No, not that Thomas More. As a change of pace, I thought that I would offer a few comments about a recent book. In A Religion of One’s Own, Thomas Moore speaks to the needs of spirituality within our very secularized world — and also about the need of secularity in our overly ossified religious institutions. While he is not a critic of formal religion, he advocates the creation and refinement of one’s own spiritual path through engagement with multiple religious traditions. He often uses his own experiences as illustrative, since he has been a monk and psychotherapist. He also studied extensively in Buddhism, Hinduism, and multiple mythological traditions. This book is also peppered with quotes and perspectives from Emerson, Thoreau, O’Keefe, and a host of other “non-religious” deep people.
Aside from his experience, Moore offers a very rare look into how one can create a three-dimensional spirituality that is not simply dependent on going to church, temple, or mosque. At every step, the reader is confronted with practical steps to concretize the theoretical areas which Moore considers. He looks at formal religious traditions, mysticism and mystical experience, the importance of dreams, therapy, the erotic, secularism, art, muses and angels, intuition, magic (primarily in the sense of recognizing the amazing things happening around you in a natural way –i.e., wonder), the monastic angle, and building a spiritual lifestyle. Also, reading this book does not require a particular religious background or choosing one along the way.
Simply put, Moore has written the best possible DIY book on adding depth to your life.
I particularly enjoyed this book because Moore is the writer who seems to get inside my head and write about exactly what I am thinking in exactly the way I would write about it. Do you have someone like that? My wife has Brené Brown. If you don’t have an author who eerily knows your thoughts (and not in a Stephen King sort of way), start looking around — he/she is out there…waiting for you…