Interview - Full Response

Thomas Moore   with The Rev. Wayne Walder

Yes. I think so.

I bet you have wonderful thinkers in your own tradition. Reading great ideas is very pleasurable and it’s amazing how it will transform the way you think. It’s so easy too; you can read whole ideas in a half hour. That means you could read a text 2 or 3 times in a week just to get into it. Now there you go, there you have some start.

Have you ever read some depth psychology? Some of the Freudians? Or Jungians? And if you haven’t then maybe that will give you some psychological foundation so that you have a little more self awareness and are not so drawn to things.

Now, I’ve been teaching my daughter, using her as an example. She’s 17 years old. In the past 3 months, she’s read Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams and she’s read Jung’s Memories, Dreams and Reflections. She’s not reading huge amounts; she’s not a big reader, she just reads the pieces I give her. And she has become incredibly sharp at being able to distinguish what’s solid from what is crap – what is really superficial. And it amazes me how quickly she got these ideas.

So, what I’m trying to say is Ministers can continue to educate themselves so they can get more of an edge in their thinking. This will make them less susceptible to the passing fads. The only way you’re going to resist the religious fads, is to have a mind that has been given some substance. If you have some of this sharpness you can make better decisions and judgments.