The following is an email of mine.
— Roger W. Smith
September 28, 2017
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Janet and Scott —
In my blog post
“epiphany”
from a month or so ago, I described how I had a mystical experience while walking in Manhattan in the early evening that day after leaving the library.
I experienced this again this evening under similar circumstances.
I had just taken the Staten Island ferry back and forth for pleasure. At rush hour.
It wasn’t that crowded, especially returning to Manhattan.
Everyone in a good mood, as usual.
Gorgeous sunset … other passengers and I were saying to one another how beautiful it was: the sky, the crimson clouds, the sinking sun shimmering on the water, the harbor.
I got off at around 7:00 and walked about three blocks to an Au Bon Pain on Broad Street.
Sat down and plugged my phone in to charge it.
Place more or less empty; two young women at an adjacent table were having a friendly, animated discussion.
The place is self-serve. I poured myself a large coffee from an urn … went to the counter where you pay; no one there … finally concluded, looks like this coffee is free.
I sat nursing my coffee for a while … and musing.
No one ever bothers you in the City; in Manhattan, in the midst of frenzied activity (though not at this moment) going on constantly around you and people everywhere, one can, paradoxically, attain great peace.
I walked uptown a couple of blocks to catch the number 4 train … in those moments, I experienced the epiphany.
It had cooled down and there was a wonderfully refreshing sea breeze on the sidewalks.
There are relatively few people in the Financial District (Wall Street area) at that time of day … what people there were, were sauntering along, with pairs conversing happily.
I had a feeling, surge, of profound happiness, serenity, and inner peace.
Roger