“At its core,’Passage to Nirvana’ is about the poetry of living.” -from the Author’s Preface
The poetry of living is a good description of the story that unfolds through this life journey of author Lee Carlson. This is the poetry of living through life’s greatest challenges and triumphs. Challenges such as divorce, the death of a loved one, and an accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Triumphs including the love of one’s children, finding romantic love again, and learning how to live again after the TBI.
Mr. Carlson is able to give fresh and encouraging words to the difficulties facing survivors with traumatic brain injuries. Difficulties including short term memory loss, anxiety and stress related problems, and the general brain fog many of us endure. I also have a TBI and like to think of myself as a writer (at least in theory). He is able to make use what he has recovered from his career as a professional writer to the plate in crafting this tale for the reader.
TBI, zen, poetry, and sailing are prominent themes in this book; all of which made purchasing it a no-brainer (pun intended). I wholeheartedly recommend this book for TBI survivors and their loved ones. Lee’s begins each section with a “Po”, or his short haiku type poems, which helps introduce the next subject. The sections themselves are refreshingly short which is nice since I tend to get bogged down in overly complicated , long, and wordy pieces of writing these days.
This book talks about Zen Buddhism and mediation but it is not a manual. It is one man’s struggle through a great hardship and these were tools that helped him regain himself. There is also much about sailing but you will not learn how to do that either. Nor will you learn how to “cure” a TBI. This book is about Lee Carlson recovering his life after his TBI. This book is about the people in his life after the TBI. This book is about a mind rediscovering who it is and what it can do.
This book is about about life.
