Finding Our Way Again

Weekly wisdom to bring you home in two minutes, or less.

A SHORT STORY

This past weekend, I was revisiting the story of Dante.

In the year 1302, he was thrown out of the city of Florence along with his family and told that if he ever returned, he would be put on trial and executed.

And in response, he writes The Divine Comedy.

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.

In the middle of the journey of our life...

It was those first few words that really struck me.

In the middle of the journey of our life.

Or, in the midst of everything, can you find a way back to yourself? Can you still live a life that's worth living, and one you can call your own?

Perhaps, I wonder, this is the space you and I hold with this newsletter every week.

A minute to come back to ourselves and find our way again.

To come together, pause, and listen.

A POEM

“Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Grateful,

Michael