Cracking the Shell of the Egg: A Memoir of Spiritual Experience

At 12 years old, author and artist Craig Philip Staufenberg contracted a mysterious illness. During this time, he had a spiritual experience of complete death, movement through the veil to the nothing beyond nothing, then a return to this world.

For over 25 years after his illness, he continued to undergo bouts of spiritual sickness and regular spiritual experience. These experiences were large and small, profound and mundane, revealing and baffling.

In Cracking the Shell of the Egg: A Memoir of Spiritual Experience, he guides readers through a lifetime of these experiences. He shares them, explores them, and attempts to reach some peace with those moments when the hidden kingdom broke through — and reminded him there is more within ourselves, and more within the world, that must be tended to.

Told through highly invitational poetry, Cracking the Shell of the Egg evokes works such as The Prophet, in order to express a deeply personal and tender story of a life lived between the worlds.