JOHN MCINTOSH
Today [April 2nd, 2020] I took a walk to a Tim Hortons coffee shop for a take-out and sat on a rock across what is usually a busy corner at Bloor and Spadina, but at that moment was deserted. On another part of the corner across the street I noticed an old homeless man walking very slowly and with great difficulty, one whom I have often seen in this area known as the Annex in Toronto. He was standing in front of a Pizza Pizza on what, at the time, was an almost empty sidewalk. He was likely hoping to get some food from someone coming out of the shop, which allowed take out.
The 'feeling' came to me to offer 'help' ... not by dropping what I was doing and running across the street and offering him money, which I almost never carry in cash ... just the FEELING 'help' arose … a ‘declaration’ from the SELF ‘to’ the SELF.
Almost instantly a man, heavily laden with shopping bags approached him, and struggling around with his bags finally produced what looked like a $5.00 note. The old man had been cautiously standing at a distance and ‘refused’ the money ... a lot for a street person to receive all at once. Most shops that 'are' open, no longer accept cash during the ‘lockdown’ currently in place, and I am sure he knew it would be difficult to find a shop that would take the paper-money.
The stranger departed and the old man turned and trudged up the street and crossed at the lights where a woman immediately approached him. They spoke for a few moments and she then entered a 7/11 store on the corner that was open for take-out. The old man waited and a few minutes later she emerged with some food for him and then departed.
This was ‘Grace’ - Love in Action that was taking place ... being expressed in a more intimate way than simply handing money to a street person. The FEELING I had had [as the SELF] ... had been expressed Perfectly and Instantly 'as' the feeling arose. This beautiful moment was a sublime expression of BEING-ness, which does NOT require the body to 'do' anything.
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