It's Sunday, September 17th, 1:54pm CST, and
we're a few miles south of Eden, Texas. I had no digital phone service yesterday
on the road, so I couldn't blog. I posted the Geocache thing from the motel last
night. They had high speed internet access, as do almost all hotels now. I even
saw a roadside rest stop with free wireless. The revolution continues.
Okay I promised I would tell the story of the
strange women I met in Taos some years ago. I present this as a faithful
reproduction of the conversation with no overt commentary or conclusions drawn.
Let me say that I am always aware of the strange nature of the core story of
Christianity. So I am gentle and patient when I meet people whose beliefs are,
well, unusual. Who am I to pass judgment, right?
This took place about 10 years ago. We were on
our way to Creede and stopped in Taos, as we often do. Jeanene was looking
through some stores, so I stopped into a coffee shop to pass some time. I was
sipping my beverage peacefully, when I overheard a fascinating conversation from
a table nearby. Three women were deeply immersed in a passionate conversation
about planets circling some of the stars that we know as the Pleiades
constellation. Their conversation made it clear that at least two of the women
were convinced that they were, in fact, from one or more of these planets.
I listened for a few minutes, and then I
realized that if I did not get into this conversation I would regret it for the
rest of my days. When in doubt, straight-up honesty is usually your best bet. So
I walked over to their table and said, "Excuse me. I'm sorry to bother you, but
I couldn't help overhearing that some of you are not from our planet, but are
from some other star system. The Pleiades, I think?"
"Yes," they said with no embarrassment or
further explanation.
"Well, I confess that I've never met anyone
from another planet, at least not that I'm aware of, and I would very much like
to hear about this. Would you mind telling me about your planet, what you are
doing here, and how you got to earth?"
They couldn't have been friendlier. I was
offered a seat and had the pleasure of asking as many questions as I wanted.
They were only too happy to talk with me. Indeed, I began to have the feeling
that not many people took them seriously enough to sit and listen to them.
I assure you, I was only to willing to lend
them my ears.
The conversation was much too long to recount
here, so let me tell you what I learned of them. They became convinced that they
were from other planets because their artistic, sensitive, and spiritual natures
set them so at odds with the world around them, at least as they understood it.
They were so different, they simply could not be from earth. And I imagine a
number of people would not debate that point with them.
How they discovered they were from planets in
the Pleiades constellation was unclear to me. I think the delicate teacup shape
of the Pleiades - certainly very pleasing to the eye - combined with a previous
meeting with a man who claimed to be from that region of the skies and who bore
some resemblance to them philosophically had something to do with their
discovery of the exact point of their origins.
They spoke of how difficult it was to live
among common humans, delicate and spiritually attuned as they were. At one point
I almost felt I was back in my youth, hearing the preachers talking about living
"in the world but not of the world," as they so often said.
One of the women was also adept at performing
"spiritual readings," as she called them, using Tarot cards. I was offered such
a reading at a small fee - $30 if I remember - but I refused, not having the
cash, the time, or the inclination. Nonetheless, they all agreed that I was also
a spiritual person who exuded some kind of mystical presence. They affirmed me
strongly in this regard. One of them asked if I knew that I had a Native
American spiritual guide. "No," I said, very interested. "How would I know
this?"
"He's standing right behind you," she said.
I turned but confessed that I could not
see him.
"My grandfather was part Cherokee," I offered.
This seemed to make sense to them and they thought my guide might in fact be my
deceased grandfather, which I thought was rather touching, were it to be true.
Finally the conversation drew to a close. One
of them asked me what I did for a living.
I'm a Baptist preacher," I said boldly and with
no further explanation. This revelation shocked them into silence. I told them
how much I had enjoyed the conversation - which was certainly true - and bid
them goodbye.
As I walked away I thought to myself, "I will
never forget this day as long as I live!"
Mexican Food and Cole Slaw
One more thing. We ate lunch in Eden at the
City Cafe. The Tex-Mex food looked promising, so we ordered fajitas and
enchiladas. I was surprised to find that coleslaw was included on every plate of
Mexican food. This is something I've never heard of before.
I tried mixing a bit of enchilada with
coleslaw, as an experiment. I'm always up for new experiences. Jeanene watched
with interest as I chewed. How is it, "she asked."
My answer was simple and clear. "It's an
absolute abomination."
Well, that's all of my blogging from the road.
We are a couple of hours from home, and next week it is back to life as usual. I
finished the Shepherd story and go into the studio to record on Thursday.
Talk to you soon,
rlp
