Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home by Natalie Goldberg

Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home by Natalie Goldberg

A powerful memoir from Natalie Goldberg--the woman who changed the way writing is taught in this country--sharing her experience with cancer grounded in her practice of writing and Zen

Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home begins at the grave of Katagiri Roshi, Natalie's Zen teacher, in Japan. Twenty years after Katagiri's death and Natalie's return to New Mexico, she is permanently settled in Santa Fe with her partner, Yukwan. Except that, as Buddhism teaches us, nothing is permanent. Natalie learns that she has CLL, a potentially fatal form of blood cancer.

For two years, Natalie dances with her cancer--visiting doctor after doctor, attempting treatment after treatment. Nothing helps; in fact, one of the treatments only feeds the cancer and encourages its growth. Then Natalie's partner, Yukwan discovers that she, too, has cancer--breast cancer--as well as an off-the-charts oncotype score that requires her to have surgery immediately. The cancer twins, as Natalie calls herself and Yukwan, now must each navigate her own illness, carve out her own cancer territory. Each can provide only limited emotional and physical energy for the other. And, somehow, they both need to find a way to stay together, to stay in love--and to heal.

As the title expresses, Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home is so much more than a cancer memoir. Through a direct and grounded narrative, Natalie illuminates a path through illness: that we need to be in love with the lives we have, to embrace the dark and the light in our lives. For Natalie, writing and painting represent the light, and her cancer takes her deeper into her art practices. Balanced with a Zen practice that helps to her face death, this book is a moving meditation on living life in full bloom.

Natalie Goldberg is a poet, a teacher, a writer, and a painter. She has been a Zen Buddhist student for 24 years, has trained intensely with Katagiri Roshi for 12 years, and is ordained in Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing. Writing workshops based on the principles provided in Writing Down the Bones are taught by Natalie Goldberg across the country. Wild Thought, Long Silent Highway, Banana Rose, and Living Color are among her other works.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781611805673
ISBN 10	1611805678
Title	Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home
Author	Natalie Goldberg
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Shambhala Publications Inc
Year published	2018-06-05
Number of pages	192
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.