Original Self: Living with Paradox and Originality,New

Product DescriptionIn Original Self, spiritual pioneer Thomas Moore guides readers back to their Godgiven personalities through fifty heartlifting meditations. This inspiring collection offers fresh interpretations of living with originality rather than conformity, presenting multidimensional portraits of the creative self and different angles from which to top one's primal emotions and possibilities. Learn what it means to live from the burning essence of the heart, with the creativity that comes from allowing the soul to blossom in its own colors and shapes.With his usual grace and insight, Moore counters the prevailing assumptions of the day and offers strikingly unorthodox views on what is virtuous and healthy, opening up possibilities for a renewal of the way we live socially and in our private lives.About the AuthorThomas Moore is the author of the bestselling Care of the Soul and twenty other books on spirituality and depth psychology that have been translated into thirty languages. He has been practicing depth psychotherapy for thirtyfive years. He lectures and gives workshops in several countries on depth spirituality, soulful medicine, and psychotherapy. He has been a monk and a university professor, and is a consultant for organizations and spiritual leaders. He has often been on television and radio, most recently on Oprah Winfreys Super Soul Sunday.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Original SelfLiving with Paradox and OriginalityBy Moore, Thomas PerennialCopyright 2004 Thomas MooreAll right reserved.ISBN: 0060953721Chapter OneWhat was the purpose of his pilgrimage?To make a new intelligence prevail.Wallace Stevens, 'The Comedian as the Letter C'Our odyssey of soul runs in counterpoint to our odyssey of life.Odyssey is a noble image for the mysterious process we call a human life. At the very font of our civilization we are fortunate to have Homer's tale of the travels of the antihero Odysseus. His is a sacred story, not the account of man on the literal seas trying to get home, but the mystery drama of Everyman, the deep story of us all, men and women, as we try to make our way through life with the hope of arriving at a place that can be called home.This journey is a soul voyage. Odysseus encounters many fantastic creatures and people, and makes a visit to the realm of the dead as well, all part of his journey of homecoming. Each of us is on such a journey, embracing both the concrete situation of our lives and an inner pilgrimage as well. We have to work out the details of our lives, but at the same time we arc challenged to deal with the past, the world the dead have made for us, and the deep inner life that is under and beyond the literal events that absorb our attention.Our age seems obstinately focused on the external details of this journey,and autobiographies and biographies tend to dwell on the facts of a life. There are remarkable exceptions, of course, like C. G. Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections, which is the story of a soul, but generally we try to make sense of life by constructing it outwardly to fit external criteria and expectations.As we ignore the inner life, or at least the symbolic life expressed in the poetry of our actions and the events of our lives, the inner world doesn't vanish; in our neglect it gathers strength as it continues to influence us. But unfamiliar with its ways, we are in large measure cut off from its progress. We sense its ups and downs in moods and emotions that seem to have little connection to life, but we try to control those vague sensations with medication and manipulation rather than make specific adjustments in response to their meaning.The soul has its own set of rules, which are not the same as those of life. Unlike the steady progress of history, for instance, the events of the soul are cyclic and repetitive. Familiar themes come round and round. The past is more important than the future. The living and t