I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of

the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.

Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right

now.

Thomas Moore has been a lifelong spiritual seeker and teacher. He spent 13 years as a Catholic

monk then went on to earn a PhD in religious studies. I first met him in 1994 when we talked

about his book that became a staple on my nightstand, The Groundbreaking Best Seller, Care

of the Soul. Thomas Moore has now written 16 books after decades of intense religious

study. He has come to believe that each of us can craft our own religion, one that connects

us to our unique spiritual core. We do that, he says, not by abandoning traditional religion,

but by opening ourselves up to all faiths and traditions.

I'm so excited about this book, A Religion of One's Own, and what's shocking to me about it

is that you spent so much time studying religion and being a part of organized religion and

religious practices and that now you write a book called A Religion of One's Own. What does

that really mean? Before everybody starts criticizing, let's hear what it really means.

Thomas Moore So what I mean by religion, religion of one's own, could be for someone who is part

of a religion to stop being passive and just taking what comes and be active and take the initiative

and make this thing your own and bring other pieces into the picture. So today, I think one of

the biggest things is that you can be a member of a church, let's say, and you can take wisdom

and insight and inspiration from any other spiritual tradition. And that's perfectly not only

okay, but it's something I think today we ought to be doing. What I want to make clear is,

and what I got from reading A Religion of One's Own is whether you are in an organized religion

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