The interlocking life

Hello friends, As I look back on my three books on aging and my memoir, Taking a Long Road Home, I realize that this whole writing enterprise has been about searching inwardly on the contemplative path to live more creatively and spiritually. In a society that urges older folk into ever more outward action, my books have focused on walking a contemplative path within life’s activities. Here’s a poem from my recent book Interbeing which illustrates the unity of nature and spirit that has enhanced my older years. Best, Gene

Growing Toward Union

“I have no seams, no walls, no laws . . .
My frontiers and God’s are the same.”
Teresa of Avila

Teresa is not boasting, as she reminds us
to stay open to experiencing the unitary.
We grow up in personal and social divisions
that cut us off from others in myriad ways.
Early on we risk becoming victims of our fears,
caught in webs of greed and injustice.

True friendships, early and late,
wean us from captivity to self,
and free us to love others as they are,
not as we want them to be.
Our cats and dogs teach us such lessons,
as they laugh with us and at us.

Our lovely garden folds us into nature’s unity,
showing the interlocking life
that breathes from Brother Sun
to sustain our days
and welcomes us back into cosmic arms.

Teresa of Avila
points to such oneness.