Bestselling author and philosopher Thomas Moore urged the Elon community to educate for the soul in an April 23 lecture. Moore spoke at Elon at the invitation of Chaplain Richard McBride, who is retiring this spring after 25 years of service.
Moore is the author of “Care of the Soul” and 15 other books on deepening spirituality and cultivating the soul in every aspect of life. “Care of the Soul” spent 46 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Moore, who lectures on holistic medicine, spirituality and ecology, has been a monk, a musician, a university professor and a psychotherapist. McBride said his invitation to Moore to speak at Elon was part of his retirement gift to the community.
Moore discussed views of Greek philosophers Aristotle and Heraclitus, who attempted to understand the deep meaning and mystery of the human soul. “What makes you, you, is the soul – your uniqueness and individuality,” Moore said.
Moore urged universities to follow the lead of those ancient thinkers, listening to students’ life stories and nursing their souls.
“You can educate in a way that addresses the souls of those you teach, not just their minds,” Moore said. “We should guide students to examine what human life is about.”
Moore encouraged professors to imagine an education that can “create citizens who are individuals, who can think for themselves and create out of their individuality.” He also said universities should pay more attention to what we don’t know.
“We connect to each other through what we don’t know – it’s in the gaps – through our ignorance and foolishness,” Moore said. “You can enjoy the fact that you don’t know everything. It’s a soulful thing to know how much you don’t know.”
Moore said the soul deals in “poetics” rather than facts and logic. “To get to know the soul, we must rely on our capacity to appreciate images, like art,” Moore said. “To have a soulful university, the arts must be prominent. The arts convey mystery to us while giving us some insight.”