I spent the evening with my mentor, Sparky, and some of his friends at the Savory in Takoma Park. He was a professor of mine who refused to stop teaching me after my tuition was paid. Now, Sparky is much more than a mentor to me in many ways. The most profound characteristic (one of many profound characteristics!) of Sparky is that he is a man who does not believe in shame. With this component taken out of the relational equation, wonderful and liberating things have taken place for me.
Sparky is a brilliant eccentric that lives his life in an authentic manner that is full of meaning and depth. He has dedicated his life to the care for others, and has done absolutely amazing work in the process. He is a wise, witty, original (A humanistic-existential-phenomenological-gestaltist!) who makes every conversation entertaining and meaningful. He has taken time to help me out whenever I have needed it, and I am very proud to call him a friend. He has been a psychologist for 50 years! And, he gives his unbelievably expansive knowledge away to those he deems worthy of his attention without bravado, pretense, or conditions.
The group currently has no name. We were assembled to meet one another, because Sparky wanted his friends to all meet at one time. Tonight was ice-breaking with a fair amount of self-disclosure. Everyone, as expected, is very interesting, highly intelligent, and I am certainly looking forward to meeting with them again in the future.
3 comments:
Is this the guy whose poetry you sometimes go see? He sounds like quite a man.
He is. I'll post some of his work, if he sends some in the future...Didn't Liam have the broncio-bug? How long was he sick? Baby is still symptomatic.
Poor little kitten! Liam was SICKsick (like, 2 ER trips sick) for about a week. He still has a cough, but not nearly as bad.
Our next book group book should be about super bugs....
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