I was in a busy check-out line at the local market. The check-out woman was diligently working. When I paid her I said, “thank you for your help”. She stopped and looked at me. For a moment everything stopped. My ears could hear the noise in the store and my eyes could see all the activity, but inside everything was silent and time stood still. There was no movement and no sound, only Presence. She must have felt it too because she just stared at me for several seconds without moving. In this moment there was recognition. This was reality arising. She was Presence, I was Presence and all existence was also That Presence. We smiled at each other and I walked out of the store. I sat in my car and contemplated my state. She was an emanation of Buddha. She was God incarnate. She was my Guru. She was my Self. She was grace.
Isn’t it interesting how the Divine appears in our life? But still more interesting is how we miss the Divine; the person we see for a few seconds, the driver in the car next to us, the neighbor’s dog, the scraggly plant in the bedroom barely clinging to life, our partner. Our tendency is to go in the opposite direction; to feel the separation, the dissatisfaction, the road-rage, the anger. We neglect the possibility. Sitting in my car I realized that was my choice; what state of awareness would I select? Our outer life is predestined, but this is our one choice. Our state of consciousness is our choice.
