by Alex Merrin
One day, while driving home from the grocery store, I was relistening to Adya’s online course I Am That: Exploring the Teachings of Nisargardatta. I came to the segment on the perceiver/perceived, about working from a deeper awareness, and I turned off the CD to be in the stillness.
As I was stopped on the road, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass before turning, a large pickup truck going about 35 mph ran into the back of my car. There was no shoulder to pull over on the right side of the road, but the left side had an ample parking area so we pulled off on it.
Once parked, the driver of the truck came to my window. He was overwhelmed and shaking so much he couldn’t get his information free from his wallet. He kept asking if I was okay, repeating that he didn’t see me, and saying how he was so very sorry. His licensed revealed he was five months away from his 80th birthday.
I got out of the car and held him in a deep hug. His whole body sunk into mine as he shook in wracking deep sobs. We managed to take care of information exchanges and go our separate ways. And later in the day, there was a smile on my face when I realized that the first perception in that incident was that the car had been hit—in the past it would have been “I have been hit.”
In the moment of that incident, presence seems to have allowed for my body to respond from a place of no resistance that feels very liberating. I’ve had no need for medical intervention. The deep blessing of this encounter has life of its own.
