Amazon.com (ISBN 0060922249, Paperback)

Care of the Soul is considered to be one of the best primers for soul work ever written. Thomas Moore, an internationally renowned theologian and former Catholic monk, offers a philosophy for living that involves accepting our humanity rather than struggling to transcend it. By nurturing the soul in everyday life, Moore shows how to cultivate dignity, peace, and depth of character. For example, in addressing the importance of daily rituals he writes, "Ritual maintains the world's holiness. As in a dream a small object may assume significance, so in a life that is animated by ritual there are no insignificant things." This is the eloquence that helped reintroduce the sacred into everyday language and contemporary values.

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0060165979, Hardcover)

New York Times bestseller for over ten months, this is a life-style guide that shows how to add spirituality, depth, and meaning to modern-day life by nurturing the soul. It shows you how to look more deeply into emotional problems and sense the sacredness in ordinary things, easing frustration and emptiness and broadening your perspective on the meaning of your life.

Thomas Moore's books have sold over two million copies. Care of the Soul and Soul Mates are both New York Times bestsellers.

Read by Peter Thomas.

Amazon.com (ISBN 0067575110, Hardcover)

"This, I felt, is the best way to consider the soul--to be stopped in almost every page by an intriguing image that sustains the mystery but at the same time reveals something that words cannot express," writes Thomas Moore in the introduction to his illustrated edition of Care of the Soul. To this end, Moore has inarguably succeeded. For example, when discussing Jung's version of the shadow, Moore writes, "The person we choose to be automatically creates a dark double--the person we choose not to be." On the opposite page he places Edvard Munch's painting titled Puberty, showing a stark- eyed, naked girl, covering herself in modesty, as her shadow looms large behind her. Later, when Moore writes, "We can bridge the gap between the sacred church and the secular world by occasionally ritualizing the everyday things we do," he uses Johannes Vermeer van Delft's portrait of The Lacemaker to stitch the two worlds together.

It is Moore's hope that readers recognize their souls in the realm of everyday humanity, rather than distancing themselves with disrespect or lack of awareness. Ironically, he now brings readers closer to their souls through the human and mysterious realm of art--a feat that adds greater meaning and purpose to an already profound and satisfying work. --Gail Hudson