Monday, February 13, 2017

REVELATION through ENCOUNTER

While returning audio books due near closing time at the library on Friday I encountered a very distressed woman whose 'reserve' book could not be found and we struck up a conversation.  She told me that she just had to have the book.  It was a Calvin and Hobbs collection.  Curious to be desperate about that I thought but could  see she was quite legitimately upset in a way that indicated there was more to the compelling need.  I didn't pry, but suggested she might find something in one of the two thrift shops next door.  I was going in to check for VHS movies as I periodically do, and so we went together.  After a bit more casual conversation she confided that her mother had died the week before without any warning of illness. Calvin and Hobbes was a favorite that she wanted to have for the the weekend.  She was hurting so much, I helped her search.  We didn't find any but she got happy just looking at books.  We bonded over that, laughed about book addictions, and even got into conversation with a fellow book lover there.  That scenario repeated at the second shop accompanied by more information about her previous jobs and skills.  She played the piano at the Opera thrift and I learned a lot more in the hour we spent together than some folks learn in long relationships-she's an artist in many mediums, she lives alone and has been disappointed, she's shy.  The last thing I found out was her name (Jill).  Though I didn't find any movies, I did purchase this book for Ninety Nine Cents to send to Wendy Golden Levitt who works with children, with my thanks again for the Llama related gift she sent me.
Jill remembered knowing me from elsewhere and connections in the yoga community that went way back were revealed, also that we live within five blocks of one another. Then suddenly, while waiting for the light to change and headed to the health food market, her energy shifted radically.  She said she felt dizzy and had to hurry home.  She'd been talking pretty much non-stop the whole time, a kind of manic state that evolved from being way too angry at the library, to happiness bordering giddy joy while on the book search, to this precipitous drop to zero.  She was apologetic but I assured her I understood, that it was natural considering the strain she'd been under.  We hugged and parted.

The End is always Love
~*~

What was the relevance of this comic strip?
https://youtu.be/-xzzQVk5IfE
~*~

"Thus it is clear that in this way all the dharmas are within your own natures, yet your own natures are always pure. The sun and the moon are always bright, yet if they are covered by clouds, although above they're bright, below they are darkened, and the sun, moon, stars, and planets cannot be seen clearly. But if suddenly the wind of wisdom should blow and roll away the clouds and mists, all forms in the universe appear at once. The pu­rity of the nature of humankind in this world is like the blue sky; wisdom is like the sun, knowledge like the moon. Although knowledge and wis­dom are always clear, if you cling to external environments, the floating clouds of false thoughts will create a cover, and your own natures can­not become clear."
(daily reminder from Commit to Sit practice)

 LINKS

Calvin and Hobbes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Calvin_and_Hobbes_books

Commit to Sit
http://zencare.org/commit-to-sit/

4 comments:

Yvette said...

what a remarkeble story

that's what makes the world interesting

dagdag

Mo Crow said...

the solace of books and kindness

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

you can Not know how beauty FULL and IMPORTANT this post is to me

Nancy said...

Wow, what a story! Amazing how she so wrapped in her grief, stumbled onto you, a kind souls just when she needed that. My son and grandson are C&H folks.