There was a wonderful interchange on the radio show Being (formerly Speaking of Faith) this past Sunday between the host & French geophysicist Xavier Le Pichon, "one of the original pioneers of the field of plate tectonics. That is to say, he was a formative figure at one of those junctures where science not only radically revises its own assumptions, but changes the way all of us see the world." The transcript is available here, and I share part of it below (with an editorial interpolation):
I've known some people that I've considered very generous, very open, and so on, and I've seen them progressively close themselves, begin to shut the doors, begin to be afraid of being invaded by this problem from the outside. And it's as if their heart, you know, were shriveling. And why is that? I don't know. Others you have the impression that they are always more and more open. . . . [I]t's something difficult but my experience is that once you enter into this way of, I would call it companionship, you know, walking with the suffering person that has come into your life and that you have not rejected, then your heart progressively gets educated by them. You know, they teach you a new way of being. . . It can only come out of a relationship with others. And if we accept to be educated by the others, to let the other explain to us what happens to them, how they feel, which is completely different from what we feel, and to let yourself immerse into their world so that they can get into our world, then you begin to share something which is very deep. You will never be the person in front of you, but you will have created what we call communion, the capacity to share at a very deep level. . . Learn how to enter into communion with your neighbors [or friends, or siblings] [a]nd then you will discover something completely new.
Thank you for being my teacher.
Love, JR
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