And so the great thing about an individual human being is

that he or she has presence emanating from within as well as without, from behavior, personality, thoughts, actions, gestures, touches, words finally. You are a presence. Each person you know is a presence. You/they can be felt, known, related to, perceived, understood, and sometimes really appreciated.

I think back to the many people who have known me and connected with me and known something of my presence, enough to either like or dislike me, or to be interested or not interested in me. We’re talking of thousands, maybe tens of thousands in a lifetime. All these impressions one makes on many others, leaving some notion of identity and presence.

Well, you know, of course, the other end of it: absence. When someone dies and is suddenly gone forever, irrevocably it seems. How everyone connected to the deceased remembers that person. What they were like and how the person had registered on them personally. In other words, how their presence affected them.

The effect goes on, naturally, beyond death, whenever someone remembers or mentions someone who had died or been gone for years. within families, there are the photos and anecdotes which, inevitably recall to mind and memory the presence of so-and-so. And you suddenly realize that presence is not just a force that is felt in life, but also beyond the grave.

I think, finally, it is in our sense or consciousness of presence that we come to know larger meanings and large connections in our lives. The people who matter/ed most. Those whose presences we miss or value in some meaningful, significant way. Through our encounters with presence, we find ourselves more and the deeper feelings and appreciations of a lifetime.

………………….

(In the above pictures, I have included some geniuses who have influenced me significantly.)

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