Monday, August 16, 2010

Where Does the Journey Begin?

I first heard this poem more than years ago.

My guitar teacher gave me two gifts upon departing: Eckhart Tolle's "Power of Now" which transformed irreversibly my thinking...and a recording of David Whyte's "Poems of Self-Compassion". The first of the gifts opened my eyes to new worlds; the second gift sustained me even when I fell into old worlds.

The first--and in my opinion, most important and most powerful--poem on the recording about self-compassion was Mary Oliver's "The Journey". Read it, repeat it; let it be your mantra.

Remember: the only life you can save is your own, but by doing so, you have re-claimed a place for that life that is really the world's. Such a gesture may seem selfish, but it is the most self-less offering you can give the world: your own life.

"The Journey"
by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

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