For a long time I would bow in the posture of namaste, (which I learned as gasho).. In doing this I intended to bow to the person I was greeting, that is, I meant to humble myself to them: "I bow to you as your humble servant." For me, this posture had little animation in it, --it had become mechanical. In February, at a Martin Luther King day celebration, I heard a talk by a gentleman who assembled and directed groups for boys and for fathers, He spoke to us about his work and his connection to King, ending this moving talk with Namaste: "The god in me bows to the god in you." With this I had a moment of awakening. It had been years since I gashoed to anyone, having realized, with help, that I was not using the gesture to create a genuine communication, but not being able to touch what was amiss. This speaker related a piece of his work with troubled boys, and gave a piece of his heart in the process. When he uttered his Namaste he spoke to a life in me that had been long obscured. The god in me, the highest in me, the animated, the opposite of the mechanical --- I sensed that if I were to carry this spark of remembering into my day and work and bring it, in turn, to others, genuine communication might take place.

Namaste happens, too, when we engage in real work. Putting my heart into a task I have been given, wrestling with that task with all my being, is to bring the god in me into realization in a gesture that reaches out to others involved, and to anyone who will benefit from the work. At the time of the writing it has been a long time since I wrestled with that angel. Thank you for this place to glimpse it again.