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Patrick Harpur is probably best known for his seminal work, "Daimonic Reality," a regarded classic of metaphysical lore.
A Complete Guide To The Soul (2010) remains my favorite work of his, however, as it speaks to me like no other book has or does; finding in it as I do a kindred soul on practically each and every leaf of my well-worn and multi-creased paperback.
No more am I on the same page as Mr. Harpur than in chapter 8, titled "Soul and Spirit" (specifically, under section heading, "Our double nature") -- its contents a profound piece of sacred text, so very dear to my heart. Verily, it was while perusing this chapter for the first time that it was confirmed for me something I'd always suspected about myself; namely: I am not very spiritual, but I am quite soulful. There is a significant distinction to be made between these two states of inner being, and it is in these cogently expressed passages that these contrasting mindsets/worldviews are explained for us.
I must confess, all throughout my life I've never been all that attracted to spirituality; more enamored I am of down-to-earth soulfulness. Talk of pneumatic transcendence, ascension, higher consciousness, the striving after apotheosis -- none of it interests me in the least. Whereas others dream of becoming pure spirit or attaining to sainthood, the soul in me longs neither to escape nor to degrade the earthly experience, but to embrace the paradoxical nature of what it means to be fully human.
It is in this in-between limbo world, so to speak, neath (spiritual) heaven and above the (soulless) abyss that we discover an enchanting middle ground, also home to the (seemingly protean) daimonic dimension. Here there are no doctrines or dogmas, no absolute truths pertaining to God or the hereafter, but only beautiful words like wonder, contemplation, imagination, and individuation. This path, Odyssean -- winding, embracing of grayness; lateral, instead of hierarchical in its understanding of the various realms and beings in existence.
A Complete Guide To The Soul is positively unspiritual in message and tone (this, not a slight but only a distinction), likely to appeal to those more than content with life's wandering journey, as opposed to questing after some ultimate and utterly unearthly destination point. It is a book geared more to those who prefer the mythical to the mystical, where enrichment is found more among soily rocks than shining stars.
I especially like what Harpur has to say, albeit in passing, with regard to nature worship/fundamentalist environmentalism -- in reference to those often literal-minded folks who make a state-like religion of Earth and, as such, are, or at least come across as, more ideologues than genuine, hands-on Gaia lovers.
Indeed, if movies like Excalibur (1981), Clash Of The Titans (1981) and Merlin (1998) speak to your very essence and infuse your bodily tabernacle with sub-celestial delight -- those cinematic gems full of myth and mist, marshes and moss -- then in said read you will likely find a dear printed companion, one to be savored like a goblet overfloweth with vintage wine.
Here's to twilight.
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