Sansaku: No Cause
4/20/24
The Timberline teenagers had a weapon they used against teachers who scolded. They’d say: “Whatever.” Then turn and walk away. When Corder lectured me, which was often, I almost always thanked him. This marked a change in me. In love, defenses go down.
There’s much humanity in the words positive psychology depends on: gratitude and grief, kindness, love and joy. I’ve never made a list. They come on their own accord. Hard times transmuted.
Robert Bly considered grief a path to consciousness. One way we learn to praise. The story of Treya Wilber dying of cancer is called Grace and Grit. The song I wrote for Chyako in Japan and far away. “The lessons that we learn, living side by side. Even when you’re gone, I whisper in your ear, and know that you can hear: the many words of love.”
Stories that move the heart are rich in love and what it means to suffer being human. I don’t remember courses in grief, gratitude and love in the counseling curriculum. Definitely not dreams. A serious oversight.
Corder asked: “Do you know what surprises me?” I shook my head. He said: “That I still get surprised.” Talking about someone and wondering what made him tick. He studied people, like biologist’s study animals. The algorithm he used didn’t take long to zero-in on type.
In a way, he was always on stage. A never-ending performance. If someone said something deserving, he had a bag of come-backs. Not sure I heard him repeat one. They were always context specific.
Did I ever see him angry? Not really. Compared to George, this was big time significant. I did have the feeling he could be like the Godfather if I crossed him. “You too can be replaced.” I gave him no cause.
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