"In The Book of Awakening, poet and philosopher Mark Nepo gives us the chance to re-examine our lives and
find a depth, significance, and beauty that we may not have noticed before. A year's supply of wise and shining
thoughts to be taken, one a day, like vitamins for the soul."
--Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal and My Grandfather's Blessings:
Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging
"The Book of Awakening is filled with a reminding wisdom both gathered from others and harvested from Mark
Nepo's own life. Each entry in this capacious and tender daybook widens both the eyes and the heart."
--Jane Hirshfield, editor of Women in Praise of the Sacred
Submitted By Publisher, July, 2004
Summary
Philosopher-poet Mark Nepo opens a new season of freedom and joy--an escape from deadening, asleep-at-the wheel
sameness--that is both profound and clarifying. His spiritual daybook is a summons to reclaim aliveness, liberate
the self, take each day one at a time, and to savor the beauty offered by life�s unfolding.
Reading his poetic prose is like being given second sight, exposing the reader to life's multiple dimensions, each
one drawn with awe and affection.
A cancer survivor and writer-in-residence at the Fetzer Institute in Michigan, Nepo has allowed life to consciously
move through him, and the results of that exploration take form in The Book of Awakening, his first nonfiction
work. Designed as a companion and soul-friend, it is a book of marvels, woven from the author's own story, stories
of others struggling with their humanness, and truths from the great wisdom traditions. Here, with his own voice
and the cries of others, Nepo sings a song of "pain and wonder and the mystery of love" in the hope that
"something in these pages will surprise and refresh you, will make you glisten, will help you live, love and
find your way to joy."
In a series of daily reflections, he crafts a guidebook for a new journey of the soul with untold riches of the
spirit. Each entry is a writerly and philosophical work of art, accompanied by a practice that makes for a completely
original and delightful call to awaken the mind and senses.
