I am so grateful for this book and for the person who lent it to me to read at this time in my life. I have gained such new perspective on the way I live my life.
Here are a few of my favourite discoveries in this book:
Soul is always attached to what is actually happening, not necessarily what could or will be.
Soul in relationships: Allowing yourself to observe more than act in a relationship, to feed your imagination more than rationalize with it, you get closer to the alchemical gold in your heart, the profound insight and abiding wisdom.
Even thought attachment can feel like a burden, the soul wants to be attached, involved, and stuck because it is such intimacy that it is nourished and deepened.
The best soul-work is to take a great deal of time in the phase of getting to know yourself. Life will follow upon reflection. Trust that a genuine shift in imagination will result in a change in life.
Your soul may try to move itself against your resistance and ignorance of it, so only by loving your soul in its entirety, you will really love yourself.
Soul and marriage: If we see marriage as commitment of two to each other, we overlook its soul. The point in marriage is not to create a material, human world, but rather to evoke a spirit of love that is not of this world.
So forget about following a manual, and rather build a shrine to it, find its god and goddess, be its priest rather than its technician.
Soul and family: Blaming our struggling human parents for the utterly deep mysteries distracts us from our own responsibilities. By divinizing our parents, we dehumanize them. When we idealize the family, we demonize it. We oversimplify the challenge of our own existence.
Soul in friendships: The soul recognizes the hidden treasures in each other and forge the alliance. Cultivate friendships in an indirect manner.
Soul in conversations: What matters is not how much you expose about yourself in conversation, but that your soul is engaged. Find forms of expression that emerge from and touch the soul, like writing letters, songs, sending postcards, etc.
Soul and sex: Sex is the soul's limpid mirror, its litmus and its gesture. it can be an invitation to the soul to come out and play.
Soul and endings: part of the pain is that it evokes memories of other endings, bitterness may emerge from a great struggle of ego against fate. If we embrace the pain, however, we can say that even though it may be a failure in life, it had been Brought to term successfully for the soul. Every relationship has its limitations, and a death experience like endings are the only way towards true beginnings for the soul.
Soul never learns but it metamorphose. So be initiated into should through your experiences, even if they are similar and they are seen as failures in life.
Soul has its own music with its rhythms and tempos inherent in it. There will be times of rest, pauses in music. When we feel a lessening of love, we could enter that feeling and discover rhythms of our own soul. So don't be afraid of entering the silence and watch how soul is expressing itself at that moment.
Lastly, you can't have a genuine community unless you feel like a true individual, and you can't be an individual unless you are deeply involved in community!

I enjoyed the introduction so much that I read it twice. It was so soothing , not unlike meditation.

The rest of the book however , did not live up to expectations.

This book explores beyond romantic relationships diving into friendships, familial relationships, sexual relationships, and work relationships. I found the information validating in how I've approached most of these types of relationships.

The exploration of sexual relationships as a soul connection is exactly what I have been searching for. I have only experienced this once in my lifetime but my need for independence kept this connection from lasting. I like how Moore dives into the idea that if your background is heavily drenched in religion which views sex as sinful this in essence can destroy the sexual soul connection and in turn kill the entire relationship.

He also explains that when a soul connection exists but the relationship ends how not honoring the depth of that connection makes the split more difficult and causes almost a death of the soul. I definitely felt this with a connection that I felt was a true soulmate connection. My soul died. It has taken a lot to come back to center but the piece of my soul that held on to his died.

Our soul is looking for what feels right basically. It's why there are different relationships. But essentially we're trying to find all the feels in one being.

Interesting read

Love and like yourself. Face your fears but don't act upon every feeling.

This was poignant and thought provoking.

It's Thomas Moore - what more can I say?! Fantastic book.

real game changer

Amazing, deep and peaceful. I like the use of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetyp... Archetypal Psychology.

Thomas Mooore enlarges the circle of soul mates beyond the romantic relationship. Reading this one comes away with the understanding that any relationship can be soulful when its dynamics are not shadowed by conventional notions. In other words soul mates have genuine connections where the heart is open and accepting of the other.

ملاحظة لي - لم اقرا الكتاب بعد

about the fallacies and misconceptions we make for people whom we are attracted to

A beautiful read that has allowed me to really challenge myself. It's helped me intepret some of my behaviours and understand what I need to work upon.