A PATIENT MAN NEVER WAITS

A PATIENT MAN NEVER WAITS

Driving around town picking up groceries and supplies, a small series of interruptions occurred.

The first was a forgotten item for which that I had to go back into the store. Just as I pressed the unlock button on the key fob to the van, I took one last look at my shopping list and realized my missing items. Back into the store, select the items, get to checkout and pay again.

Then on to another store for curbside pickup. Had to go inside to buy some items for a friend, got to self-checkout in record time, back in the van and on to my next stop.

At the next store, I realized I had paid at the previous store with the company credit card instead of my own. Back to the store to customer service. Initiate a return, then pay again using my credit card.

Fuel. Had to put gasoline into the van. The gas station was not that busy but one of the pumps was not in service so a line was forming. In front of me were two older slower gentlemen. After what seemed like an hour, finally I was able to fill my vehicle.

At the traffic light the green light appeared and off we go! Except that the driver in front of me was a little slower to move. Yet another interruption to the rhythm of the day.

At each interruption the moving and instinctive centers suffered the lack of movement, the seeming lack of progress. At each interruption the steward checked my foot on the accelerator, smiled at the customer service cashier, waited patiently for the two gentlemen at the gas pumps.

There is no waiting in higher centers. There is no movement or rest in higher centers. There is no patience in higher centers. Presence has no preference or denial. Presence is aware of itself, generating and imbuing its experience with consciousness. Patience belongs to the steward. Presence belongs to itself.

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Carlo Orsi, Allegory of Patience, c. 1677 Private Collection