Resources
Selected Articles and Books
Selected Articles and Books I've Written
“Of the three phases of a rite of passage--severance, threshold and incorporation—the hardest to navigate, by far, is incorporation.”
I say this well-practiced line to most groups at the end of a School of Lost Borders program. I offer it as a wake-up call for the initiate. Having just survived the ordeal of a wilderness solo—no company, no food, no four-walled shelter—they will now return to a world that, save for a few precious friends, won’t understand much of what they say about their experience . . .
I say this well-practiced line to most groups at the end of a School of Lost Borders program. I offer it as a wake-up call for the initiate. Having just survived the ordeal of a wilderness solo—no company, no food, no four-walled shelter—they will now return to a world that, save for a few precious friends, won’t understand much of what they say about their experience . . .
It has been said that all spiritual stories, across cultures, have the same plot line. 2 A hero comes to an impassable river, or other obstacle, which is guarded by a demon. The hero withdraws to gather strength, to prepare spiritually. Only when ready, the hero calls forth the demon to do battle. By defeating, befriending, or taming the demon, the hero takes it on as an ally, absorbing its powers, which then allows a crossing of the once-impassable river. Consider how that plot line informs the task of a Day Walk . . .
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is an illness in which exposure to electromagnetic radiation can produce a variety of physical symptoms . . . The immediate physical consequences of this malady can be devastating and the secondary psychological challenges often are just as dire. This N=1 study by a physician with severe electromagnetic hypersensitivity describes the “underworld journey” of a person suffering from this illness.
The Final Crossing:
Learning to Die in Order to Live
My first interest in doing wilderness work has been to explore how the death-in between-rebirth phases of a wilderness rite of passage are informed by my many years of sitting with people who are physically dying. To this end, I helped to co-create The School of Lost Border’s Practice of Living and Dying curriculum.
This interest was also at the heart of my first book, The Final Crossing: Learning to Die in Order to Live. This book, in alternating chapters, weaves two stories into one. The first is about the final months of life for Steven Foster, one of the co-founders of The School, as he was dying. The second goes back in time and tells how Steven and his wife, Meredith Little, created The School decades ago.
a blurb about The Final Crossing
"This book is itself a rite of passage. Extraordinary insights shared by two remarkable people, one dying, the other the inner life and decisions of the physician and friend attending this fine fellow preparing to head into death. This is the best work of its sort I have come across. There are so many levels, so many books in this book that it might well become a teaching text in many classrooms.”
Stephen Levine, author of Healing into Life and Death and A Year to Live
"This book is itself a rite of passage. Extraordinary insights shared by two remarkable people, one dying, the other the inner life and decisions of the physician and friend attending this fine fellow preparing to head into death. This is the best work of its sort I have come across. There are so many levels, so many books in this book that it might well become a teaching text in many classrooms.”
Stephen Levine, author of Healing into Life and Death and A Year to Live
anticipated publication date: 2024 |
a new book nearing completion: The Soul's Red Thread Emerging, Transforming, Trusting My second great interest in doing wilderness work is exploring the synergy of having your heart-mind becoming open and spacious - both by being alone in the wide-open desert and by sitting quietly on a meditation cushion. Both interests come together in my second book, The Red Thread of Story, which is nearing completion. Over 12 chapters, I go in search of why it is we humans tell stories. Three parts to the book: the perspective of an end-of-life physician, that of a wilderness guide, and that of a student of Buddhism. |
EXCERPTS FROM THE SOUL'S RED THREAD