A Guru Incognito

I work next to a guru.

I don’t think anyone knows this but me. I observe him, listen to him, let him do his thing without interfering.

“What are you reading?” he asks me when we have a break.

I show him the book. It’s one of the many things I am currently reading to try to understand my life, the world, the universe, where I am going and where I come from. In summary: my mission.

We talk about words. The universe I see and feel is made up of words, he says. Only 26 letters in English, make up libraries upon libraries.

I want to ‘comprehend’, I say. In order to understand and to express what I understand, I use words. I am a writer, I tell him only in my mind, because, somehow I don’t want to show off in any way. This is a man who has lived, who has done so many things, who has been to so many places. Who now, humbly, works in a service environment I actually feel is beneath him. But he told me once that his mission is to serve. I can see that in everything he does.

We go back to words. He tells me to empty myself, that when I don’t have any more words to try to express life and the world and me, I will have found who and what I truly am: One with everything that is. The OM. The beginning without beginning. The end without end.

I close my book. Sitting by the lake behind my home is wiser.

I do it this morning. Quiet. Still. I give myself Reiki. I breathe. No books. Fleeting thoughts come and go easily.

The stone floor of my lanai is full of mold and the plants are now all dead. I pick up a safe detergent, a broom and garbage bag and clean the entire area, throwing away all the dead plants and sweeping away with fresh water the green-black mold.

Did I fulfill part of my mission with a broom and a bucket? I believe I did; for now. No books, or poetry, or comprehending. I just did it and it feels good.

Thank you Guru Incognito.

Copyright 2017, J. G. Herrera