I’m so struck with the effect this book is having on me, I ask Connie, the publisher, if it would be possible to meet Eckhart, one on one. She tells me that he doesn't do that anymore, too busy. By now Oprah had made PON the book of the year and Eckhart is now quite famous. But a couple of weeks later Connie called to say that he was back in town and would meet with me. Wow.
I called Kathy (who sent me the book) to see if she would like to join me. She definitely would. We arrange for March 24th. First Connie, then the enlightened one. I was getting excited about this meeting. What if he was just a regular joe? Would he actually look enlightened. What will he say? What will I say?
Before leaving for my visit with the enlightened one, it struck me that I'd like to take him a gift ... his gift to me was the book. I'd already built a web site for the book but somehow that didn’t seem to be enough. I wanted to bring him something more personal. Something that meant a lot to me and even better something that was universal and spiritual. That gift could only be - you guessed it - my prized Angela Hewitt Well Tempered Clavier CD’s. Hard to give up - I just got them ... and I listen to them all the time.
But I was compelled to give them to him for the simple reason that this would be the absolute perfect gift since Bach, by Hewitt, is as close to the "Source" as anything I've ever experienced. Until "NOW", that is.
I must tell you that the night before the meeting with Eckhart it struck me, right out of the blue, that Eckhart had just connected with me. Just checking in before the meeting. I wondered if it were really possible. Deep inside I knew it was.
The meeting was incredible. No question, this being is enlightened. Everything changed the moment we walked into the room. A sense of peace and contentment. I asked some questions and then we joined Eckhart in the NOW as we meditated together. At the end of our one hour meeting, I remembered the CD’s. I asked him if he had a CD player and he said “no, but one may be coming in a day or so”. I don't know what that meant but suspect someone had arranged for him to have one.
I asked if he ever listened to music and he said sometimes. So I asked Kathy to pass me the CD’s - I had her put them in her purse in case he didn’t listen to music or didn’t have a CD player. She withdrew them from her purse and gave them to me. I explained to him the reason he was getting this gift and how much it meant to me. I presented the CD's to him.
He thanked me. He looked at the cover and asked me if I knew whether Angela Hewitt was still living in London. Amazed that he had even heard of her, and that he expressed interest in her, I said that I thought so. I knew she had been living in London but I thought maybe it was Germany now (it's actually Paris). Oh, he said. Long silence. "Why do you ask" I blurted out?
Before I tell you what he said, let's review what has happened here. Angela and Eckhart were the two people I admired most in all the world. In fact, all the world admired them. The author of the best selling book on spirituality and arguably the world's best pianist. I have met them both, spoken to them both, contacted both their publishers and now I'm sitting with Eckhart.
His answer to my question why did you ask: "Oh, I used to listen to her practice when we were going to university. We lived in the same house in London." Even more mind-blowing is that I wouldn't have known this had I not felt the urge to present my Angela to Eckhart. Figuring out the odds of this ever happening would be an acturaries worst nightmare.
Iinitially I concluded that the reason for this incredible coincidence was simply that it was my sign – proof that the miraculous does indeed exist right here in our world and that I am on the right path. I had the chance to be with Eckhart two more times. When Connie introduced a new book or author she would have a small get together at her house with the authors and others involved in some way. I was one of those privileged to attend and see the Master in a social environment. Of course, he had nothing to say.
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