An InterGalactic Friend Who Got Away
September 16, 2009 by rtwsenior · Leave a Comment
Continuing the theme of what has probably been labeled, “Love At First Sight,” by most people, down through the ages, simply for lack of a better term for it, I shall give more examples of InterGalactic Friendship mentioned in the previous blog.
It is something like love at first sight; but it isn’t necessarily all that heavy, and weighted down with destiny as such a phrase implies.
In my experience, that phrase limits the phenomenon severely, because it usually doesn’t (conveniently) strike only those who are free of obligations and available for taking up a whirlwind romance with an attractive stranger. It almost always hits when you have a full plate. And, it can be most inconvenient, unless you have a handle on what is going on. Very possibly, two people, who suddenly feel this way, once did have a deep relationship — in a past life with each other… and neither has forgotten that connection on a cellular level. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are destined to spend this life together. Perhaps this interesting stranger is a “walk-on” in your present stage play.
These powerful “Love At First Sighters” are called InterGalactic Friends in my book. That would explain what happened to Wallis Simpson and King Edward of England. All that abdication and divorce might not have been really necessary, if they had only known what was really going on. That said, I think it’s the lucky ones who can pull off a marriage with one of these mythical beings whom they have known and loved before.
Let me share with you a journal entry that I wrote in 2001, right after I spotted an InterGalactic Friend in the grocery store, but didn’t meet him. Written down the next morning, while the experience was fresh, it’s a good report on how this kind of thing feels. I have no idea who he was and never laid eyes on him again. At the time, I had experienced this a few times, but had no concept of what it was.
“December 11, 2001 – Guess what? I saw a most beautiful man yesterday and followed him around City Market, just to look at him! I didn’t think I would ever see any man again who appealed to me. I look at them, but they all fall so far short, that I had just stopped thinking in terms of ever noticing a guy again. This one even spoke to me as I was entering the store. Maybe I wouldn’t have picked up on his presence if he hadn’t greeted me. Aspen is full of “beautiful people” during the ski season, most of whom don’t do a thing for me. But, he was at the door when I came through it, and he said, “Good-looking jacket!” to me, complimenting me on the old brown suede jacket, with the fur-rimmed hood, that I was wearing. I replied, “It’s good and warm.” and went to get a basket. Well, what would you have said? I was scrounging around for something more witty, but it just didn’t happen. I’m not really in practice for picking up guys in grocery stores. Or cooperating with being picked up… though I wish I had been in this case.
But, I was saying, “Wow!” all the way into the store. He was slender and had the nicest slim face and his hair was white but hung forward in a straight shock over his forehead. He, himself, looked young and boyish, but he was, at the same time, in my age-range. Boy! Did I ever want to get to know him!!! I just peeked at him a lot as we shopped through the mutual aisles. We sort of followed each other around and I had the sense that he was doing the same sort of peeking. We wound up in the checkout line together and I got so flustered that I left a bag of groceries behind.
He was the sort of guy that I would trust with my life, immediately; whom I would marry, instantly, if he had asked me, right there in City Market. I’m just as much a sucker as I ever was, for the right-looking man. I went out in a daze.
Did we mutually affect each other like that? I can’t see how it could be otherwise. We must have known each other on other planes of existence, in other times, because the reaction was instantaneous. If only that could happen to me in some situation where we could really meet and really talk, and which would throw us together for awhile. I think he did pretty well, to think of something to say. That old jacket really isn’t at all spectacular, especially here in the land of truly good-looking ski jackets. No one has commented on this one before. Wish I could have been as original, tossing out a comeback that someone could build a conversation on.
“What, this old thing? I’ve just worn it on a long trek through the Himalayas. See, here’s a little yak butter still on the sleeve.” Now, that would have had possibilities.”
If such a thing has ever happened to you, don’t just chalk it up to your wandering eye. More than likely, you have just recognized an Old Friend… whom you absolutely know you have never met in this life. But you do know them! And you do remember them! And you’ve just passed another Cosmic Test… halfway. You never got to say Hello, down here; or report in and hear their report to you. But you did salute them, somehow.
Your two ships will steam on through the night, in opposite directions, without even the acknowledgment of a few good whistle blasts. Ah well, what can be done?
Note to the comment on my last blog: Bob Lowhorn, is that you? Class of ’55? I’m still giggling over your absolutely logical comment. Yes, my dear… but you didn’t even take into account that I might be the oldest one, and he, the youngster. It was in New York, in my sixty-something salad days, (actually, I was 60) and he was in his early twenties. (actually 24) (so, actually, only a 36-year-difference) But, I shall now look forward to testing the theory on that 110 year-old that you mention. IGFs are different from the rest!
InterGalactic Friendship Is A Rare And Precious Gift
September 15, 2009 by rtwsenior · Leave a Comment
If you have been following this blog for awhile, you have heard me mentioning that special kind of friendship which comes along only once in a blue moon and which the passage of time cannot corrode. I just had lunch today with Fawn, one of my favorite IGFs (InterGalactic Friends) and we got to discussing this whole subject. Since I’m beginning to share more of my Inner Life in my blogs, why not really detail this phenomenon since it’s very likely that others have had this happen and can’t understand the dynamics at work. Okay, so here goes: I’ll quote from random notes in a journal I have kept for almost ten years now.
An IGF is someone whom we have known in other realms of existence, before we entered an earth life. We come into this life, knowing that our paths may cross at some point on the planet, and surely we must wonder if we will ever be able to recognize each other again, even though all previous memory has been erased. Since we can pop up here in many different backgrounds, and ages, and economic groups, many of us apparently have nothing in common… except for some kind of ineffable pull towards one another; an instant deep trust, and a need to tell each other all sorts of things about our life. We, literally, DO “recognize” each other, but we don’t know why. This can be extremely confusing, especially if there is a sexual component.
Most of the IGFs that I have found have been women, thank God! We become as Total Best Friends. The few men that I have met with this quality are much more dangerous to my solo roaming of the planet, because I fall, instantly and completely, in love with them; and if time and circumstances allowed, I would be in bed with them in a trice. Things have only progressed to that point once, and it was everything that I expected it to be, though there was a forty-year age difference.
Characteristics of an InterGalactic Friend are clear and unmistakable and the more of them we meet, the more easy it is to recognize the phenomenon. The recognition has always been instantly mutual in my case and the reaction very similar. We begin to talk, very rapidly and almost simultaneously, and the point is to distill the story of our lives into just a few fleeting moments, before we sail away, out of each others lives forever. It’s like a process of Downloading/Uploading that begins the moment we meet and continues until we are forced to part. And, if there is the luxury of time, it usually contains spiritual subjects and things that we wouldn’t dream of saying to anyone else, especially a perfect stranger. I find myself telling them, outright, that we are InterGalactic Friends, and I have never had one of them disagree with me. We both know exactly what we mean…and yet, we don’t, at all.
It has been so helpful to know that this Phenomenon actually exists and happens between people like a thunderclap. Until I understood it, I was spooked by it, or else felt like I had to rearrange my whole life in order to bottle and cling to this great and startling Gift. As if I could force the rainbow to stay in the sky or the rose to remain on the vine. Now, I just enjoy it and let it go; because in most cases, we are truly simply ships passing in the night, and that is as it should be. But, at least we did not fail the cosmic question: “Will we know each other if we should meet again in a new life?” That person’s memory, that name, that special human being, will always bring a smile to our face and warmth to our heart. Once experienced, it becomes the touchstone for all future relationships. I will never marry again, unless I meet a single, and therefore eligible, IGF; so there’s no point in looking around for anything else. He will need to be somewhere near my age, please dear God, because forty-year gaps don’t work for the long haul.
And if, perchance, we live in the same location, as me and my lunch buddy do, we learn that a deep friendship forms and that we are always there for each other, even though we might not see one another very often, due to busy lives. This IGF-type of friendship never makes undue demands. An independent spirit is probably one of the chief characteristics of this category of the human species and so, we will bubble along buoyantly, in the cascading waters of life, never attempting to drown a fellow bubble. We love to flow awhile together, but cheerfully wave goodbye when waterfalls or rapids appear ahead to claim our concentration.
This is a magical, marvelous, glimpse into the friendships that must be common among spiritual beings on Higher Dimensions… hence, the InterGalactic name for them. I am always taken by surprise when it happens, and yet, am gradually becoming more in tune with this “Soul Velcro” that actually does exist between human beings.
Or is it between Archangels disguised as human beings?
News Flash: Read the bestseller, The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young!
January 28, 2009 by rtwsenior · Leave a Comment
Okay, this is one of those crowded-together posts and you will need to check previous ones to make sure you are up on the whole story. And, believe me, this IS an ongoing story which I hope that I can capture down in the next few days before another chapter begins. I slept a bit this afternoon, read a lot, and realized that I need to insert this new ingredient into my InterGalactic Friends story. Still tired from mountain climbing yesterday and don`t want to be out after dark tonight…….because yes, my bag got snatched on the way home from the climb last night…..but all the sneak thief got was my ski hat, gloves, and three pairs of dirty socks. Taught me a lesson, though, and if I can leave off the heavy philosophy long enough (which is where the reality really is) I´ll describe that “rawther funny” incident.
Update: I will leave in the morning for Puerto Quito and a Cloudforest Resort in the jungles closer to the Ecuadorian Coast. So, I need to get this Quito wonderment well documented because I`ll bet and I sure hope that new fun is just around the corner.
Okay, now why am I recommending that you read a book, right out of the blue, in the middle of this discussion of InterGalactic Friendship? I´m not exactly sure myself, except that the coincidences are getting pretty spooky and I want this to be a complete reporting of the facts, man, “Nothing but the facts.” One of the beauties of the hosteling life is that there is often a bookshelf open for exchange, so that you can contribute your newly-finished novel for one you haven´t yet read. I always read more on the road than I do at home, especially during long bus rides or lone meals.
When I checked into the less-than-perfect first Quito hostel, I saw this book, The Shack, sitting on their trade shelf. I snapped it right up since I luckily had some tradin´stock. I´d heard of this title the night I spoke for the Clearwater Book Club. It was to be their next study and someone was raving about it, saying it had sold over three-million copies and she could see why. It´s about God, but different.
Oh yeah! That´s right down my alley and I made a mental note to acquire it, though I hadn´t. Well, now I´m about midway through the book and I think I see some cronky connection to what I´m trying to get across here in my description of InterGalactic Friends. In subjects like this, and actually I have learned the hard way, in any discussion of my admittedly off-beat look at God and Cosmic Subjects, it´s really hard to talk about all this sort of thing….as the author mentions in his introduction. Only, guess what? If I´m with them long enough, I have found it very easy to discuss these subjects with my IGFs. Didn´t happen this time, only because our time was absorbed in heavy-hauling athletic endeavors. And now, they´ve flown away.
So, I shall labor on in my whole description with the hope that your exposure to this book might provide you with a glimpse of a new viewpoint that might possibly be stretchy enough to admit some of this new stuff I might try to throw out from time to time. Believe me, I have a lot to say on a whole lot of subjects, but usually don´t for lack of understanding hearts. I think that this was true of this author, Wm. Paul Young, as well, but he has surely hit a nerve, though some story I read told of his long and fruitless attempts to get the book published; finally forcing him to solve things by self-publishing. (He´s happy about that now, for sure.) Seems he was simply too far-out for everybody…even the Christian publishing houses. And this is a Christian-based book, which I usually don´t enjoy. But, like I say, I´m only halfway through and I don´t know what will show up later.
The thing is, you´ll have to look at this through the corner of your eye to pick up any connection to my whole InterGalactic idea as it´s not (so far) terribly obvious. It has to do with the “Warmth Factor,” which is also not a term in the book, but which I feel between myself and these individuals. I´d better stop trying to quantify this. Even if you don´t find any connection, you should enjoy reading the book. So, get it.
Okay, I´m closing this post to keep the subjects separate, but will write another immediately describing the past few days.
I Discover Some InterGalactic Friends At The Middle Of The World
January 28, 2009 by rtwsenior · Leave a Comment
Be prepared for several postings coming quickly to catch you up on the many things that have happened in the past two days! If I can whomp up the energy (much was spent yesterday), I will write several stories today. Mostly though, I just want to curl up and go back to sleep because I climbed a big chunk of mountain yesterday…it`s exhausting to do that at 14,880 feet, dontcha`know?
But how did I get myself to that elevation? The story begins on Monday, day before yesterday, when I finally made it to Mitad del Mundo, near Quito, Ecuador, which I had tried for and given up on earlier, due to heavy rains. Such a blessing those rains turned out to be! I wouldn`t have wanted to be there at the rather-touristy, monument-happy, souvenir-filled splash made of the Equator with all the Sunday crowds come to hear a big concert performance. Wandering about an almost-deserted place on the sunny weekday was just fine with me.
After taking the obligatory photographs at Point Zero, I decided on a cup of hot chocolate before beginning the long bus ride back to downtown Quito. Soon, a couple of friendly Americans asked if they could share my outdoor table and we got to talking. Both are from Dallas, Texas, though Jose is originally from Lima, Peru, and they were on their way back to his home for his sister`s wedding on Saturday, taking a few days of sightseeing in Ecuador first. Tall, blond, blue-eyed Carl is a high school Math teacher and Jose, whose smile just lights up the planet, works for American Airlines, earning them free mileage to explore the world on stand-by.
Well, it wasn`t long before I realized that we three are IGF`s or InterGalactic Friends. Have I adequately explained this term on this blog? My friends and relatives have heard me speak of it every time this happens. It`s a word that I coined to describe a most unusual friendship which happens to me on a regular, but infrequent, basis and it`s the only way I know to quantify this consistent set of conditions that happens between me and certain people whom I meet in passing during these years of my life.
(Oh Blush! It just occurred to me to check this out on Wikipedia to see if the phrase was already in circulation and, Lordy, Lordy, some American punk rock group called the Beastie Boys has recorded a song called Intergalactic Friends. Yoicks! I couldn`t find the lyrics though I`ll persist some other day…so I have no idea whose company I`m in or what they`ve had to say on the subject. But, no matter. I have a very well-developed idea of what I`m talking about, so please try not to be overly-influenced by what the punk rock crowd suggests, unless they feel the same way, of course.)
In my book, an IGF sticks out like a very healthy thumb, among the people I meet along the road of life. One tipoff is that there is absolutely no time spent in the usual conversational sparring that makes up a new acquaintance. We begin from a point of immediate familiarity and trust, as if we´ve recognized each other across the room. Next, we talk quickly and thoroughly, as if we are catching each other up on the details of life since last we met. And that`s the crux of the matter, as I always wind up explaining to a newly-discovered IGF; it`s as if, when we parted in some long-ago life, we wondered aloud about whether we would be able to recognize each other when our paths crossed in our next life, our next “galaxy,” as we spun along our individual paths through the dimensions.
And unfailingly, no matter what their personal religious or philosophical background may be, not one IGF has ever questioned this theory when I put it forth to them, because only that string of cosmic explanation could possibly explain the weird feeling of closeness that we feel bound up in at that moment. It´s just not the norm; though it feels like the most normal of all connections at the time. We immediately slouch into each other in an “old shoe” relationship, although it simultaneously contains more spark than other friendships. This can happen with men friends and women friends and it just lights up the landscape of life. Just two weeks ago, I wrote about discovering Luis and Salome, my two wonderful IGF`s working in the Medellin, Colombia, Casa Kiwi Hostel. Now, here are Jose and Carl whose paths collided with mine at the equator in Ecuador and who have brightened my past 48 hours.
Fawn Germer, back home in Clearwater, Florida, is almost the only IGF whom I have seen beyond the initial encounter, due to the fact that we both live in the same place. I did keep in touch with two British IGFs for almost a year before we finally lost touch. But, over the past nearly five years now, the depth and quality of that friendship with Fawn has never slackened. I wish I could keep all my IGFs so close in proximity, but I continue to treasure them all. Actually, I believe that a briefness of the flash is part of the equation in most cases.
Stay tuned for the story of how we three, my equatorial buddies and I, conquered the icy slopes of Cotopaxi Volcano yesterday. But now I must head back to the hostel for a lie-down, as the mere memory of that glorious climb absolutely exhausts me. Magical!
