can be good on its own without the need to link it to lifelong partnerships.

Moore was taught as a child that sex was godly in that it was part of God's creation and thus was holy but the actual act and thinking of it was sinful. The sex figure in Hermes is a metaphor for communicating ones love for the other through the medium of sex. To evoke Aphrodite in our love lives, we have to evoke her in our lust for a life well lived in that we have to live life to our fullest potential. He states that Artemis chastity has its place in sexuality in the wide-eyed wonder of innocence and as a vessel for withholding sexuality as a way to increase erotic tension. Moore states that intercourse means physical sex as well as an intimate conversation (post-coital bearing of feelings to cement the physicality that one underwent via sex.

He states that Aphrodite is associated with Ares aggression signaling the need for an aggressor in the sexual relation (testosterone) while Eros signals desire and longing so inherent in love for the beloved. He states that sex can be an invitation for the soul to come out and play. Moralism as the enemy of desire leads people to repression and thus acting out that desire in inappropriate ways while eroticism and morality can coexist in that morality can give shape to the erotic life force for the good of the individual. I like his imagery of sexuality as intimacy in our eagerness to open our body means our disclosure of ourselves to our partner. Only through relationship sex with the emphasis on one partner can one get to know intimacy the person one is having sex with. "The soul of sex has the power to evoke relationship, to sustain it, and to make it worthwhile."

Moore states that sometimes relationships end due to forces beyond our control such as fate. Although I like how he focuses on the soul, I think he blames the "souls" wants and needs too much for endings of relationships. Break-ups of meaningful relationships can signify a shift from egocentric way of looking at things to a more spiritual God centric way of looking at things in that it acknowledges there are forces beyond our control that influences the shape of our life. Moore through Eliade suggests that all endings are potential beginnings and that all beginnings carry the potential seeds of endings. He says that endings go hand-in-hand with beginnings and we have to fully experience an ending in order to be ready to experience a new beginning. He states that anger as a response to an ending of a relationship can be healthy if it provides "an opportunity to establish firmness and strength in ones own character and prepare for relationship that is well grounded". He states that we should see"an ending [as a] door opening into an unknown and promising world".

PATHOLOGIES OF LOVE: Although pathos traditionally suffering, in Greek it really means something done to the person thus inviting change that can bring in great opportunity. Even illness with bringing in pathologies, also brings with it great opportunities to grow. Love and attachment brings with it great feelings of pathologies. For example, excessive jealousy at a partners past relationship occurs. Jealousy can signal a loss of vibrancy in that individual and seeing that they need to have courage to regain the lost vibrancy. He further states that every relationship has elements of Power play in which victimization is felt. He says that obsessive love happens to people who provide idealistic love to someone who is far away and thus not known to him. The fact that he cannot have her makes him want her more. Long-distance relationship can create more of a sense of longing in which letter writing is an intimate part of it. Moore states that there is an ebb and flow to love that needs to be respected. We can use the cooling off period to ask questions of our relationships in order to reenter it into a deeper understanding. He is a big believer of pathologies of love as opportunities for the growth of the soul.

Moore states that individuality is truly wrapped in the community that is in order to have a true community it must be made up of true individuals while individuals can only arise within the context of a community. Although I respect his focus on peoples souls as the main arbiters in relationships, I reject the idea that b/c the soul wills it one can break commitments, promises, fidelities, and reliable habits. He cites a client who always was caught b/w the idealized world of the ideal relationship and the realistic world of an actual relationship. He advocates the arts to stimulate imagination over experience and facts. He states that the soul in relationship is given raw materials in which only refinement through experience can shape into a finished product.

[Olive Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea about what I would learn when I began to read Thomas Moore’s SOUL MATES. I must say, I was moved by Moore’s simple yet deep discourse, in which he entwines soul (separate from spirit and body) and mates (friendships) in a way clergy might not have adequately succeed. In his Introduction, Moore prepares the reader to accept or reject long held soul factors in unusual ways; as regards relationships, sex, and community. SOUL MATES sees issues such as; incompleteness, rough edges and loose ends as more of life's ongoing emotions, not to be rushed to conclusion but to be steeped into time for a fitting outcome. The “meat” of SOUL MATES covers friendships, intimacy, love, marriage, sex, faithfulness and much more. A good, clean read.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moore discusses the nature of soul, its role in intimacy and the soulful dimensions of love, family, marriage, friendship and community. Moreover he illustrates his approaches based on various materials from Sufi writings, psychology, Greek mythology and his practice as a psychotherapist.
Based on his approach, Moore emphasises on soul mate is important form of relationship. He defines it as “someone to whom we feel profoundly connected, as though the communicating and communing that takes place between us were not the product of intentional efforts but rather a divine grace.” He thinks that soul has its ways of personified us as human. And soul mates are those who support us in discovering our self and life….
Hope this book leads to find the soul mates of the readers…

[Bengisu Gonul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful for this book and for the person who lent it to me to read at this time in my life. I have gained such new perspective on the way I live my life.
Here are a few of my favourite discoveries in this book:
Soul is always attached to what is actually happening, not necessarily what could or will be.
Soul in relationships: Allowing yourself to observe more than act in a relationship, to feed your imagination more than rationalize with it, you get closer to the alchemical gold in your heart, the profound insight and abiding wisdom.
Even thought attachment can feel like a burden, the soul wants to be attached, involved, and stuck because it is such intimacy that it is nourished and deepened.
The best soul-work is to take a great deal of time in the phase of getting to know yourself. Life will follow upon reflection. Trust that a genuine shift in imagination will result in a change in life.
Your soul may try to move itself against your resistance and ignorance of it, so only by loving your soul in its entirety, you will really love yourself.
Soul and marriage: If we see marriage as commitment of two to each other, we overlook its soul. The point in marriage is not to create a material, human world, but rather to evoke a spirit of love that is not of this world.
So forget about following a manual, and rather build a shrine to it, find its god and goddess, be its priest rather than its technician.
Soul and family: Blaming our struggling human parents for the utterly deep mysteries distracts us from our own responsibilities. By divinizing our parents, we dehumanize them. When we idealize the family, we demonize it. We oversimplify the challenge of our own existence.
Soul in friendships: The soul recognizes the hidden treasures in each other and forge the alliance. Cultivate friendships in an indirect manner.
Soul in conversations: What matters is not how much you expose about yourself in conversation, but that your soul is engaged. Find forms of expression that emerge from and touch the soul, like writing letters, songs, sending postcards, etc.
Soul and sex: Sex is the soul's limpid mirror, its litmus and its gesture. it can be an invitation to the soul to come out and play.
Soul and endings: part of the pain is that it evokes memories of other endings, bitterness may emerge from a great struggle of ego against fate. If we embrace the pain, however, we can say that even though it may be a failure in life, it had been Brought to term successfully for the soul. Every relationship has its limitations, and a death experience like endings are the only way towards true beginnings for the soul.
Soul never learns but it metamorphose. So be initiated into should through your experiences, even if they are similar and they are seen as failures in life.
Soul has its own music with its rhythms and tempos inherent in it. There will be times of rest, pauses in music. When we feel a lessening of love, we could enter that feeling and discover rhythms of our own soul. So don't be afraid of entering the silence and watch how soul is expressing itself at that moment.
Lastly, you can't have a genuine community unless you feel like a true individual, and you can't be an individual unless you are deeply involved in community!

[Jennifer Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Thomas Moore’s writing. It is thoughtful and poetic and gives me permission to embrace all of the paradoxes of being human. I love his approach to soul and relationships.

[Steve A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always wondered why some couple split,
and then at sign of trouble, say to the one person they promised never to leave, Adios amego?
....and why other couple go the full distance?
For myself, I am far Far FAR from perfect, and have failed so much more than I have successes.
The greatest lesson I’ve learned in life, I’ve learned from my wife, not by what she says, rather, by how she lives.
Interpreting that into my own words:
“L❤️VE as much as you want to be Forgiven,
F💔RGIVE as much as you want to be L💞VED”

This book “SoulMates” is not a book of secrets to make any marriage last?
For these truths are already in your heart, ya just gonna open, listen and live them...
Read the book.

[Berthine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"As with all matters of soul, it is in honoring its impulses that we find our way best into its mysteries."

Biography: Moore was born in 1940 in Detroit, Michigan to an Irish Catholic family. As a youth he joined the Servites, a Roman Catholic lay order where he studied philosophy and music.
He then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chicago's DePaul University, a Master of Arts degree in musicology from the University of Michigan, a Master of Arts degree in theology from the University of Windsor, Ontario, and in 1975, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in religion from Syracuse University. He taught at Glassboro State College and then Southern Methodist University. Denial of tenure at SMU launched Moore's next career.
From 1974 to 1990 he practiced as a psychotherapist influenced by the writings of Carl Jung and James Hillman, first in Dallas, Texas and later in New England.
Thomas Moore is the author of popular spiritual books including the New York Times best seller, Care of the Soul (1992).
After the success of Care of the Soul and its companion volume Soul Mates, he became a full-time professional writer who lectures internationally about spirituality, ecology, psychotherapy and religion. A Life at Work, was released in 2008 and Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels, in May 2009. His latest book, Care of the Soul in Medicine, is due to be published in April 2010.

[PaulA Ghosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good insight into soulful life. Since was looking a bit more on soulful relationship in terms of friendship so agreed with author here and there generic manner.

[♡ Angie ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOULMATES: HONORING THE MYSTERIES OF LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS BY THOMAS MOORE

Rating: 5/5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Looks like: The Bible mixed with Starhawk

Feels like: An interesting take on the soul

Soulmates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationships by Catholic writer Thomas Moore offers an intriguing and wholly unique perspective on interpersonal human relationships.
Moore infers that we should not be approaching human relationships from the perspective of personal possession or validation, but from the perspective of the soul itself. This book provides an interesting explanation on why most human relationships fail as well as offers ways on how best to learn from these experiences.

Some notable chapters I read include:

III. THE INTIMATE IMAGINATION
IV. SHADOWS OF INTIMACY
V. PLEASURES OF SOUL MATES

Overall, I agree with a lot of what Moore has to say in regards to love and the human soul, and definitely think that we would all have much more fulfilling lives if we approached one another from this perspective.

[Dhruti Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our journey on earth is to purely experience the infinite, fertile, and richly complex landscapes of the soul through our mortal existence — this book brings to the fore deep meditation, reflection, and engaging introspection on the sublime and intensely intimating ways of the soul's expeditions in one life.

Thomas Moore's words are not mere words, but a significant cosmos of offerings on the interiority of the soul world, meant to navigate and shift perspectives, alter rigid patterns of thinking, and get the reader immensely close to the soul's relationships with many realities. It is a book to cherish, revisit from time to time, and most importantly to use as an anchor when meeting any aspects of life that involves a relationship — with the self, or another person, community, religion; just about anything.

I can't emphasise, how important this book is, especially when confronted with a disintegrated reality.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps I should return to certain passages of this work all through my life to find new insight into myself. I have had a life long struggle with ideas I’ve seen to be polar opposites – religion & science and sensuality & intellect where Moore seems to view the facets of life as different qualities to feed the soul, not to be denied and all of value to the soul. The insight I found within these pages is vast, but one passage in particular on page 179 stuck with me. ‘Even intelligent, sophisticated people who don’t consider themselves moralistic often become drawn into moralisms in areas where they are emotionally vulnerable.’ That is exactly what I’ve been doing with my sister in sermonizing on her tendency to cling to a man just because she can’t face being alone. The subtitle of ‘honoring the mysteries of love and relationships’ is something I full intend to do.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Began to read this book this year...very intuitive and soul-touching. Stopped reading it..need to pick up again soon. So much of Thomas Moore's writing is so familiar and true, as if it were a part of me all along. Plan to restart/continue this book soon. Not sure what has kept me from doing so yet...perhaps the connection it had with me, regarding that particular time in my life. Although I have not read the entire book, I would strongly recommend reading it...without fear or hesitation of what it may reveal.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books where you're never quite sure at any paragraph if what you're reading is pure wisdom or just another insipid platitude. Which way you go with it seems to be your choice. And perhaps that's fitting. That said, I really liked this book. Thomas Moore seemed to take a fresh approach to relationships that tried never to hide behind tradition or moralism. He urged patience in understanding yourself. And he advised listening intently to those dark moments of the soul when you feel faced with impossible choices. Insipid platitudes? Pure wisdom? Maybe a little of both.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas More (former monk, Jungian psychologist) has some interesting insights on the nature of "soul" in one's life and relationships. I am not always clear what exactly he is talking about, but he makes me think in terms of what my inner promptings may be saying and leading me to do. In this book he applies those same ideas to relationships, and invites the reader to not only listen to one's own soul, but the soul of the relationship.

[Paashi99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Mooore enlarges the circle of soul mates beyond the romantic relationship. Reading this one comes away with the understanding that any relationship can be soulful when its dynamics are not shadowed by conventional notions. In other words soul mates have genuine connections where the heart is open and accepting of the other.

[Rosie Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really turned my whole view of soulmates around. It gave me an understanding of soul as separate from spirit. Very thought-provoking! It challenged me to consider how I've preferred spirit over soul.

[Sharon Joller · Rating 4 out of 5]

'IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CONNECT WITH HUMAN, AND HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF RELATIONSHIPS - EVEN IF YOU DONT BELIEVE IN SOUL TRAVELING, - READ"

[Lynn Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a profound book, an important read for those who yearn for a deeper form of relationship than the superficial norm.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I read this book over ten years ago, I remember it well. It gave me a lot to think about with regards to my relationships, and was quite inspiring.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful read that has allowed me to really challenge myself. It's helped me intepret some of my behaviours and understand what I need to work upon.