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Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness
Many are familiar with teacher and poet Mark Nepo's books on inner transformation, relationship, and the
emergence of purpose in our lives. But less well-known is the journey that shaped his vision as a teacher
that began in 1987 when he was diagnosed with cancer. The revelations during that time would inform
every dimension of his work to follow.
With Inside the Miracle, Mark Nepo shares what he discovered along this challenging terrain, and the
insights most essential to those of us who now find ourselves there. The lessons and stories here are for
all of us, ill or not, when the inevitable question arises: How do we move through an overwhelming
crisis--whether from physical illness, grief, or a major life change--into the rest of our lives?
This offering presents in its entirety Nepo's 1994 literary gem Acre of Light, written shortly after his
recovery. Here, he expands and enriches its themes with new poems, essays, and teachings gathered in the
decades since. Throughout, Mark includes compelling questions and exercises from his popular
workshops, to invite us to personalize the experience.
What emerges is a reading companion to be explored in many ways: as a memoir, as a survival kit of
wisdom and verse that helped Mark during his own journey, and as a conversation to spark our own
contemplation, journaling, and discovery.
To live in wonder on the other side of suffering and disappointment, reflects Mark Nepo, is to know how
magnificent and fragile it is to be here at all. Inside the Miracle calls us to leap into our lives with
tenderness and courage, so we can fully inhabit the miraculous moments that await us.
emergence of purpose in our lives. But less well-known is the journey that shaped his vision as a teacher
that began in 1987 when he was diagnosed with cancer. The revelations during that time would inform
every dimension of his work to follow.
With Inside the Miracle, Mark Nepo shares what he discovered along this challenging terrain, and the
insights most essential to those of us who now find ourselves there. The lessons and stories here are for
all of us, ill or not, when the inevitable question arises: How do we move through an overwhelming
crisis--whether from physical illness, grief, or a major life change--into the rest of our lives?
This offering presents in its entirety Nepo's 1994 literary gem Acre of Light, written shortly after his
recovery. Here, he expands and enriches its themes with new poems, essays, and teachings gathered in the
decades since. Throughout, Mark includes compelling questions and exercises from his popular
workshops, to invite us to personalize the experience.
What emerges is a reading companion to be explored in many ways: as a memoir, as a survival kit of
wisdom and verse that helped Mark during his own journey, and as a conversation to spark our own
contemplation, journaling, and discovery.
To live in wonder on the other side of suffering and disappointment, reflects Mark Nepo, is to know how
magnificent and fragile it is to be here at all. Inside the Miracle calls us to leap into our lives with
tenderness and courage, so we can fully inhabit the miraculous moments that await us.
Audio CD
First published April 1, 1996
36 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Mark Nepo
54 books623 followersMark Nepo is a poet and spiritual teacher whose work explores inner transformation and the courage to stay open to life. Known for the bestselling The Book of Awakening, he has written more than twenty books and created numerous audio projects that invite readers to reflect, heal, and deepen their relationships. A cancer survivor, he often describes his illness as a turning point that shaped his understanding of presence and vulnerability. After many years teaching literature and poetry, he devoted himself to writing and guiding others through workshops and retreats. His reflections have been featured widely, including on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday, and he continues to write about living with authenticity and attention.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Currently reading
February 21, 2016I just started this latest book by Nepo and I'm finding it full of hard won wisdom. Many of Nepo’s meditations and poems arise out of his own experience with suffering during a time of battling cancer. In the midst of pain, suffering, and brokenness we can hear a song we might have otherwise missed.
Wendell Berry has a Sabbath poem that puts it this way,
“I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.
Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.
Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.
After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.
(Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997, p. 5)
Pain, loss, and suffering are often accompanied by fear. But both Nepo and Berry suggest that when given time to absorb, think on, and meditate upon what we have been through, are going through, or are faced with, and doing so with patience and expectancy, that we can position our hearts to hear wonderful songs as well as sing its deepest, most beautiful music, all of which might have otherwise gone unspoken, unnoticed, and unheard. Nepo’s poem “Living with the Wound” strikes this chord for me:
Living with the Wound
There is a need to be specific
if we are to survive,
which requires being honest,
the way seeing requires
the eyes to stay open.
It means I can tell you
when you hurt me
and still count on your love.
It means being honest
with myself, knowing
the ugly things are not
always someone else’s.
I’ve been thinking how
practical people cut the cord
to those who’ve broken hope,
the way breeders shoot horses
with broken legs, as if
there’s nothing to be done.
Now I know they do this
for themselves, not wanting
to care for a horse that cannot run,
not wanting to sit with a friend
who can’t find tomorrow, not wanting
to be saddled with anything
that will slow them down.
I used to think it bad timing.
When I was up, you were down.
When you were ready
I was scared. But since
we’ve never given up on each other,
it’s clear that drinking wonder
when we’re sad is how we shed
the things we love about pain.
I have the right to joy
even when lonely,
even when in pain,
and you never need
to cover your wounds
when entering my house.
If your voice breaks, I’ll be a cup.
If your heart sweats, I’ll be a pillow
on which you’ll chance to dream
that weeping is singing
through an instrument
that’s hard to reach,
though it lands us like lightning
in the grasp of each other
where giving is a mirror
of all we cannot teach.
(Mark Nepo, Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness, Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True, 2015, pp. 89-90)
Nepo offers his understanding of where fear gets its power, intensity, and stridency: "In time, I was broken of my illusion that fear could be conquered. Instead, I began to watch the winter trees as they let the wind through, always through. Since then, I've learned that fear gets its power from not looking, that it's intensified by isolation, that it's always more strident when we are self-centered. Now, when I am full of fear, which can't be avoided, I try, though I don't always succeed, to break its stridency by breaking my egocentrism. I try to quiet its intensity by admitting my fear to loved ones, and I try to know that though I can be fearful, I am more than my fear." (p. 6)
Wendell Berry has a Sabbath poem that puts it this way,
“I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.
Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.
Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.
After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.
(Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997, p. 5)
Pain, loss, and suffering are often accompanied by fear. But both Nepo and Berry suggest that when given time to absorb, think on, and meditate upon what we have been through, are going through, or are faced with, and doing so with patience and expectancy, that we can position our hearts to hear wonderful songs as well as sing its deepest, most beautiful music, all of which might have otherwise gone unspoken, unnoticed, and unheard. Nepo’s poem “Living with the Wound” strikes this chord for me:
Living with the Wound
There is a need to be specific
if we are to survive,
which requires being honest,
the way seeing requires
the eyes to stay open.
It means I can tell you
when you hurt me
and still count on your love.
It means being honest
with myself, knowing
the ugly things are not
always someone else’s.
I’ve been thinking how
practical people cut the cord
to those who’ve broken hope,
the way breeders shoot horses
with broken legs, as if
there’s nothing to be done.
Now I know they do this
for themselves, not wanting
to care for a horse that cannot run,
not wanting to sit with a friend
who can’t find tomorrow, not wanting
to be saddled with anything
that will slow them down.
I used to think it bad timing.
When I was up, you were down.
When you were ready
I was scared. But since
we’ve never given up on each other,
it’s clear that drinking wonder
when we’re sad is how we shed
the things we love about pain.
I have the right to joy
even when lonely,
even when in pain,
and you never need
to cover your wounds
when entering my house.
If your voice breaks, I’ll be a cup.
If your heart sweats, I’ll be a pillow
on which you’ll chance to dream
that weeping is singing
through an instrument
that’s hard to reach,
though it lands us like lightning
in the grasp of each other
where giving is a mirror
of all we cannot teach.
(Mark Nepo, Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness, Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True, 2015, pp. 89-90)
Nepo offers his understanding of where fear gets its power, intensity, and stridency: "In time, I was broken of my illusion that fear could be conquered. Instead, I began to watch the winter trees as they let the wind through, always through. Since then, I've learned that fear gets its power from not looking, that it's intensified by isolation, that it's always more strident when we are self-centered. Now, when I am full of fear, which can't be avoided, I try, though I don't always succeed, to break its stridency by breaking my egocentrism. I try to quiet its intensity by admitting my fear to loved ones, and I try to know that though I can be fearful, I am more than my fear." (p. 6)
April 2, 2016
This is a wonderful and helpful book for anyone going through the process of suffering and wanting to heal, or knowing those in your life suffering and hoping to heal. The greatest wisdom I gained from this insightful memoir/book of poems/self-reflection manual is that there is never a need to hurry. We must always remain in the present moment to truly get all we can out of LIFE.
"I have learned that touch is the clearest way to know another's experience. To walk through the surf makes us part of the ocean. To watch it swell and recede makes us just a shiftless, though sympathetic, dune. I am well because people didn't watch my suffering, but entered it; through which they felt love-sufferings of their own; which, at times, hurt them too much; which, in turn, forced me to nurture them; until , in bare, essential ways on certain days, we weren't sure who was ill and who was well. A solution that saved us all." ~Author, Mark Nepo
This is a book worthy to digest and savor.
"I have learned that touch is the clearest way to know another's experience. To walk through the surf makes us part of the ocean. To watch it swell and recede makes us just a shiftless, though sympathetic, dune. I am well because people didn't watch my suffering, but entered it; through which they felt love-sufferings of their own; which, at times, hurt them too much; which, in turn, forced me to nurture them; until , in bare, essential ways on certain days, we weren't sure who was ill and who was well. A solution that saved us all." ~Author, Mark Nepo
This is a book worthy to digest and savor.
July 4, 2022
This reminded me of a lot of Pema Chodron’s writing (that I have read) in that the focus here is navigating events that are both devastating and ultimately unavoidable for humans: death, illness, pain, loss, suffering across the board. Nepo uses short essays, poems, and prose, grouped loosely by category and punctuated with prompts to explore in a journal solo, or with a close friend or friends in conversation.
I’m a big fan of Mark Nepo … and I’m not sure why this book was so hard to find! It’s super valuable and insightful. If you have struggles — if you’re a human! — then you will find something in this book to help you through the void.
I’m a big fan of Mark Nepo … and I’m not sure why this book was so hard to find! It’s super valuable and insightful. If you have struggles — if you’re a human! — then you will find something in this book to help you through the void.
September 18, 2020
Maybe it's me, where I am right now, but this book was word salad to me. I generally enjoy Mark Nepo, but I found this book to be so wordy and tangential that I couldn't finish it. It was like waking through a field with lightning strikes all around me, completely random and unsettling.
January 10, 2018
An honest revelation of life; of pain and disease and yet overcoming it all with hope, love and friendship! Mark Nepo created a miracle and I say it along with him, Miracles happens!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2012
I am a fan of Mark Nepo and try to read something from "The Book of Awakening" every morning. I was curious about his poetry so checked this audiobook out of the library. It is both uplifting and depressing, with occasional slides into self indulgence. But, I will forgive Mr. Nepo the self indulgence since his personal story of cancer treatment and survival is tragically brutal. And his then-wife was diagnosed with cancer at the same time. So, yes, self indulgence is allowed.
Just know that you have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to this book. Perhaps in a mindset full of openness and strength (don't listen to it if you are already sad). Because his work takes you places where you don't want to go: chemo, pain, frustration, anger, fear, doubt, sorrow, near-death experiences, and utter, comlete physical and emotional exhaustion. And all of these places can and will depress you. Thankfully, there are moments of grace and breakthroughs and loyalty and peace. But they don't quite balance out the tough stuff.
Just know that you have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to this book. Perhaps in a mindset full of openness and strength (don't listen to it if you are already sad). Because his work takes you places where you don't want to go: chemo, pain, frustration, anger, fear, doubt, sorrow, near-death experiences, and utter, comlete physical and emotional exhaustion. And all of these places can and will depress you. Thankfully, there are moments of grace and breakthroughs and loyalty and peace. But they don't quite balance out the tough stuff.
Read
March 13, 2016Particularly appreciated his poems, which I had never read before. Lots of good questions to walk with here; I'd love to find someone to answer them with.
"A nightingale singing at the top of his voice
Is neither hiding himself nor preserving himself;
He is giving himself away in every sense of the word;
And obviously, it is the culminating point of his existence..."
~D.H. Lawrence from his poem "Self-Protection"
"A nightingale singing at the top of his voice
Is neither hiding himself nor preserving himself;
He is giving himself away in every sense of the word;
And obviously, it is the culminating point of his existence..."
~D.H. Lawrence from his poem "Self-Protection"
March 10, 2016
A book to be read slowly, and re-read. About accepting and growing through difficult times/ pain/ loss. I love Mark Nepo's way of seeing the world.
February 6, 2019
Loved this book. Have bought several for friends. If you have suffered losses (and who hasn't) I highly recommend it. This guy has been there and writes beautiful poetry and prose about it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews