I was blessed this last week to spend time with my lovely friends and cohort for my Spiritual Direction certificate program and the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley. At the beginning of one of our sessions, our instructor Scott read this compelling and beautiful poem that I wanted to share with all of you.
May you know these miraculous things: That you are YOU!
That your soul is a deep, dark, quiet forest.
That your known
self will never be more than a little clearing in that forest.
That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest
into the clearing of your known self, and then go back.
That you must have the courage to let them come and go.
May you never let those who strive for too much order
have the power to stifle the life deep inside your forest,
and may you continue to try always to recognize and submit
to the goodness, the gods, in yourself and in other men and women.
(Adapted from D.H. Lawrence “Studies in Classic American Literature”)