From across the centuries, this nameless voice tells us that at the heart of all struggle there is a peaceful enduring center, if we can only reach it. All the wisdom traditions affirm this.
Still, a deeper paradox of life is carried here. For the gull flies through the peaceful center; it does not live there. The work, it seems, for us, is to draw sustenance from that central, eternal space without denying the experience of the storm.
Repeatedly, we are thrown into the storm and into the center. When in the storm, we are exacerbated by our humanness. When in the center, we are relieved by our spiritual place in the Oneness of things. So to find the center and spread our battered wings is to feel the God within.
Our constant struggle is in living both sides of this paradox. For we cannot get to the center without going through the storm that surrounds it. Yet the storm of human experience can only be endured by knowing what the gallows, pass each other from storm to center and back – there you’ll find the trials and gifts of love.
“I highly recommend buying a physical copy of this book, “The Book of Awakening” by Mark Nepo. I’ve started everyday with this book, for the past 5 years after a friend gave me a copy.”-Asila
