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I sit here in the hotel room with Adele weeping on the bed behind me. It's not because I let her eat the escamoles at lunch without telling her they were ant eggs. Nor is it because her brain is fried from trying so hard to understand Spanish in our days spent with this familia hermosa who have sponsored our trip here to Mexico, though that probably helps.
No, Adele (and even her name I say in my head with a Spanish accent) is weeping because we have just watched this TED talk by Eric Whitacre, and listened to the 2000 voices strong virtual choir he has assembled.
Why the strong reaction? Well, truly, what this man and these people have done is amazing, and we probably would be choking up watching even were we sitting at home in Studio City. Eric Whitacre has assembled in the virtual world singers from all over the planet to make something the beauty of which is undeniable, and which so obviously is bringing people together in an experience of true creation at a time when so much of our world is involved in separation and destruction. It's truly amazing. And...
Nine years ago, our friend, R_____, came to Adele and said, listen: I went to see this man. He gave me this word. I sit with my eyes closed and repeat it, and it makes me happy. Adele came to me with this news and I think I might actually have laughed in her face. But after chopping through my resistance and cynicism, Adele finally got me to meet this man. I was given a word of my own. I closed my eyes and thought it, effortlessly, and it made me happy.
Now here we are, nine years later, teaching their special words to people in Mexico City - a boy of 13, his grandfather of 70, and every age in between. It's exhausting and exhilarating and you can feel it. It fills the heart. You can feel it changing the world. You can feel it shifting the lives of these new meditators, and thereby shifting their communities. You can feel it shifting us. This complete connection to others whom a week ago I didn't know were alive. We sit here being changed and our friend, R_____, sends this link to Adele. R_____, herself an amazing singer, but who can't seem to help herself being one of those people who always is making connections for others, with others, between others, turning others on to the finest things she discovers, making her world and the world of everyone around her sweeter and finer and insisting on sharing it.
This wonderful world we have. These wonderful lives we live. These opportunities we can find in each day to give and to share and to recognize the beauty of it all, the beauty of each other. It's almost enough to make one weep tears of gratitude.
And as we in our tradition like to say, Jai Guru Deva!
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