flash of recognition

Real friendship or love is not manufactured or achieved by an act of will or intention. Friendship is always an act of recognition....in the moment of friendship, two souls suddenly recognize each other. It could be a meeting on the street, or at a party or a lecture, or just a simple banal introduction, then suddenly there is the flash of recognition and the embers of kinship grow. There is an awakening between you, a sense of ancient knowing.

John O'Donahue

I don't believe all friendships reach this level of ancient knowing as Father O'Donahue describes. Some seem to be destined to awaken our senses, and challenge our reliance on thought inducing logic. In fact, I daresay these friendships unleash us from the illusion of logic.

These are kinships which seem to have been designed to stir, to comfort, and to offer a chance to have the courage to look under your own skin where our most intimate secrets dwell. There is a feeling of having known this other person before and yet there seems to be no logical way this could ever have happened in a physical sense. Perhaps all friendships have that potential if both parties are willing to trust deeply enough to fully share feelings and thoughts. I have my doubts though because it takes an act of mind and spirit intimacy that seems to have a special touch outside of the two human beings. There is more at work than one can grasp with a walk with our thoughts.

Ancient knowing friendships are rare fossils inbedded in the opportunity to take a leap in faith. Though we often get stuck on the "how did this relationship happen........" or "why is this special person in my life......." because we are seekers of answers. We somehow figure there has to be some sane explanation to go along with the arrival of such a friend. It's the way we've been taught. Cause and effect. Action and reaction. Question and answer. There has to be a logical reason why to everything right? Then, one of these ancient knowing people step RIGHT in the middle of your sites. We try our best to align and even compartmentalize them........asking over and over again why have we met? But, I've come to the conclusion that thinking about it just gets in the way of simply accepting the gift of awareness.

We tend to strive for a beautiful landscaped life that is pleasing to the eye. There are no big surprises when everything is cultivated and manicured.......where the grass is freshly mowed in a pattern, where the garden is planned to flow outward in an array of geometric order. Our expectations somehow get aligned with this desire for control. It is what we think will settle us in a sense of peaceful contentment. No weeds, no crazy daisy sticking out where it shouldn't be. It sometimes takes an "ancient knowing" presence to pull us out of the seemingly ordered world into one that is unpredictable and chaotic, where thinking simply can get in the way of recognizing a much larger pattern emanating from the cosmos.

So, what happens if you are pushing through life with your head down, and your mind and body closed to the spirit of these type of connections? What if you do recognize the special friendship in your mind, but don't take it one step further by sticking your hand out (or in the virtual world, emailing your touch) to acknowledge them? What if you're too shy or tentative to take the first step in saying to the other person........."I'm sensing something bigger than logic.......?"

One flash of recognition.........has the power to reflect a prism of colours, a new perspective, and a much more interesting symphony of massive crazy daisy blooms to enlighten and brighten a much wilder garden of delight. We plant ourselves in the middle of a predictable pattern we've tried to create for ourselves, we'll never be able to recognize the shared beauty of ancient knowing an anam cara presents with an open hand and a knowing sparkle in the eyes.