Care of the Soul

"Care of the soul sees another reality altogether. It appreciates the mystery of human suffering and does not offer the illusion of a problem-free life. It sees every fall into ignorance and confusion as an opportunity to discover that the beast residing at the center of the labyrinth is also an angel. The uniqueness of a person is made up of the insane and the twisted as much as it is of the rational and normal. To approach this paradoxical point of tension where adjustment and abnormality meet is to move closer to the realization of our mystery-filled, star-born nature."

 --Thomas Moore from his book, Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life 

This quote is from an old book (published in 1992) that I just started reading. It has sat on my shelf since sometime in 1993 when I plucked it off of a remainder table at a bookstore I was working at during that time. 

Every time I have sorted through my books since then, to get rid of the ones I have already read or finally realize I am just not going to read, I have given it a look see and then put it back on the shelf thinking to myself, someday.....

A week or so ago that day finally came. 

I was looking around for something to read and going through my non-fiction shelf book-by-book when I happened upon it. 

"Ah, yes," I said to myself, "I think it's time." And I sat down to read. 

A week later I am still at it (having also started two other books in the meantime.....) and its pages are full of turned down corners and underlined words, quotes just waiting to be plucked out, cataloged and someday perhaps, blogged.

For now, I leave you with this one. The one that, I think, defines the book most clearly and also illuminates this human life as well as any quote I've ever read. 

It's ain't always easy this life of ours, but when we realize that, somehow it gets a little bit easier. And sometimes that can feel downright magical.