Catching up with a Vipassana meditator

Today I caught up with Disco Drew, a guy who served with me at Blackheath Vipassana meditation centre in August. We spent most of the afternoon having a chat, then toodled off for a walk in the general direction of Northcote until Disco decided to board a tram and we went our separate ways. Disco was smitten with an infatuation for one of the female servers during our stint together in August, and I received an update on how his infatuation had played out. Unfortunately for Disco, the object of his desire did not return his feelings. The lady in question and Disco both ended up at Pomona meditation centre where they both sat a Satti Pattana course. Fate conspired to have them both seated as close as they could possibly be given the segregated nature of the seating in the meditation hall. They were both in the same row and both seated as close to the middle of their row as they could be, with only the aisle down the centre of the hall separating them.

I let Disco bend my ear while he gave me his view of the anguish he had been through as he came to the realization that his feelings were not being returned. He has intellectually accepted that the chance of the two of them being romantically entwined is close to zero, but emotionally he has a ways to go before the flame of desire flickers and dies.

While we were chatting, we were approached by a beggar looking for a few coins. Disco gave him the change from his coffee purchase. The beggar looked like he had been dealt a hard hand with respect to physical disability and we noted that there was always someone else who was in a worse state or worse off than we were in. Internally I noted that I felt gratitude that I was not in the state of anguish that Disco was in, and that he was probably going to be in for another 3 to 12 months. Hopefully he will get over his grief for his doomed infatuation sooner rather than later. But having been in a fairly bleak state for several years after splitting with my ex, I certainly hope that Disco moves on sooner rather than later.

Having met the lady in question I understand how Disco could have fallen for her. Some of her personality attributes reminded me of my ex at her best.  And if she was a few years younger and my eldest son was a few years older I would be tempted to consider match making.