Into Great Silence

Jaap Sahib. The Ajai Alai. Words that can bring siddhis...the power to know what people truly mean behind their words. This knowledge can be tempered with compassion, and swirled into wisdom. How much wiser though to gain that gift from listening to the silent spaces between each other's words. When you know by grace from the heart, not from power?

My father in describing the peace of silence within which to gather yourself for a great task at hand, such as making your appearance at the doors of the underworld to get your CAT scan results, or driving alone to a place where your very DNA are pulled apart like Lego blocks to be rebuilt, told me the story of his great respect for Douglas Steer. Douglas Steer the Quaker mystic.

My father loves Albert Schweitzer. He tells the story of this man's unpretentious, unostentatious kindness to strangers. My father said another idol of his, Douglas Steer, had been, many years ago, on his way to meet Albert Schweitzer. Upon arriving in the city where he was, Douglas Steer refused a taxi to meet him, and walked. He said he needed time to adjust his spiritual garments for he would soon be in the presence of greatness.

So my father, many years later, went to visit Douglas Steer, who had visited Albert Schweitzer. When my father arrived at Douglas Steer's Quaker retreat on the train, he refused a taxi to the center. My father chose to walk. When he arrived, he said to Steer, "You should know that I walked to get here, because I needed time to adjust my spiritual garments." Douglas Steer blushed. So my father said, "Don't worry Dr. Steer, we are all just pointers." Dr. Steer smiled and replied, "Yes we are all just pointers."

I did not take the train to Kansas City for the third weekend of teacher training, but I chose to drive alone, because I needed time to adjust my spiritual garments.