Sounds True recently published a new, expanded edition of Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness, which gathers twenty-eight years of my writing and teaching about suffering, healing, and wholeness, including thirty-nine new poems and prose pieces not yet published. One of the great transforming passages in my life was having cancer in my mid-thirties. This experience unraveled the way I see the world and made me a student of all spiritual paths. With a steadfast belief in our aliveness, I hope what's in this book will help you meet the transformation that waits in however you're being forged. The following piece is an excerpt from the book.
Midway in Our Journey
Just when we're softened by the years,
when we have enough experience to see
for ourselves, our maps are torn from us.
This can be frightening, but there's
divine timing in the dissolution of a
stubborn mind, the way an inlet waits
on the last rock to crumble so it can
find its destiny in the sea. Losing the
way set out by others is necessary so we
can discover for ourselves what it means
to be alive. Now we can burn the clothes
others have laid out for us, not in anger
but to light our way. Now we can let the
soul spill its honey on the unleavened life
we've been carrying. Now we can rise.
A Question to Walk With: In conversation with a friend or a loved one, describe a time that your map was torn from you and how you made your way.
For more poetry for the soul, click here.
For more by Mark Nepo, click here.