I was traveling with my 13-year-old daughter Belle in Nepal, December 1984, when I bumped into Shanthini and Dave Cawson at the Biman office in Kathmandu. Our flight back to Kuala Lumpur involved a compulsory 3-day stopover in Dhaka, Bangladesh, hotel paid for by the airline. We ended up marooned in the Blue Nile (a no-budget dive on New Elephant Road) chatting a lot.
Dave, Mary & Shanthini |
Mary Maguire met Dave and Shanthini in 1989 soon after she met me... and here we are, many adventures later, still a bunch of jolly good friends! ❤ ❤ ❤
What first drew me to Dave was the astounding similarity of our vision quests. My awakening in 1969 and his in 1971 looked like "nervous breakdowns" from the outside but were, in truth, powerful breakthroughs. This led Dave to explore the depths of his own psyche via metaphysical teachings preserved by the Rosicrucians and, later, through a funky Dane turned Karma Kagyu lama named Ole Nydahl. Over the decades, our orbits have intersected in a slow dance of telepathic resonances and synchronicities.
In keeping with his priestly lineage, Dave has always been more cautious, more conservative in his approach to the mysteries than I am inclined to be. Our deep soul connection has been one where Dave would listen in astonishment to my stories but he would always reserve judgment, opting to adopt a more Apollonian outlook (as opposed to my Dionysian proclivities).Dave and I haven't been in regular contact for quite a few years but on October 31st, 2020, I received an email from him which profoundly touched my soul:
Dear Friend,
How fare thee? Many good wishes for your health, wealth and happiness. Long have I wanted to write this to you but so many times the hand is stayed and rightly so. The heart is now fully open, thusly the rest. How could it be otherwise?
Many places have I known you and much have I marvelled at your radiance. Always accepting the other's weakness you exemplify the expansion of human love into divine love. The threshold of realisation - the gateless gate - indeed the eye of the needle. The paradigm shift explicable at last. You always had the words, you shone like the sun itself, but veiled from the profane - exactly! So great is god that you as a manifestation are indeed god. Already you know - like the Eagles' "She can't take you anywhere you don't already know how to go."
So, my appreciation of your presence in my life is the illustration of my consciousness, not a subtle attempt to propitiate - ah that devious ego - but no that finally collapsed when I stepped in fiery embers two weeks ago. I'm only now able to walk - totter actually. Phew - firewalkers raise their vibes so high they can and do walk through fire. So this one found out the truth that day and it penetrated - so what we think is the end after years of trying is actually only the first step on an infinite path. A platitude, a truism to the wise.
Today we fly without having to leave the ground. Soon you'll turn around, who is that in my peripheral, but once again nothing. Ah then slowly, we hold without looking, but knowing and looking. Maybe today, maybe not, maybe another time, maybe never, maybe always. I gotta work on my firewalking - what a trip. What a long strange trip it's been.
I celebrate the beautiful soul bonds that keep some of us connected over multiple incarnations - and it is always a thrill when we encounter someone we know we have known since the beginning of our adventures in the physical realms.
To the deathlessness of friendship and love beyond appearances.
READ ABOUT SOME OF OUR EARTHLY ADVENTURES HERE!
[First posted 25 February2021]