Thomas Moore (double O’s) was quoting Thomas More (single O) in his book, the Re-Enchantmet of Everyday Life.
He came out with a bang in Care of the Soul. Essayist, therapist, monk and philosopher who hit the marks. Those marks point us back to Nature, Magic and Intuition. Qualities of life .
He treaded carefully, staying in “common grace” space, so as not to offend, or be typecasted as a Luddite (anti-technology). But given a choice between a new printer (obviously necessary for his work) and a new piece of rug for home office, he would choose the latter.
Enchantment.
Mr Moore traveled to Ireland, seeking historical sites and scenery. He constantly argued for “touch points” with the Eternal and Sacredness: rock and ruin, trees and green movement in our parks and cities. It’s true that office workers never stopped in the lobby on their way to work (holding a donut in hand).
Building lobbies are for job seekers waiting for an interview. These days, that’s most of us, and soon, one of the Presidential candidates. His chapter on our Martian nature was right on (I was talking about violence within each of us the day before the Aurora shooting). Hollywood certainly did not let violence go unexploited.
I am reminded via Mr Moore’s work that it doesn’t take much money to extract joy from Nature or from objects of sacredness (even graffiti is a cry for validation). At some point, we all want to have our profile on Facebook and Linkedin. Before Social Media, where were we all?
I refer to Respect in my earlier blog about Connect and Respect. We must first respect those with whom we do business . And we must first get to know them (Connect) and respect them whether we eventually do business or not.
This takes sales rejection to a whole new level. We respect people’s IP (by signing a NDA) and we don’t make reps work their tails off then turn around and use their proposals as unpaid due diligence.
Yes. Thomas Moore belongs in some Trappist order. But he happens to speak our language, live in our city and help cure our friends who got issues. He often speaks of life and magic as unfolding. In other words, it’s active and alive. We just need to give it proper attention and expectation.
Just magic in everyday life: a rock , a tree and poetry ; all will still be there long after we are gone. Now , that’s something. That’s reassuring. That’s eternal, from our short temporal frame of reference. I am not going to re-read Re-Enchantment. But it does make me re-think about everyday’s touch points whether it be readership, relationship or romance.
