Felipe

There are four students here right now taking the Rebalancing course....three of which are French speakers. Two of them speak good English, but the one who doesn't speak much English at all is the one who has some of the most profound things to share. He's a boy just a few years younger than me...dark hair, bright, smiling eyes, appears to be in very good health. He's sweet and cheery, and everybody enjoys his presence. And he's got a tumor on his liver. The doctors have given him less than a year to live. He hasn't even told his parents that part about how long he has to live. They know about the tumor, but he's assured them it's not that serious. He's their only living child, and doesn't want to kill them with anxiety before he leaves them.
I'm deeply touched by this boy. We had a long conversation one of the first night's I was here, and he shared with me his story. I had asked him how he got into meditating two to three hours a day, and he told me about the tumor. He doesn't have a lot of energy to be physically active anymore, and so he channels all of that energy into meditation. Because of that, his perspective on life, people and himself has shifted greatly. One night he came to dinner after a two hour meditation and was obviously on a different plane than the rest of us. He kept expressing how he was seeing people differently...that he was seeing our spirits instead of our bodies, and we were all so beautiful.
Every day, he says, he can feel some of the life leaving him, and so he lives every day as if it were his last. He doesn't worry about if other people like him or not. He sees no reason to wear a mask or keep himself guarded. If people don't like him, he says, it doesn't matter. I can't even imagine the way my world would shift if I were in his shoes.
The ironic things is, any of us could die tomorrow...well before he does, but the simple fact that he has an idea of when his time is coming effects the way he does the rest of his life. Back in France, he works in massage and donates the money that he makes to a charity he is in involved in...to make a contribution to the world that will live longer than he does. He's not scared of death, although he's working to live as long as he can. He wants to make sure he gets the most out of his life while he's here. There's a part of me that is a little bit jealous of him...his perspective, his strength, his opportunity to move on to another dimension. I get the feeling that there's nothing sad about his leaving this world. He will be okay wherever he goes...more than okay. He's done his work and there's definitely something better waiting for him on the other side. Is it morbid to wish that I could go there, too?
There's good people here at Hacienda del Sol. I'm grateful for the opportunity to rub shoulders with them.