Are we there yet?

Sea Crossing

“I am asking you to imagine the life of your spirit on earth as such an immigration, as one constant arrival in a new land.”
Mark Nepo (The Book of Awakening)

Mark Nepo compares the life of the soul on earth to a sea crossing in which we can see eternity briefly when we are at the crest of a wave, but lose sight when we are in the valley. Sometimes we rock along for days, even months, with smooth sailing, fair skies. Then some painful passage occurs that sweeps all the good away and leaves us bruised and doubting. There is no way to simply ride the wave all the time, and truly, we wouldn’t want to if we could. Any surfer will tell you it’s the trough that builds excitement and movement forward. Without it, we would be as one dimensional as a pancake.

We are always in transit, never arriving. The 17th century Japanese poet, Basho, wrote, “…each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” Sometimes when things are good, we just want to hang on for dear life—to not let this sweetness pass. When life is painful, we want to put it on fast forward and move on. It takes a truly disciplined person to see them both with the same eyes—to value both equally as valid and important passages. The poet Rumi, in the Guest House, urges us to “welcome them all, even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture…” We rely on poets to tell us how to navigate these rough seas. They have the eyes for it.

Loss is a great equalizer. Every one of us, rich and poor, male and female, will experience many losses over the course of a lifetime. There is no painless passage. We must hold our vision of eternity, our experience of life’s goodness, clearly in mind when we begin the descent. It will light the way until we’re back on top.

In the spirit,
Jane