Matters of the Soul

We spend our lives trying to outrun our own depths, distracting ourselves with work, achievement, food, relationships, even spirituality itself. But the unconscious is patient. It waits for us to tire of the chase. It waits for us to turn around and face what we've been avoiding. Matters of the Soul is a map for that turning. Ruth Cherry PhD, a clinical psychologist who has spent her career exploring the borderland between psychology and spirit, shows us that the wounded parts of ourselves are not mistakes to be corrected but messengers to be heard. Through vivid portraits of real people, a man who numbs his pain with sociability, a minister's wife who serves everyone but herself, a woman who wrestles daily with her inner demon, she reveals how healing happens not through force, but through presence. Each chapter includes meditative exercises and reflective questions that guide you into direct contact with your own inner world. You will learn to recognize your subpersonalities, to witness your feelings without being ruled by them, and to trust the unconscious as a source of guidance rather than fear. This is a book for the second half of life for anyone who has achieved enough to know that achievement isn't the answer, and who is ready to discover what is. Your soul is not a problem to be solved. It is a presence to be met. Ruth Cherry PhD, is a clinical psychologist whose work integrates depth psychology, meditation, and spiritual practice. She leads Inner Healer groups and lives in California.