For Lon

Asked to describe himself, he wrote:

“I am 2 standard deviations from the norm in a positive direction if you stand on your head and count down from infinity by parallel 7's.”

Yes, he was witty with an incredibly liberating sense of humor.

He was gentle, intuitive and passionate.  He was genuinely interested in enabling others to reach penetrating insights about themselves.

He was unconventional always probing beneath the surface of superficial platitudes.  He was impatient with polite formalities and mediocre ways of subordinating oneself to social conventions.

Oh yes, he was provocative, irreverent, daring and upfront.  He pushed the envelope no matter what: even if the consequences were dire. It mattered more to him to stand up for his ideas than to bow down and conform. He was an iconoclast.

He lived on the edge rejecting a smug comfort zone.  He saw too much, while most of us wear self-protective blinders, he tore them from his eyes and stared into the abyss without blinking.

He was a visionary, an artist and a poet. He sought self-revelation, authenticity and integrity and shared his outlook in his creative work.

I was like a younger sister equally inept at “fitting in” but not as bold.  In his company I could be myself: the wild child who he was.  He bared his soul to me and touched me.

He was Jachid and I was Jechidah, characters in a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer who are destined to meet again in another life.

michaela

 “Stand close to the dying

because when the soul sees the abyss

it is amazed.”