Inside and Out

Once, when the world
was young and filled
with believers,
it only took a slight glance
and a single word
to fell a giant
or to fill a bowl
with gold.

Now the world is full
of words without wings,
crippled things,
crawling on the ground,
easily crushed
under the foot of those
with eyes glued to the tube
while marching on
to the good life.

The craft of writing is a way of developing a relationship with your own unconscious, especially when you let words, images, and ideas bubble up from within, trusting they will form into a meaningful and coherent expression or crafting them consciously into coherence. In this way, writing accesses a deeper well of wisdom that can guide you in your life. The greatest joy for me is this apprenticing to my own unconscious and nourishing it into an environment that can provide a rich and beautiful inner world that supports the life I want to live in the outer world.

Every day,
I look inside and out
for one word,
for a single line,
that will burn the fog away
or set my heart on fire
for this life.

I can’t tell you
how many times
I have died
in that emptiness
or how long it takes
to shape the wait
into a bowl
that life can fill
with gold.

What is your relationship with your unconscious?
How do you cultivate the wisdom within you and bring it forth to guide your life?