Day 087b: Another merry Meeting … (July 10, 2019)
I said an oddly rushed farewell to a few fellow pilgrims who had freshly awoken and come down for breakfast, and then headed back out onto The Way. The morning was fresh and clear and the path was worn and smooth, and yet something was nagging me. I soon realized what it was: Conchi, the 3rd hospitalera at the Tardajos hostel, had not received a Peace Stone from me, and I somehow knew she needed one. And so it was that I did this mooring what I rarely if ever did – I headed backwards along The Way. And on that short returning I happened to meet Laura & Frances & Louise from London, and was able to gently witness* to them about my Walk and its Way – about its faith-empowering undertaking and its message of radical Kindness.
“Humility is just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self-exaltation. For to be truly humble is to refuse to make any comparisons at all. Secure in its own reality, the Soul’s greater Self is neither better nor worse than any other, neither more nor less important than anything else in the Universe. It simply *is*– being in essence nothing, yet at the same time one with everything. It is in this sense that humility neither raises up nor tears down the self. Rather, it gently melds the same into its surroundings. Praise and blame, the winds of success and failure, blow over such a life without leaving any trace or upset. And in this way, the walker understands that he or she is indeed nothing, and yet at the same time has been specially summoned to embody a greater Oneness and called to spread the same to all who might also see. And inspired by this grand interconnection, the walker gives to others everything he or she has to give – food, poetry, art, kindness; whatever his or Self can offer, to whomever is encountered along The Way.” ~ inspired by Dag Hammarskjöld
*Gentle witnessing was the way I shared about my Way – never aggressively proselytizing its more raw mendicant methodology or its underlying message of kindness & selfless service & unconditional love, but rather simply mentioning its journey almost in passing, and then humbly answering any & all questions posed about the same.
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