He doesn't look like a "wise man". He has none of the
trappings of a guru. There are no saffron robes, no
beads, no flowers, no incense. He wears brown
Ferragamos not sandals. He says "Hello!" or "Hi!" when
he introduces himself, not "Namaste!". He doesn't hold his
palms together when he greets people. Instead he gives a firm
handshake (which I'd call businesslike except it
doesn't look that significant) to those he's not met before, and a
hug to some of those he has. He's wonderful with
people. His love is palpable.
As I watch him making his way through the crowd, it occurs to me
there's something about him. Although his name is mentioned
in the same breath as some of the great spiritual teachers of the
era
(Alan Watts,
Baba Ram Dass,
Richard Buckminster
"Bucky" Fuller,
Krishna Rai aka Swami
Muktananda Paramahamsa
et al), I can tell he isn't a guy who's walking the spiritual
path.
Here's what I mean by that:
He may indeed have walked the spiritual path in the past. But the
spiritual path is called the spiritual path because
you walk along it (metaphorically speaking) starting at its
beginning and on hopefully to its end. And right now I can tell he
isn't a guy who's walking the spiritual path, at least he's not a
guy who's walking the spiritual path any more because
clearly he's reached its end. Really he has. I can
tell. I don't know how I can tell. But I can tell. I
just know. I get it directly from him by osmosis.
Having reached the end of the spiritual path, he's now completely
here and he's now completely now which
means his life has really begun completely. And it's showing: on
his face, in his body, in the way he's carrying himself.
The room is full. It's standing room only. I find an open place in
front of the first row of seats where I sit down on the floor. He's
sitting on a
canvas
director's chair on the podium in front of me. I have to look
upwards to see him which isn't comfortable so I uncross my legs and
extend them out in front of me and lay back on my elbows. Taking
their cue from me, people on either side of me do the same. He
looks down at us. We're laid back - literally. He
smiles. I smile back. Then he looks out at the crowd in the
auditorium and says loudly and happily "Here we are with nothing
going on.".
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