This week I had the enormous and delightful privilege of meeting Thomas Moore. He delivered a talk in the Medical Lecture Theatre at Glasgow’s Western Infirmary after visiting us in the Centre for Integrative Care, Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, in the afternoon. So we had the chance to both meet him personally, and hear one of his really inspirational talks.
You know, Thomas, it felt like being “home”! I guess, you’d call it a “soul connection”. It all felt so right.
If you’re not familiar with his work, you’d do well to start with The Care of the Soul in Medicine, but really I’d recommend any of his books. I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve read.
He began by talking about mystery, and how none of us is completely knowable. Seems obvious, huh? But I’m repeatedly amazed how patients will say to me, at the end of a one hour first consultation, that I now must know “everything” about them. I usually respond by saying oh, we’ve only had an hour together, and you can spend a lifetime with someone and not fully know them, so really at this stage my knowledge must be very slight. But I know what they mean. The process of a holistic, non-judgemental, compassionate consultation, forms a strong (what Thomas would call “soul”) connection. The patient feels heard, they feel felt, they feel understood. However, I thought it was great to be reminded that we are all unknowable, that we all have unfathomable depths. It sets up a certain humility of practice and of living.
Thomas’ idea of “soul” seems very common sense and right to me – the best way to grasp it is to think about the phrases we use such as “soul music”, “soul food”, “soul mate” and so on. It’s a deep sense of being connected to other and to the world in which we live. He talked about some of the elements we identify as important in creating a good life, a soul-full life – friends, food, home, stories, the architecture of our living spaces for example. Everything about sharing, and about really experiencing our every day reality – what I’ve mentioned in this blog a number of times using the French phrase “emerviellement du quotidien” – the wonder, or amazement, of the every day….
If you ever get a chance to hear Thomas, grab it! You’ll have a soul-full evening!
Heroes Not Zombies 
Love Thomas Moore’s books, have all of them. Must have been wonderful to meet him! GFY 🙂 I wrote on my blog (29th) about “knowing” people, similar to what you say of spending a lifetime and not knowing them. Great thoughts.
Did you record the meeting? If you find that someone has, could you post it?
Family , young birthday commitments meant I couldn’t attend.
I am sure this recent TED talk would sit well with the Thomas Moore talk you attended.
Thanks for sharing this TED link, Ian. What an interesting presentation.
Cheers,
Barque
Hi Bob
I’ve enjoyed reading your post on Thomas’ recent inspiring Glasgow talk, Clare Willocks having forwarded me your link. Here is the link for my write-up since I was at the talk too, and am an existing fan of Thomas’ writing – so it was great to meet him in person as well as to be part of the audience.
I am more than happy to trade site links with you, if you would like to do so.
We need all the ‘soul support’ we can get in this increasingly reductionist world of ours!
Best wishes from a very rainy Glasgow
Anne