It doesn’t hurt to be endorsed by Oprah: After she smiled on him, inspirational philosopher and poet Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening (Conari, 2000) hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestsellers list. He has overcome lymphoma and published 15 books. Nepo talked with PW about his newest, The Endless Practice: Becoming Who You Were Born to Be (Atria, Aug.) before joining Oprah’s The Life You Want tour on Sept. 5.

How did you become a spiritual teacher?

Before I even knew about poetry or spirit, the world spoke to me in metaphor. As a child, solitude was anything but quiet, but rather a place where the connections inherent in things showed themselves and I would listen, feeling their company. But it was my journey through cancer in my thirties that brought me squarely into the life of the spirit. Ever since, I’ve been devoted to continuing this conversation with the universe in any way that will help introduce people to their own gifts and wisdom.

Given the crowded market for inspirational books, what does The Endless Practice offer that is new?

I believe we need as many voices as possible to complete the one conversation life engages us in. Consider that there are thousands of insects and birds that together pollinate spring. Without each living out their destiny, there would be no spring. The Endless Practice is an inquiry into how the soul works in the world, and how by engaging our soul we are shaped by the endless practice of becoming the person we were born to be.

Heather Kopp, an evangelical Christian author, writes that even though you are not a Christian, your books help her. How would you define your religious beliefs?

I’m grateful for Heather’s comments. Coming so close to death during my cancer journey has brought me even closer to life. When I was ill, I was blessed to have kind souls from so many different traditions offer some form of prayer and healing. From that point forward, over the last 25 years, I have been a student of all the spiritual traditions, devoted to [learning about] the common center from which they all arise.

You wrote in The Book of Awakening, “One reason so many of us are lonely in our dream of success is that instead of looking for what is clear and true, we learn to covet what is great and powerful.…” How do you reconcile your advice not to seek fame and celebrity with the fact that you are a celebrity?

I speak to this extensively in The Endless Practice in a chapter called “If Just for a Moment.” Being a cancer survivor, I’m ever aware that but for a hiccup of God, I would be gone and someone else would be speaking with you right now. Likewise, I’m ever aware that for every artist or writer whose work is well received, there is someone equally gifted whose work may never reach us. In truth, I’ve always been an anonymous servant of the mystery.

What’s next for you?

A new and expanded edition of my writing around cancer and healing comes out next year from Sounds True, Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness (Oct. 2015). I’m finishing a spiritual novel called This Strange and Blessed Humanness, which explores the timeless challenge of whether we enter life or just watch it. I’m also entering my next spiritual inquiries: a book on moments of community and how they work, More Together Than Alone, and one on effort and grace. I’m drawn to work on many books at once, so they can inform each other. This comes from watching my father, who I lost this year at 93. He was a master woodworker who would have five or six projects going at the same time in his basement workshop. In my own way, I’m doing the same thing, shuffling about my workshop.