Is it possible that one’s chosen life has a false bottom…
An empty space not yet fulfilled?
What a revelation to engulf the soul,
With darkness, fear, the unrealized.
Unveil suppressed gifts.
Unleash the web of doubt.
Tread the path unknown with fearless feet.
Bask in extravagant courage scouring for dharma.
Worship selflessness, sacrifice, surrender, then–
Behold the’shining in your eyes’!
The seemingly simplistic title of this book evokes a mystical concept that is vibrantly apparent from the moment the first page is turned. The reader is challenged with this passage from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas: If you bring forth what is within you, it will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, it will destroy you. For many, that may be enough to flee and seek sanctuary! However, if you prevail, Stephen Cope will take you on a journey that is unlike any known heretofore. Throw caution to the wind as this is not a message for those who will not dare to stand on life’s precipice and look inward to discern whom you really are at the core of your being. Gird yourself…great expectations are on the horizon.
The premise for this chronicle is based upon the Bhagavad Gita, a two-thousand-year-old spiritual classic that leads one to dharma…the sacred duty in life. The author exposes you to Arjuna, a warrior, and his mentor, Krishna, and the dialogue that ensues which exposes the secret to unlocking the manifestations of the soul. One is blatantly confronted with symbolic representations that create an awareness of self that is life-altering. In essence, Cope methodically takes you through the process of discovering the inner being and reveals that we are duty-bound to uncover our own idiosyncratic dharma, also known as truth! A critical part of this is the concept of absorbing, knowing and internalizing difficult situations, as it is clear that in this life pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. He recalls the lives of revered figures (Goodall, Whitman, Thoreau, Frost, Beethoven, Tubman) and demonstrates that in discovering their truths, each was able to bring light into the world. He does the same when he introduces people he has known personally and how they found the pathway to their sacred duty.
The Great Work of Your Life is skillfully crafted to enable us to uncover our dharma and, in so doing, to ‘gift’ the world. Are you living your ‘truth’? It is never too late to begin and just envision the extraordinary joy from within that will glorify your existence when you finally see the ‘shining in your eyes’.