Meetings with Remarkable People - Part 6
March 16, 2025
Meetings with Remarkable People Part 6
We value the remarkable people who have come into our lives. They guide, protect, and influence us. Many embody our ideals, hopes, and aspirations. Some open up worlds of thought and activities that we would never have experienced without them. Some of these dear people have always been in our lives, and some for only a brief encounter. Yet their contributions to our soul are invaluable.
You are one of these remarkable people because the qualities of your soul are divine. The more qualities of our soul we come in contact with and consciously embody, the greater our overall capacities become. Regardless of our current capacities, some people likely regard you and me as crucial to their soul’s journey. And there are others who we profoundly affect; if only in one moment, with one word, one touch, one glance.
In my experience, most of us carry huge concerns and challenges. These preoccupations may include the welfare of a loved one, a health issue, problems with a child or parent, financial woes, sexual matters, estrangement, enmity, oppression, rejection, shame, anger, or fear.
Henry David Thoreau said, “The mass of [people] lead lives of quiet desperation. What is resignation is confirmed desperation.” (Walden, 1854: Chapter 1, paragraph 9). If we understand Thoreau’s comment, we realize even the strong, the insightful, the spiritually attuned, have crises, self-doubt, shock points, and enormous challenges.
None of us is beyond the need for compassion, guidance, support, and kinship. I differ with Henry David Thoreau in one aspect of his reasoning. I do not believe most of us (the mass of people) live in confirmed desperation. Even though we have our shock points, spiritual consciousness won’t allow us to live in resignation. For hope and joy, we depend on the soul qualities of one another. And our soul qualities are not animated without the inspiration of the Divine.
Some people may appear to be okay, even impervious to hurt or woundings. But despite appearances, all those we come in contact with are somehow wounded or desperate. As remarkable persons who also know worry and desperation, we can soothe the wounds of our brothers and sisters, many of the names of whom we will never know.
Self-inquiry: Who benefits from your remarkable soul?
Dear God,
For my brothers and sisters, I am deeply grateful. I pray that we embrace the qualities of our remarkable souls as conduits of your love. In your name, Amen
