Mark Nepo

Perhaps our human fate is to be worn open repeatedly.

I learned today that in 1917 the novelist E.M. Forster was in Egypt for the first time. As a conscientious objector in World War I, Forster served as a Chief Searcher (for missing servicemen) for the British Red Cross in Alexandria, Egypt.

From May 23-28, 2022, I’m excited to be offering a weeklong Mastery Week at the Modern Elder Academy, called “The One Life We’re Given: Saying Yes to Life.” I’d like to share more deeply what this topic opens up for me, in hopes, if moved, you’ll join me in this empowering exploration.

We all carry this unimaginable life-force that wants to come out into the world. And it will whip us around, if we are not grounded. When younger, my own creativity was such a force. I could be so intoxicated with it that I would follow that voice anywhere. It would say to me, “Keep going! Don’t stop! You don’t need to eat! You’re so close! Isn’t this great?”

Here's an excerpt from a chapter called "Stewards of Light" from a book in progress by our Mastery Faculty member Mark Nepo called "The Long Walk Through Time." Lucky us to be able to see an early version before it's published.

One of the collateral benefits of creating the Modern Elder Academy is the people we meet along the way. Poet Mark Nepo will be on our MEA master faculty next year and he sent me this just-penned piece of prose a couple of hours before we graduated our 50th cohort so I could share this exquisite piece of writing with them at their graduation ceremony this past Saturday evening. Proud to share “The Anthem of Our Day” with you as well.