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Was it ironic that he was visually impaired?
He sat on his mat a couple of spaces to my left with a portable flip-open keyboard that plugged into his phone. He could see…a little?
While the instructor talked about eating this or that food to complement (or balance) your dosha, the typing man kept track of every word. Nearly glowing on his black t-shirt was one word in bold white letters—SEEKER.
Now I know such kitsch is marketed to Western yogis, but I couldn’t help but wonder, What’s he looking for? Why’d he buy that shirt? Two years out, and I’m still wondering! Just the other day when I read this passage in Roland Merullo’s novel Vatican Waltz, I remembered the man:
It wasn’t that I wanted to do great things and be known for them. It was more a feeling that some mysterious ability was going to waste, a spiritual ability, and I hadn’t the slightest idea how to change that.
Is that what the guy from two mats down seeks? His mysterious ability? Or something else… If only I’d asked!
I’ve never been much of a SEEKER.
I’m more likely to subscribe to Winnie the Pooh’s philosophy:
“But it isn’t easy,” said Pooh. “Because poetry and hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you.” ~A.A. Milne
What’s your modus operandi?
I’m traveling over the next couple of weeks—Northern Wisconsin and Southern California. If poetry and hums find me along the way, I’ll drop a note from Born Free. :)
Regular notes will resume July 8.