My encounter at ACME

I stood at the counter at my local grocery store buying cold cuts for an anticipated joy-filled event with individuals with my spiritual community, coming to my home for an afternoon of chatting, connecting, laughing and eating.

The young man who was clearly busy doing a task turned to see me standing there waiting, but the look on his face was nothing more than disdain. I offered an enthusiastic good morning, but no amount of energy would melt the ice that was his foundation at that moment. He was a young attractive Hispanic man.

Eventually he came and took my order – when once again I attempted to melt the ice and an even warmer and more enthusiastic Good Morning. Nope. He wasn’t having any of it. He asked me what I wanted, I placed my order and the business at hand took place.

While this was happening my mind was a flurry with trying to figure out what could cause this young man to steel off my attempts to melt the ice and open his heart. I watched myself be attached to wanting and needing his connection. Was I needing to be a ‘savior’? Was I needing to prove my spiritual influence in the world? Why would I make this mean so much? I am happy to tell you that I did surrender my need and attachment before walking away from him. I landed on compassion, compassion for his heart, compassion for how much energy it must take to hold on to that level of rigidity resisting a hand of love.

This is not the first time I have had to remind myself to detach from my desire to make a difference and leave a mark. True compassion must be free. True compassion must be offered with complete detachment. To want to love by force is clearly incongruent with the original intention. To love unconditionally and to walk in the consciousness of compassion is to model what being a spiritual metaphysician looks like and acts like. To be a conscious spiritual being is to DO NO HARM and to RESPOND WITH LOVE.

But true – unconditional love does not require response, demand display, or call for commentary. Unconditional love is you and I remembering that we are the evidence of universal love and intelligence. That young man behind the counter is the evidence of universal love and intelligence in his form and expression and, if I am being who I want to be, I let go of anything other than acceptance. If I make him wrong or question his composure, the judgmental energy that comes with that is destructive.

Here is my invite to those who have the ability to hear, walk in the light of love, walk in the love of the One, let go of wanting or needing someone to be what they are not. Accept all others as you would like to be accepted yourself. The world doesn’t need anymore judgements, but it does need, and will benefit from, people who are self-realized.

Photo credit: Jonathan Borba