Listening To The Light Of Our Soul with Mark Nepo

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Mark Nepo suggests that life is an incredible tapestry that is never finished. It is weaving us, and we are the threads. We are taught to navigate the outer world by problem solving, but for the things that matter, the heart releases its own logic. He says that life constantly asks us “to let everything in and not choose or make logical sense of it, but to let it reverberate until it becomes that teacher, the Upaguru, the teacher that is next to you at this moment.” He has learned that life is a series of falling asleep and waking up, falling down and getting up, feeling safe and then afraid, being sensitive and then numb. It’s a journey. He reminds us that we are taught early in our lives to hold tightly to our dreams, goals, and ambitions. But, he says, “They are, in fact, not endpoints, but kindling for the fire of our aliveness. We are a mix of being and becoming.” He also reminds us it’s not by accident that kindness and kinship share the same root, saying, “One of the rewards for kindness is not just that you will think well of me or that we will develop a better relationship. The act of kindness allows us to experience oneness. The act of kindness allows us to experience the connection with all things . . . Kindness leads to kinship. We understandably come in and out of being aware because pain, worry, fear, betrayal, all the difficulties of life, short-circuit our full attention. This is why it’s important that every person develop their own practice of return.” Prepare to be deepened by Mark Nepo’s ability to be authentic as he illuminates the wisdom that is available in our own hearts. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Bio

Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who, for over three decades, has been teaching in the fields of poetry and spirituality. As a cancer survivor, Mark remains committed to the usefulness of daily inner life. He devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.

He is the author of many books including:

• Reduced to Joy (Cleis Press 2013)
• Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred (Atria 2012)
• The One Life We're Given: Finding the Wisdom That Waits in Your Heart (Atria Books 2016)
• The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True 2016)
• More Together Than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and in the World (Atria Books 2018)
• Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression (Sounds True 2019)

His many audio learning courses include:

• Staying Awake: The Ordinary Art (Sounds True 2012)
• Holding Nothing Back: Essentials for an Authentic Life (Sounds True 2012)
• More Together Than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and in the World (Atria Books 2018)

To find out more about the work of Mark Nepo go to www.marknepo.com. & www.ThreeIntentions.com.

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• How the path of spiritual of awakening is about the journey and not the arrivals
• How a world-class cyclist trained to meet a heron on the road
• What Nepo learned from his dying father
• What is Nepo’s creative process
• How we can offer one another spiritual hospitality through asking the simple question “and so?”
• Why it is important not to drown in our pain but hold it up to the light
• How grace is the unseeable of life that carries us
• How being fired from his job forced Nepo to stand exactly where he was
• Why it is important to be open without conclusions in these times

Host: Justine Willis Toms         Interview Date: 7/18/2016         Program Number: 3590

Music Playlist

From Album: Wave Hands Like Clouds
Artist: Buedi Seibert
A2004 Real Music #4050 

Opening Essay Track 02 Life Breath
Music Break 1: Track 04 Building Chi
Music Break 2: Track 04 Building Chi (reprise)
Music Break 3: Track 02 Life Breath (reprise)