Hi, welcome to life, death, and the space between podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Amy Robbins.

Today I'm going to be sharing a poem that was inspired by one of my podcast listeners.

If you haven't had a chance yet, we shared one of her stories last Monday. She talked about her connection

with an old boss of hers and the deep connection that they have had even since her boss has

passed away. But today I'm going to share with you the poem that she wrote that was inspired

by this podcast. In the absence of opposites by Susan Lipson.

In the absence of opposites, the light is unending.

No one ponderes the purpose of pain or hardship

since they never endure such challenges there.

In the absence of opposites, no shadows,

literal or metaphorical. Follow us around to heighten physical awareness since no physical bodies exist there. In the absence of opposites, no sadness makes us more grateful for moments of

happiness because there we are happiness. We are gratitude. In the absence of opposites,

no challenges are motivated by the mantra, no pain, no gain, because neither pain nor gain, nor loss, for that matter, exist there.

There, in the absence of dualities, of paradoxes, and of relativity, life and peace, and oneness, and and love are all simply being. There's something and nothing

are one and the same. Superlatives do not exist and the primitive social construct once known as

absence has been replaced by presence.

But here, where I am now, I experience my world through memorable juxtapositions,

through contrasts and comparisons, through paradoxically poignant moments. And here, now, I realize that this attempt to express my thoughts

in philosophically poetic lines might actually amuse me.

Someday, if, after my body's expiration, I am summoned by a reader, echoing my words,

someone who still marvels at these primitive imaginings about the absence of opposites.

Thank you so much, Susan.

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