Bowing

Reading from Wednesday, June 5, 2013 yoga class

Another gem from Mr. Rogers.  Talk about a great yogi, Mr. Rogers lived his life in service to others.  What a life!!!   What follows is excerpts from his commencement address at Marquette University in 2001.

"For a long time I wondered why I felt like bowing when people showed their appreciation for the work that I've been privileged to do.  What I've come to understand is that we who bow are probably-whether we know it or not- acknowledging the presence of the eternal: we're bowing to the eternal in our neighbor. You see, I believe that appreciation is a holy thing... So, in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something truly sacred. 

One day I was privileged to sit in on one of Yo-Yo Ma's master cello classes.  Now, Yo-Yo is one of the great appreciators of our world.  It seems that people always walk taller after they've had an encounter with him.  The only thing that's larger than his talent is his heart.  At any rate, during that master class one young man was struggling with the tone of a certain cello passage.  He played it over and over and Yo-Yo listened with obvious interest.  Finally, Yo-Yo said, "nobody else can make the sound you make."  That young man looked at Yo-Yo Ma and beamed.  What a gift those words were not only to that cellist, but to everyone who was there.  Nobody else can make the sound you make. 

Beside my chair in my office is a framed piece of calligraphy with a sentence from Saint Exupery's book, The Little Prince:  "what is essential is invisible to the eye."  I feel the closer we get to knowing and living the truth of that sentence, the closer we get to wisdom.

You don't ever have to do anything sensational in order to love or to be loved.  What really nourishes our souls is the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the foundation of our very being is good stuff.  Before I say goodbye and bow again to the eternal within you, I'd like to give you the words of one of my favorite neighborhood songs:

              It's you I like,
              It's not the things you wear
              It's not the way you do your hair,
              But it's you I like
              The way you are right now
              The way down deep inside you
              Not the things that hide you
              Not your diplomas...
              They're just beside you.
              But it's you I like,
              Every part of you,
              Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
              Whether old or new
              I hope that you'll remember
              Even when you're feeling blue,
              That it's you I like,
              It's you yourself, it's you
              It's you I like!"