The Five Stages of the Soul: Charting the Spiritual Passages That Shape Our Lives - Softcover

Moody, Harry R.; Carroll, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385486774 ISBN 13: 9780385486774

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1998

Synopsis

An exciting exploration of the spiritual passages we go through as we age—from midlife crises to the search for inner purpose—and the rich possibilities they offer for fulfillment in the life journey.

Based on twenty years of research, The Five Stages of the Soul is the first book to focus squarely on the spiritual passages that the majority of us go through, offering readers a detailed road map of their quest for meaning and self-discovery.

Interweaving psychology, religion, myth, and literature, Harry Moody—in the bestselling tradition of Joseph Campbell, Thomas Moore, and Scott Peck—charts the passages of countless individuals across the country who have journeyed through the five stages of spiritual awakening common to almost all of us: the Call, the Search, the Struggle, the Breakthrough, and finally, the Return. Dr. Moody's insightful and wonderfully affirming narrative reveals the challenges and opportunities offered us by the spiritual stages we go through as we explore the question of meaning in our lives.

About this title

About the Author

HARRY R. MOODY, PH.D, recently retired as Vice President and Director of Academic Affairs for AARP in Washington, DC.  He is currently Visiting Professor at Tohoku University in Japan, and Distinguished Faculty at Fielding Graduate University. Dr. Moody previously served as Executive Director of the Brookdale Center on Aging at Hunter College and Chairman of the Board of Elderhostel (now Road Scholar).
 
A graduate of Yale with a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University, Dr. Moody has been a leading researcher in the field of aging. He is the author of over 100 scholarly articles, as well as a number of books. His most recent, The Five Stages of the Soul, has been translated into seven languages worldwide. In 2011 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society on Aging; in 2010, the Robert Kahn Award for Successful Aging, from Masterpiece Living and in 2008 he was named by Utne Reader magazine as one of  “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.”

DAVID L. CARROLL is the author of more than thirty books and ten network TV programs. He now specializes in medical self-help books, including Living with Parkinson's and The Complete Book of Natural Medicines, and film documentaries on medical technology and drug prevention.

From the Back Cover

In a groundbreaking book that interweaves twenty years of case studies and research in the field of aging with an exhaustive knowledge of psychology, religion, and literature, Harry R. Moody, cofounder and director of the Brookdale Institute of Aging, reveals the spiritual passages that the vast majority of us encounter in life and explores the opportunities those spiritual stages offer us in achieving a sense of inner fulfillment.
At some point in our lives, most of us begin to question what life is all about, what the purpose of our existence is. The first of the passages in our spiritual lives often arises as the result of the death of a parent or other loved one, the birth of a child, or any number of life-changing events that force us to rethink who and what we are. Described as The Call, it may lead some back to traditional religion, to community work; to mysticism. The Call is an opportunity to reflect on one's inner life, to explore and fulfill a deeper part of one's self. In "The Five Stages of the Soul, Dr. Moody goes on to identify the four additional spiritual stages most of us go through on the quest for inner fulfillment, bringing together the psychology of our spiritual development with insights from Western and Eastern spiritual masters to illuminate our passage through the labyrinth of life.
Written in richly textured narrative that constantly inspires as it offers a detailed road map of our spiritual lives, "The Five Stages of the Soul is reminiscent in its approach of the best work of M. Scott Peck and Thomas Moore.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385486774
• ISBN 13: 9780385486774
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384