The Whale Rider

By Robert Brumet

Oct 2011

In 2011 I was asked to share the story of my spiritual journey in poetic form at The Writers Place in KCMO. This poem is my response to that invitation.

It really began when it all ended.

I had to lose everything to find myself.

“Be present; stay awake, my teacher said, “This moment contains all that you need.”

His words rang true- yet my heart sank, my gut wrenched. I kicked and screamed and cried…. For a long time.

Descending into the abyss is not easy- it takes, time, patience, and courage.

Yet my eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness- I began to see strange creatures swimming in the deep.

At first they frightened me- they were so large- and so fierce- and so foreign.

But slowly I began to appreciate their unique beauty and their amazing power.

That which swims deep within is foreign to the eyes of mind.

Yet to ride the whale emerging form the depths is far beyond the measure of the mind.

To swim these dark waters is to birth the vision of a greater reality.

The view from the mountain top arises as we touch the force that births the mountains.

Only as I sank to the depths did I discover the power that creates the heights.

In that power I live and move and have my being.

From that power I am ever nourished,

And for that power I live my life…now and always.