A Religion Of One's Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World

(Paperback)

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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 path: 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.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE HARDCOVER
When [Moore] is read closely, his depth is apparent...he stands to make some new converts to the noninstitutional ranks of spirituality. Publisher's Weekly

"[A Religion of Ones Own] offers a new vision of how seekers can fashion their own connection to the sacred out of the materials of ancient faiths and everyday life."
Psychology Today

"Practical suggestions for crafting ones own religion."
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

"[Moore's] counsel is consistently sensible and affirming. This book should appeal to many of the unchurched, as well as the faithful across traditions."
Library Journal

"When [Moore] is read closely, his depth is apparenthe stands to make some new converts to the noninstitutional ranks of spirituality."
Publishers Weekly

[Moore] offers a new vision of how seekers can fashion their own connection to the sacred out of the materials of ancient faiths and everyday life. Psychology Today

[Moore's] counsel is consistently sensible and affirming. This book should appeal to many of the unchurched, as well as the faithful across traditions. Library Journal

Practical suggestions for crafting one's own religion. Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

In these reductive and fundamentalist times, Thomas Moore asks us to question the workings of a sun-bright culture, which demands our happy, healthy productivity at perhaps the cost of our very soul. Andre Dubus III, author of HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG

Thomas Moore is one of the profound spiritual writers of our time. We've all been discouraged by neat, tidy self-help dogmatism, and Moore refuses to succumb to the commercialism of simplistic, superficial, and subjective solutions. Moore helps us see expectations and is always on the side of abundant life. John Bradshaw, author of #1 New York Times bestseller HOMECOMING

Thomas Moore is an authentic example of a new kind of therapist--a doctor of the soul--which in our century has been in short supply. Larry Dossey, MD, author of MEANING & MEDICINE and BEYOND ILLNESS

Thoughtful, elegant, inspiring. San Francisco Chronicle

All of us go through troubled times, when we lie awake at night unable to sleep, wishing we had a comforting book to read. Now you do. DARK NIGHTS OF THE SOUL brings solace to the aching heart. Marianne Williamson, author of EVERDAY GRACE and A RETURN TO LOVE

Thomas Moore is the master of conveying the insight that the dark times in our lives are not threats but friends and teachers. Rabbii Harold Kushner, author of WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

PRAISE FOR CARE OF THE SOUL

Many thanks to Thomas Moore for these profound and timely insights. Genuinely inspirational.

Author Bio

Thomas Moorewas a monk for twelve years, a musician, a university professor, and a psychotherapist. He writes regularly forPsychology Today,The Huffington Post,Spirituality & Health, andResurgence Magazine. He lectures widely on holistic medicine, spirituality, psychotherapy, and the arts. Moore has been awarded numerous honors, including the Humanitarian Award from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and an honorary doctorate from Lesley University. Thomas is the author of eighteen previous books, includingCare of the Soul,Soul Mates, andDark Nights of the Soul. He lives in New Hampshire.