BEHIND THE THUNDER
A Poem by Mark Nepo

I keep looking for one more teacher,
only to find that fish learn from the water
and birds learn from the sky.

If you want to learn about the sea,
it helps to be at sea.
If you want to learn about compassion,
it helps to be in love.
If you want to learn about healing,
it helps to know of suffering.

The strong live in the storm
without worshipping the storm. 

BEHIND THE THUNDER is a poem written by Mark Nepo. The author and spiritual adviser had this to say about it in the Huffington Post.

There’s no escaping the turmoil of experience, no avoiding the storms that toss us about or the light that follows. It’s a paradox we all have to meet and endure.

I’ve shared different segments of the following passage from one of Mark’s first books, The Book of Awakening, in our posts Priests Mediums and Shamans Part 2,  Tattoos and Melancolie.

Suffering makes an instrument of each of us
so that standing naked, holes and all,
the unseen vitalities can be heard
through our simplified lives.

None of us is exempt from the turmoil and pain that arises when what we want is lost. For once we pour ourselves into loving another person, it seems as if they take who we are with them when they go. In truth, they take a deep part of us, but what feeds the heart from within is endless, and everything that is living heals. Nowhere is this more evident than in the beauty of trees. Their endless turns of bark and nubs of trunk make each look like a sage. Yet, amazingly, the skin of an old tree is no more than a living map of its scars.

Can it be that the cuts turn into scars and the scars turn into beautiful quiet notches in which things can fly and nest?  In every space opened when what we want gets away, a deeper place is cleared in which the mysteries can sing. If we can only survive that pain of being emptied, we might yet know the joy of being sung through. Strangely and beautifully, each soul is a living flute being carved by the life on Earth to sound deeper and deeper song.

Here is a link to Mark’s website.

http://www.marknepo.com/

I really like what this guy has to say and how he says it. I’m beginning to dig deeper into his work. That might take some time. He is a prolific writer, over 18 books and countless poems, and he is on the road constantly giving talks and workshops.

And here is a link to a short video of Oprah talking to Mark about one of her favorite passages from his Book of Awakening.   Oprah Talks With Mark Nepo

Stay strong in your storm and always be on the lookout for the light.