Pat Taub
As we enter a new year punctuated with images of wars, climate emergencies and the alarming prospect of a Trump presidency poised to threaten our civil liberties, Mary Pipher’s memoir “A Life in Light,” is a beacon of hope.
Pipher offers personal examples, honed through a lifetime of beating back darkness, to discover light and resilience.
Her first memory is as an infant, lying on a blanket under a tree, bathed in dappled sunlight. Now 77, Pipher continues to surround herself with natural light as much as possible, hiking on a sunny day or writing in a room where the sun streams in.
Pipher grew up in a rural Nebraska family with an alcoholic raging father and a loving, but unavailable mother, whose small-town medical practice kept her out of the home for long hours. Mary was a resourceful child, seeking out adults, like her maternal grandmother, who affirmed her. She fondly recalls washing dishes with her grandmother, who bestowed love and affection during this mundane chore.
Beaver City, Nebraska, where Mary Pipher grew up
Throughout her adult life, Pipher has learned to transcend trying times through a practice of staying hopeful by seeking a light-filled path.
She appears to have internalized the fortitude of her female relatives, who worked from dawn to dusk on their Nebraska family farms, and from her mother who attended medical school while caring for three young children. Mary showed the same determination when she attended graduate school as a single parent, and when she decided to be a writer, getting up at 4 AM to write before her children rose.
As Mary aged, her adult children and their families, once nearby, moved out of state. Her days filled with grandchildren and large family dinners disappeared. She became despondent, upping her meditation practice when a light-filled awareness struck: “Our great challenge is coming to grips with impermanence.” This is easier said than done. Pipher suggests that accepting impermanence is aided by a practice of giving love, noting that “receiving love is impermanent but giving love is permanent.”
Mary Pipher and her husband, Jim
A significant way Pipher gives love is through her commitment to environmental activism, fueled by a childhood in nature, when she rescued injured small animals, nursing them back to life.
Her commitment to saving the environment is consistent with studies on building resilience, which conclude that dedication to a worthy cause has a resilience-enhancing effect. The resilient elders I know, those who have endured significant losses and disappointments, are engaged in social causes, like standing for Palestine, and working to reduce the harmful effects of climate change.
Being in the moment is a central component in Mary’s light-filled path, where she basks in the beauty and awe of what she is experiencing. It’s akin to a full immersion, like savoring the serenity of a walk in nature, or a spirited Facetime conversation with a grandchild. These become stored precious memories as a reminder of life’s fullness.
Time in nature is a light-filled experience for Pipher
Pipher’s sunny nature contributes to her resilience. In an interview with the Washington, DC bookstore, Politics and Prose, she commented, “I love to be happy,” Towards this end she has a daily gratitude practice and finds joy in helping others. This concept was ingrained in her as a child with her mother’s daily reminder to “Be kind to others.”
Karen Shoemaker interviewing Mary Pipher via Zoom for Politics and Prose, 2022
Pipher’s writing practice has proved invaluable in deepening the self-understanding that promotes resilience, and in turn, a light-filled life: “Writing helps me to see things more clearly than I would have before.” One doesn’t have to be a published writer to make this connection. Keeping a journal can produce the same results.
The book ends with this invitation: “Dear reader, you too can write your own story as a life in light.” There’s no time like the present to move into the light. I can’t think of a better way to start 2025.
