Exceptional Excerpts: Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul

Here comes Fall and its first signs: signs on the roadside.

Politics is always in a state of flux, or a swing, or a reaction, or a revolution. I was recently reading about symptoms of the body from a psychological standpoint, and because our government and country is comprised of the "Body Politic", it wasn't difficult to see a comparison of the two. 

Thomas Moore's treatment of bodily symptoms, as a psychotherapist and former Catholic monk, is grounded in his view of the human soul, and what it requires to be healthy and vital. I imagine you can see for yourself what could be a conversation about Liberalism and Conservatism by an Independent (Moore, the therapist) talking with an "Undecided Voter" (a middle-aged man, the patient) from the following passage:

"A man in his fifties came to me once and told me with considerable embarrassment that he had fallen in love.

'I feel stupid,' he said, 'like an adolescent.'

I hear this often, that love arouses the adolescent. Anyone familiar with the history of art and literature knows that from the Greeks on down, love has been portrayed as an untamable teenager.

'Oh, you have something against this adolescent?'

'Am I ever going to grow up?' he asked in frustration.

'Maybe not,' I said. 'Maybe there are things in you that will never grow up, maybe they shouldn't grow up. Doesn't this sudden influx of adolescence make you feel young, energetic and full of life?'

'Yes,' he said, 'and also silly, immature, confused and crazy.'

'But that's adolescence,' I responded. 'It sounds to me like the Old Man in you is berating the Youth. Why make a grown-up the supreme value? Or, maybe I should ask, who in you is claiming that maturity is so important? It's that Old Man, isn't it?'

"I wanted to speak for the figure who was being judged and attacked. This man had to find enough space in him to allow both the Old Man and the Youth to have a place, to speak to each other and over time, maybe over his entire lifetime, to work out some degree of reconciliation. It takes more than a lifetime to resolve such conflicts. In fact the conflict itself is creative and perhaps should never be healed. By giving each figure its voice, we let the soul speak and show itself as it is, not as we wish it would be. By defending the adolescent, being careful not to take sides against the mature figure, I showed my interest in his soul, and the man had an opportunity to find a way to contain this archetypal conflict of youth and age, maturity and immaturity. In the course of such a debate the soul becomes more complex and spacious."
                                                                                                        -- from Care of the Soul

I think the Undecided Voter is a person for whom the state of conflict is a problem. They can recognize the value of both opposing sides--sides that have rejected each other as ill-conceived, dark and dangerous. The undecided person is trying to see a way forward, but is only presented with two alternatives. His abstention from choosing sides is usually portrayed as the sign of a weak, stupid, and non-committal mind that might allow the other side to win. Many people view the very act of voting as the exercise of a hard-won right, and to not vote is ingratitude at its lowest. For others, it is a forcing of one's hand against their better judgment of careful restraint. For the latter, a vote cast in spite of indecision feels more reckless than righteous.

In his book, Thomas Moore speaks of behaviors that get classified and labeled as "normal", although a "wealth of deviance can hide behind a facade of normalcy". When it comes to testing, group focusing, polling, and evaluating human behavior, perhaps we might view the Undecided as a person who is in a state of protest against practices of using fill-in-the-bubble forms, one-liner questionnaires, robo-calls, and spam in order to gauge the "will of the American People". Moore says "it is fairly easy to recognize soullessness in the standardizing of human experience."

I think, for the Undecided, to not vote doesn't feel like fence-sitting, but a decision to remain in a soulful state that is part of healing an inner or outer rift. They cannot approach the voting booth as a standardized exercise without self-reproach. If someone is chronically undecided, then that may be a problematic knot that they will need to examine and work out-- caring for the soul is not an act that excludes probing the health of the body.

But perhaps it is better to view an Undecided voter as someone who has known themselves at various times to operate as many aspects of the Body Politic--the swift hand, the sure foot, the brave spleen, the steady heart--but at other times find themselves in a place both inside and outside of the body, unable to pass through an outer membrane; one created by anxiety, patience, stubbornness, curiosity, and pride. They are more than hesitant to sum up the "will of the People" within their own private will, by employing a standardized punch card or lever.

If we see someone who is caught up in a season of Indecision, of a Middle Age between Youthful Adolescent and Old Man, Liberalism and Conservatism, we can perhaps see them not through a psychological analysis, but with a recognition that there will always be a present and revolving door of the Undecided, who function as a part of the Body for its own health. That anyone would be forced or pressured into voting is a problem found  within dictatorships, and should not present a problem for democracies. Moore writes, "Often care of the soul means not taking sides when there is a conflict at a deep level. It may be necessary to stretch the heart wide enough to embrace contradiction and paradox."

Personally, I tend to like rituals. They bring me into the aspect of being that is formed by the body and doesn't stay floating in a sea of thought and feeling. And so, for me, voting is not an exercise of my right in a muscular "use it or lose it" emphasis of Youth. I also don't vote out of gratitude or sentiment, as an Old Man who wants to salute the past. I vote as an ongoing observance of my place in a country that was formed by a body politic of democracy with a representative form of government. I don't live in a Kingdom of the Just on earth. I don't live in a democracy of all-knowing souls. I live in a present society in which voting as a privilege was extended to a core value with which to live and die. This value is what I observe when I vote, whether or not I am fully confident of my choices, or whether or not I believe that my vote will have any effect. By voting, I am tapping into the power that is granted to me by that value.

Moore says it best, when speaking to observances made by the body in honor of the non-standardized soul:

"Observance has considerable power. If you observe Christmas, for instance, you will be affected by that special season precisely because of your observance.  The mood and spirit will touch your heart, and over time, regular observance may come to affect you deeply. Or if you are a pall-bearer at a funeral, if you sprinkle dirt or holy water at the grave, your observance places you deep within the experience of burial and death. You may remember that moment vividly for years. You may dream about it for the rest of your life. Simple gestures, taking place on the surface of life, can be of central importance of the soul."