After a lifetime of teaching, I’ve come to believe that you can’t change anyone. So, what am I doing in the many circles I convene all over the world? Well, I’ve come to see that being a teacher means serving as a greenhouse: providing light and warmth to the living things before us so they can grow in the various ways they are meant to grow.
If I am invested in changing you, that assumes I know what you should be changed into. This is presumptuous and dangerous. In the realm of transferring knowledge, there are definite and precise things to learn and skill sets to master. But in the deeper realm of knowing, there is no such arrival point. There is only the constant becoming of our soul on Earth, which no one can prescribe or schedule.
As a tree grows from the imprint of its seed, each life grows in the world from the imprint of its soul. We can only water the seed for each other and care for each other’s growth. In this regard, our being directs our doing. So, I encourage you to water the roots of your being so it can grow its gestures into the world.
In a modern age that commodifies everything, our challenge is to grow from the inside out, letting every holy calling find its own expression within us and between us. After decades of listening to the stories and struggles of others, I can bear witness that teaching, in its most profound form, is not moving a life from here to there, or from chaos to order, or even from effort to achievement. Rather, teaching is creating the enduring environment in which the seed of the soul can find itself and blossom. Until the fragrance of its care can stop and soften others in time for each of us to inhabit our lives.
A Question to Walk With: In conversation with a friend or loved one, describe someone who served as a genuine teacher for you. How did they empower your own worth and growth? How can you offer this same gift to someone else? After this conversation, give thanks directly to your teacher. If they are no longer with us, tell their story to yet another person.
This is from my book coming out in Sept, Falling Down and Getting Up.
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For more information about Mark’s books and upcoming events, visit MarkNepo.com and ThreeIntentions.com.
Information about his upcoming webinars, can be found at Live.MarkNepo.com.
Sept 8–10: Mercy by the Sea, Madison, CT, Falling Down and Getting Up: The Practices That Keep Us Human. (web link)
Sept 15–17: The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, Falling Down and Getting Up — Discovering your Inner Resilience and Strength. (web link)
Nov 9–12: Santa Sabina Center, San Rafael, CA, Four-Day Retreat, Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity. (web link)
Jan 7–13, 2024: Global Journeys, Guanacaste Costa Rica, Saying Yes to Life: The One Life We’re Given — A Weeklong Retreat. (web link )
Feb 5–10, 2024: Modern Elder Academy, Baja, Mexico, Falling Down and Getting Up: Discovering Your Own Resilience and Strength (web link)
