Live Q&A about Christmas with Thomas Moore

Learn more about the soul of Christmas when Franciscan Media talks with Thomas Moore live in their Cincinnati studio on Friday 2 December, at 3:00 p.m. EST. Ask him about Christmas traditions and how to keep the Nativity spirit during the year. Visit Franciscan Media on Facebook for this live broadcast.

Giving at Christmas may help us be more loving

Franciscan Media shares Thomas Moore's new book The Soul of Christmas with an excerpt about "Gift-Giving as a Way of Life". The passage includes:

"Knowing the deeper importance of Christmas and the role of gifts in the philosophy and values of the festival might help keep gift-giving joyous and meaningful. How you imagine gifts makes all the difference. But you have to educate, train and practice a deeper way of giving. [. . .]

Giving from the Heart
If you have lost sight of the deep role of gift-giving at Christmas, wrap your presents in red, just to remind you of the heart. Give a gift that is meaningful to you and to the one receiving it. Embrace the giving and heart-centered spirit of Christmas, and don’t try to justify it through some abstract point of theology. Giving is the active theology appropriate to the festival."

Moore describes the "gift economy" in his own life and work throughout the year.

Moore is in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday 1 December 2016 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Attend this free Meet the Author event to hear more about this book.

We need to learn about the world's inherent vitality

Last month Thomas Moore accepted the invitation to be first scholar-in-residence at Horizon House in Seattle, Washington.  According to "Horizon House Inspires Community to Rethink Aging", "The idea for the program was conceived by Horizon House resident George Nickelsburg, who organized the event along with the Rev. Linda Purdy, director of spiritual care."

"Moore presented four days of talks on topics ranging from aging to art, music, religion and spirituality...

Nickelsburg first met Moore while working at the University of Iowa as a religious studies professor. When he learned that Moore was working on a new book titled Aging With Soul, he knew the prominent author would be a perfect fit for the inaugural program.

Residents were invited to meet with Moore to discuss unfinished chapters of the book, which they studied during a four-week period before Moore arrived.

'There were a number of aha moments that were wonderful to watch,' Purdy says. 'They loved his authenticity, his strength of character. He respected what they had to teach him, but they also loved some of the new ideas he introduced.'"

"More than 500 guests attended the scholar-in-residence events. Purdy hopes that the program’s success will lead to similar events in the future."

Free the Jesus teaching from dogma and authority

Kathleen Mulhern, teacher of "courses in world history, European history, and history of Christianity," hosts "Mystery and Hope: A Q&A with Thomas Moore" for Patheos The site's Book Club features Moore's new book The Soul of Christmas in November.

Among her questions Mulhern asks, "What can Jesus mean for the non-Christian? How can he still bring blessing without all the doctrine about him?

Moore responds, "It might help to notice how many people who are not Buddhist follow many Buddhist principles and methods without becoming Buddhists. It could be the same with Jesus, only there is that heavy load of tradition to set aside. You do have to take a fresh look at the Jesus teaching and try to free it up from all the dogma and authority."

She then asks, "Describe the mystical reality of Christmas, and how does that relate to the story of the Virgin Mary?"

Moore says, "In the Christmas story Jesus is not just a human being but a mythic or spiritual being, as well. You can hear the story as a great sacred tale about a figure who can help people be more loving and communal. His mother, then, is also bigger than life, a virgin mother, as sometimes happens in mythology, to show that Jesus is not entirely human but is a spiritual figure."

Aging is a lifelong process, a series of initiations

This weekend Thomas Moore is in Lenox, Massachusetts at Kripalu Center to present Aging with Soul: A Paradigm Shift with Nancy Slonim Aronie. Registration is still open. Moore draws from his new book about this theme to be published by St. Martin's Press in October 2017. His approach is outlined in this agent description of his forthcoming book, (page 13):

"Aging with Soul is  a revolutionary and inspiring new book that reframes the way we imagine aging, by renowned psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author Thomas Moore.

With the international Baby Boomer population growing at unprecedented rates, Aging with Soul will give readers everywhere vital new perspective and guidance on the rich experiences and opportunities that lie ahead for all of us. We’re living, working, and engaging with the world longer than ever before in our entire human history.

And yet, as Moore points out in his new book, our society still tends to give young people all the glory, failing to recognize and nurture the tremendous resources and dazzling possibilities presented by men and women moving beyond middle age and into their older years. Moore encourages readers that it’s time to embrace a Zen-like, pure acceptance of growing older, kindling ongoing youth and vitality in both spirit and soul. While acknowledging the physical and emotional challenges of aging, Moore embraces the joy, intellectual edge, and profound self-fulfillment that can accompany our every passing year. Aging, Moore says, is a lifelong process ― a series of initiations.

Through these initiations (which actually begin quite early in adulthood), each of us, over time, can become a deeper, more enlightened, perceptive, and spiritually attuned person. Aging, he teaches, is something for us to honor, to own, and to celebrate.

Aging with Soul radically distinguishes aging from merely “growing old” ...

Aging with Soul offers suggestions for living the richest, most soulful life – which is the best way to age – nudging along readers of all ages and states in their journey towards maturity, personal development, and lifelong happiness."

Meet Thomas Moore in Cincinnati, 1 Dec. 2016

Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio hosts Thomas Moore on Thursday 1 December 2016 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Attend this free Meet the Author event to say hello to Thomas Moore, hear about his new book The Soul of Christmas and to pick up signed copies to give as thoughtful gifts. A description for this event includes:

"With his trademark blend of storytelling, faith and psychological insight, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Moore turns his attention to the most enduring story of them all: the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Moore uses passages from the Gospels, archetypal stories, and ancient myths to explore the idea that Christmas can only be fully understood as belonging to everyone as a plan for the entire human race."

Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2692 Madison Road
Cincinnati, Ohio
513 396-8960 or josephbeth.com

Deep breath, look at the big picture, stay grounded

Thomas Moore contributes "Don't Get Caught in a Trump Complex" for Huffington Post yesterday. His remarks include:

"I don’t mean that you should give in to the election results and be passive. Far from it. But there is a huge difference between acting out of the “Trump Complex” and boldly responding to a serious social problem. The former is satisfying in an empty way, and the latter is a real solution. Anything you do out of the complex will be at least partially unreal and an expression of some weak spot in yourself. Lose the complex, and your real power and clarity of thought are restored."

Moore writes about Trump in other online pieces:

"The New Vulgar"
by Thomas Moore
Huffington Post
7 March 2016

"Trump"
by Thomas Moore
Patheos  — Soul & Spirit
12 October 2016

Last chances in 2016 for a weekend with Moore

This month Thomas Moore offers two public weekend retreats.

1. Friday 11 November to Sunday 13 November, 2016
Moore is at Copper Beech Institute in West Hartford, Connecticut for Tapping into the Soul's Depths. This program explores "finding personal strength, inner guidance and purpose through soulful living."

"You will get a fresh, new, soul-centered angle on life as well as the tools to work out obstacles from the past like childhood conflicts, negative religious influences and feelings of personal inadequacy."

Tuition is $250 plus accommodations.

2. Friday 18 November to Sunday 20 November, 2016
Kripalu Center in Lenox, Massachusetts hosts Thomas Moore's program Aging with Soul with co-presenter Nancy Slonim Aronie.

"This weekend, we look at aging in a whole new light, and discover it can be so much more than merely piling up the years and the physical changes they bring. Thomas Moore’s paradigm-shifting teachings, based on his forthcoming book, Aging with Soul, are enhanced by writer and NPR commentator Nancy Slonim Aronie, who offers evocative writing prompts and shares poetry by Peggy Freydberg, who began writing poems at age 90. Learn to celebrate aging while staying young in mind, imagination, and spirit ..."

Tuition is $275.00 plus accommodations. CE credits are available.

Treat yourself before the end of the year.

How to transform your anxiety into a larger vision

Diana

Today's blog post with Patheos, "Are You Anxious about the State of the World?", offers ways to become more grounded in our daily lives. Thomas Moore's suggestions are pragmatic and acknowledge individual differences. He writes, "Throughout your anxiety you can cultivate a larger vision and dedicate yourself even more to values that you cherish. Hiding or being too quiet only makes the anxiety worse, because those postures are weak. Anxiety can express your weakness and failure to tap into your strength. Like everyone else, you have your own sources of power that can transform anxiety into action."

The hotel becomes a temporary home for the soul

Following his recent speaking engagements in Salt Lake City, Seattle and Dallas, Thomas Moore writes "Taking Your Soul on a Trip" for his Soul & Spirit blog with Patheos.

Moore shares the criteria he finds desirable at these "homes on the road" and names a few of his favourite places.