#24, summer
MEETING GOD AT 11 AM BEN EHRLICH
There is the story of a spiritual seeker in India who, upon hearing from his teacher that everyone is God, every single thing is God, went on down the road in awe of all that he saw. "The grass is God!" he thought, "The dust is God!" "The elephant in the road is God!" only he did not notice the man on top of the elephant shouting "Get out of the way! the idea perhaps being that while you are admiring one God you are ignoring another, and that might be the one you really need to listen to.
Of course this would mean that James is God. James who meets me here every week is God. James who last time told me the story about how everyone is God is God. My friend James is God, and God is never late, and we always order the same thing.
Then I must be God as well. Sitting at our usual table, I must be God as well. Waiting here at the one-hour table for “short-term customers only” for well over an hour, I must be God as well. So you could say that God is the kind of customer who overstays his welcome, according to the waitress.
And so the waitress is also God, I guess. The smiling waitress is also God. The smiling waitress who on my bill writes "Thank you, Patience" is also God. Patience is the name of God, and God and blond, and around my age.
God God God. God God God God God. We live in a world surrounded by God. The sterling silver cappuccino machine is God, The family of four each with an iPhone is God, The girl with red hair and Down syndrome selling home baked cookies is God, God God God God God God God but it is 11:45 the seat across from me is empty, and God knows that the only God I have ever wanted to see is the one who will apparently not be showing up for coffee with me today.
BIO: Ben helped found The Beautiful Brain and has been previously published in New England Review and Nautilus Magazine.