Wisdom is underrated

We live in a time when we have replaced secret wisdom with information. Those are not my words. They are Thomas Moore’s and they come from his best-seller Care of the Soul.

I admit I’m a little late to this party. Care of the Soul was published in 1998 and there are over a million copies in print, so maybe you’ve already read it. I’m just getting started, but I’m already going to recommend it to you. (Not too risky on my part, as I just told you over a million copies are in print.)

Using art, mythology, his training as a therapist, musician and 12 years spent as a monk, Moore guides us to connect with our soul or our spiritual selves and tap into our own questions, answers and in-betweens with comments like these:

• We have replaced secret wisdom with information.

• Modern medicine . . . is hell-bent on cure and has no interest in the body’s inherent art.

• If we do not tend the soul consciously and artfully, then its issues remain largely unconscious, uncultivated, and therefore often problematic.

• We have a spiritual longing for community and relatedness and for a cosmic vision, but we go after them with literal hardware instead of with sensitivity of heart.

• The intellect wants to know; the soul likes to be surprised.

• Imagine a trust in yourself, or another person, or in life itself, that doesn’t need to be proved and demonstrated, that is able to contain uncertainty.

This book is a best-seller for a reason. Whether you read it years ago or it’s new to you like it is to me, I urge you to spend time with it. It is ripe with story-telling, wisdom, inspiration, inquisition and so much more, all for your benefit.