Read webinar transcript about dark nights of soul

Whale with Jonah

The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) offers a 16-page transcript of its 30 August 2012 webinar Dark Nights of the Soul: Finding Spiritual Opportunity in Trying Times with Thomas Moore.

Moderator Ruth Buczynski is a licensed psychologist in Connecticut and president of the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine.

The professionally formatted transcript shows Moore addressing:
* The calling to be a practitioner
* How to care for soul during illness
* Why the dark night of the soul may be an initiation
* How to share time with a patient

Barque coverage
30 August 2012 "Video suggests conversation as a way to open up"

Fear of life is at the root of many problems

The Messenger site offers an excerpt of Thomas Moore’s interview about "Caring for the Soul in Difficult Times" conducted by Tami Simon, Sounds True. The excerpt includes Moore’s view:

"The spiritual life might bring us further into suffering, actually, because when we’re doing it well, we’re willing to be open to life, to let life happen. There’s a lot that goes on in the ordinary person’s life where they really don’t allow the possibilities of their lives to even take place. People say fear of death is really at the root of a lot of problems, but my experience tells me fear of life, fear of living, is at the root of our problems, because life is like this river of time and events just pour through us all the time, and it’s always changing. A change involves suffering. If someone is successful at a job, but something in them feels dissatisfied, that dissatisfaction may be a sign that life wants something more or something different. Eventually, that person may have to say, “Well, I’ve got to leave this job behind now and take a leap into the unknown, and see what’s going to happen next.” I’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve gone through that experience.

Even though it’s painful and there’s suffering, fear and anxiety around it, it means you’re willing to live, rather than defend yourself against life. I think that’s really a key ingredient to this whole thing: that those people who are willing to live, instead of just remain static, are going to maybe have more challenges and have to go through more pain than others."

Later in the interview when Simon asks Moore about the inspiration for writing his book Dark Nights of the Soul, Moore’s response includes:

"I guess a lot of this has to do with my own experience. My feeling is that I have come to accept life as being complicated and difficult, and having some suffering, some joy, and some very plain, ordinary days when things don’t seem to be either high or low. Living that way, I find to be ultimately more satisfying, because it allows me to be creative, which gives it its own rewards. I wanted to bring some of that attitude to the people I was working with. And I wanted to write about it, because most of the books I see either ignore the dark side of life or they look for quick and easy solutions to it."

Beginning 28 October 2010, Moore gives a three-part online series at Sounds True called Gifts of a Dark Night: Dealing Effectively in Times of Loss and Trial when he discusses our times of loss or failure while offering guidance to navigate them. Click this link to register for the series.

Moore: "I always prefer an image to a concept."

Today Thomas Moore shares his approach to writing his award-winning book, Dark Nights of the Soul, in a discussion area linked to his public page on Facebook. Click and scroll to the bottom of the page to read Moore’s comment. Join the discussion.

For other discussion topics associated with Thomas Moore, visit his public Facebook page, click the top tab labelled Discussions, then click the topic of interest. Four topics are currently listed.

Listen to Moore's views in Sounds True podcast

Tami Simon interviews Thomas Moore for a Sounds True podcast, "Thomas Moore: Caring for the Soul in Difficult Times" on Tuesday 14 September 2010: "Thomas speaks about the danger of sentimentalizing the spiritual life, the fear of living versus the fear of death, and what it means to live with care." This podcast is 56 minutes and available for online listening or download.

On Thursday 28 October Moore begins a three-part online event with Sounds True called Gifts of a Dark Night, "where he'll discuss periods of loss or failure that we'll all endure while offering advice and guidance on how to navigate these difficult times." Register online now for the series.

Join Thomas Moore for Gifts of a Dark Night

Sounds True offers a 3-session online event with Thomas Moore, called Gifts of a Dark Night: Dealing Effectively with Times of Loss and Trial. According to the site, this program is: "Complete with three live Q&A sessions, downloadable talks that you can keep, and an online forum to enhance your learning, this empowering event offers tools and techniques for finding a spiritual perspective and transforming through your dark nights."

Live Event — All Sessions
US $59

Session 1: Adjusting to the Darkness
LIVE session on Thursday, October 28, 2010, 8:00-9:30pm ET
US $25

Session 2: Engaging the Darkness
LIVE session on Thursday, November 4, 2010, 8:00-9:30pm ET
US $25

Session 3: Gifts of the Darkness
LIVE session on Thursday, November 11, 2010, 8:00-9:30pm ET
US $25

Online registration for the entire series or a single session is available at the link above. Can’t make a live session? Audio from live sessions will be available for download a few days after the session concludes.

System Requirements
All users: high-speed internet connection; working speakers or headset.
PC: Windows 2000, XP, or Vista; Internet Explorer 7.0 or Firefox 2.0 or newer. 1GHz CPU with 512MB RAM (2GB for Vista).
Mac: OS 10.4 or newer, G4 or Intel processor, 512 MB RAM; Safari 3.0 or Firefox 2.0 or newer.