we were all sitting at a sidewalk cafe in galway, ireland...coffee and pastries for the adults and for anne a big glass of chocolate milk and a generous piece of chocolate cake..
galway has cobbled streets blocked off from cars...both sides of the streets are lined with shops, pubs and eateries...street performers earn their coins with song, dance and odd performances only their mother would applaud...songs lap over each other as you walk along...songs come out of the pubs as the patrons sing for the love of singing...galway smells of low tide at times and then of baked bread, fried fish and cigarette smoke...writers, poets and outsider artists come here to find the charge to create...it is a rough around the edges yet romantic bit of a place...it makes sense the four of us would sit down there to chat...
they enjoyed getting to know each other too...i loved watching each of them...their hand gestures, their laughter, their simple enjoyment of being...anne was happy to talk about her writing and how it kept her in the present...even when she was writing about something which had made her afraid...the act of writing removed her from that hiding place from the nazis and transported her to her inner world...she had hope she said...not to live on or escape but to be happy with what she did have and to not let her foolish mind override her and feed her fears...
then anne turned to jesus and asked him if he had fears when he was going through his life...
he said once when a bird swooped down on him as he got to close to a nest...we all laughed as he ducked and pretended to shield himself from an upset mother bird...he smiled and his voice went soft...saying yes he had been afraid other times...fear is always present but so is courage he said... to be overtaken by fear is to walk into a darkness you may not return from...choose to be brave and you walk into the light and will always see your path...
einstein chimed in then...fear is the destroyer of our world...courage is the nurturing force of the world...
we sat in silence after that heavy moment...then anne looked at me...she patted my hand and told me I needed to say something or ask a question...
so here this silly human was sitting with three of the greatest beings ever given to the earth and yet all my questions had been answered...i knew how to be the best me I could be which is what I always want to know how to do...sitting with them I understood how...to be peaceful, to be brave, to be kind, to be noble...to let my best come forward...they did it with ease...they showed me in their actions around the table...they were comfortable being themselves...they were each fully human in their fears and doubts and yet fully connected to the greater mystery of that which is beyond themselves...they were all open-hearted...generous, respectful, curious and full of good humor...all their best intentions flowed with joy...their own imperfections examined with compassion and their compassion ever expanding...each serving the world with their gifts...each hopeful for us to overcome our selfish and childish ways...
they simply were themselves...in being this they found happiness and transcended suffering and helped others rationally think and reason and understand that we each can walk in the light of our own good works rather than fall into the shadows of shallow thoughts and selfish pleasures...they didnt have to tell me this...they all had lived it...
what could i say...what could i add...i said i am grateful to have such good teachers and thanked them for being with me through my life...
night came closer on to that street...stars pushed against the darkness of the galway sky...a slice of moon inched its way up over the row of buildings...a fiddler played in a pub nearby...we all sat and enjoyed what was around us until my dream faded our good night...
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