The Gift of Presence (Something Else Part3?)

Standing in line for dinner in I strike up a conversation with a woman next to me that continues as we get our food and so we sit down together at one of the many tables in the crowded dining hall. The rest of our table was a group of friends back from a day of kayaking so we just kept talking between the two of us. I don't remember what the conversation was about at the beginning but I suppose it must have been about the kind of things talked about here because at some point she asked if I would like to hear how her spiritual path began. I replied yes and the energy of the conversation shifted a bit. 

She said that years ago she had gone to a kind of new age expo in her area. It was in a large building with many booths set up like any other sort of expo or fair. Walking along from one busy stall to the next she described the kind of things you might expect - yoga, meditation, various religious practices - and with pamphlets and objects for sale - incense, crystals... At some point along the way she stepped into a booth which was run by a group of buddhist monks (Tibetan?) and she described being somewhat taken aback. That it felt as if she had just stepped into another land altogether with a different atmosphere. A palpable feeling of peaceful stillness. Her reaction was "what are these guys doing here"? That they didn't seem to fit into the general goings on around them, almost a kind of non sequitur to the energy in the rest of the expo.
 

Then she began telling me about one of the monks who was a young boy and our conversation seemed to shift down yet another gear. In the busy dining hall where she and I were talking and at the table we shared with the boisterous kayakers I felt as if I was also entering the atmosphere she described, that was now being newly created around us, and it suddenly felt quite still despite all the noise in the room.  

As she told me about this young boy her eyes looked steadily into mine and there seemed to be something like a question there. Unspoken it felt like "are you with me here? Are you up for this"? I can say that in the past I would not have been. If nothing else the intensity of her gaze would have caused me to "flinch" as it were, to retreat, however slightly, and though the conversation would have continued in some form, the opportunity for connection would have passed. If there hadn't been an alertness present the whole thing might have been missed. But this time I was open and ready and I answered her silent question with the silent answer "yes, I'm right here".

Her story was very short and simple. Almost nothing to tell in fact. She said that the little boy, who couldn't speak english, held some kind of object she couldn't identify with a geometrically shaped painted handle and head with some wire on it. She then described his gesture of lifting it up and offering it to her in a movement of perfect presence and stillness. As she slowly spoke there were deep silent pauses between each word while with her hands she recreated this beautiful gesture. Her face and voice now seemed almost overwhelmed as was I. Our eyes were both suddenly overflowing with tears and I sat as if stunned at what lay shining in front of us, for although the image of the young boy from the past still feels lazered into my brain now as clearly as if I had been there myself, what was of the most intense interest to me was what was in front of us right there in that moment. This silent overflowing presence that we both stared at in awe. I think I did eventually say something like "what IS THIS"?!  No answer was spoken.

So that's it. A short conversation between two people who had just met minutes before. Perhaps the only conversation I will ever have with this person. Without the connection I doubt it would have been noteworthy or even memorable. With it, it felt like the reason I had taken the trip all the way up to this beautiful island. Though the dinner was wonderful I couldn't eat another bite. Even more uncharacteristically I don't remember taking even a moment to wonder what the other folks around might have thought had they looked over and saw two people quietly looking at each other with tears streaming.

I still don't have an answer and that's fine. Just the question,  so grateful,  What IS THIS?