Please note: this guest essay is written by Jolyon Druce in response to Erie Chapman’s meditation, “Days 11-15 Footsteps and Other Signs of Presence” Jan 11, 2016. 

 Erie asks about footprints and other signs of presence. What footprints or impressions do we leave? For the last few years I have been doing a lot of spiritual searching, but maybe not what you think. I have been studying up on as many religions and their related philosophies that I have time for. It is a peaceful and fulfilling journey, following the footprints of others. The impressions these many humble people felt, in the happiness of knowing God. These servants would be astonished to find so many followers following in their footsteps in a path for knowledge. In many ways it is a Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation kind of search. Each stepping stone leads to yet another beautiful path to discover. That is one of the wonderful things about coming to the Journal of Sacred Work. To discover the many people who have left impressions on us in our soul travels. It is kind of like atoms combing to become a molecule. Separate; we our alone, combined, we can become the tears of a newborns joy.

 But what about impressions?  the first or the lasting? Are they a noun, verb, adjective or emotion? One thing I have noticed is how very limited the English language is, and how badly words are translated from other languages. This is especially true for the more ancient languages. Did you know there are over 54 different Sanskrit words for the English word ‘impression’? Add in the potential bias of the translators and what started out as a word for love can be its opposite. Or maybe the word for fear, pass it down for generations upon generations without the looking at the teachings, you lose Love.

 Erie asks about footprints, footsteps…impressions. So do you recall some of those that caused you to be you? Not just your relatives but some of the people that crossed your path for a few days or hours. I remember a lady I met after high school. She was about 19-20 years of age. Her dad was very successful, a well-known business man and engineer. He had recently been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa and was having to give up his way of life and idea of his future. And with Retinitis Pigmentosa being an inherited disease, she was out front with those around her and not afraid for the future. For me, though I only knew her for a short time, it caused me to think about a life like she was heading into. I started closing my eyes and practicing the darkness, or the tunnel vision effects of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

To this day I still educate myself to this possibility, decades later, because I met this family. Where I grew up my back yard play area got taken away by the construction of a very loud freeway. Those that could sold their homes and moved away, looking for quite locales. Some like my father, installed sound deadening windows and tried to put up with it for a while. Next door, a new couple was moving in. “Who would actually want to move in to a house next to this loud freeway,” I thought? Probably someone just trying to find a home that was cheap and then turn around and rent it out like a lot of the houses. But this was different. Yes, the house was cheaper and the school district was great, but the noise did not bother them. The new neighbors were deaf. It was their new home. What was a detriment to some was an opportunity to others. And to this day I get up in the morning, put the television on, but without the sound for a while, enjoying the quietness because I want to, not because I have to. But just in case…

 These were not first impressions I remember, but they lasted…to become me. I truly feel blessed.

Jolyon Druce

Photo by Rev. Erie Chapman

Thank you Jolyon for your soulful contributions to the Journal of Sacred Work!