Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The Book of Awakening
Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
Mark Nepo
Conari Press 05/00 Paperback $16.95
ISBN: 1-57324-117-2

Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who is Scholar-in-Residence and Senior Advisor for the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a nonprofit foundation devoted to wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. He is a cancer survivor who is convinced that daybooks should be seen as "a spiritual sonnet of our age, a sturdy container for small doses of what matters." Nepo is well read and able to lyrically tap into the wisdom of the world's religions as well as the depths of contemporary psychology.

Jack Kornfield, a Buddhist, has stated, "Enlightenment is intimacy with all things." Nepo agrees and this daybook is filled with his appreciation for tears, the art of shedding, friendship, the broken heart, pain, patience, and all the connections that link us together with each other.

I was impressed with the author's ethical insights. Here are a few examples: "The greedy one gathered all the cherries, while the simple one tasted all the cherries in one." Greed is self-destructive because of its excess; equally disconcerting is our narcissism: "I tried so hard to please that I never realized no one is watching." Nepo's journey toward healing contains this confession: "Hesitation, more than anything, has been the invisible hitch that has kept me from joy."

Let this spiritual daybook become a sonnet for you; it will speak directly to your heart about the beauty, the bounty, and the blessings of life.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat