Ordinariness. John-Roger talks about the virtues of ordinariness in seminars as we all seek to expand our awareness of Spirit. In my experience J-R always seemed to like being around people who related to him as an ordinary guy. He told me once early on that people are always going to want to put him up on a pedestal and he said that he was going to jump down just as fast as he could. He wanted to be related to as an ordinary guy. He just wanted to be one of the guys. This was true for how he related to both men and women.
One weekend day many years ago, I volunteered to be part of an outdoor work party up at J-R’s house in Mandeville Canyon. There were five or six of us guys who were young and strong and were willing to do some manual labor up at his house. I did it just because I loved him and enjoyed being outdoors in the country and saw this as an opportunity to flex my muscles and relate to the other guys, joking and laughing and generally having a good time. After a couple of hours of this, someone from the house poked their head out the door and called out that sandwiches had been made for us and to come into the kitchen. Wow. This was unexpected. We were just up there for a good time and did not expect anyone to feed us. A nice bonus. We all sat down at the kitchen table, enjoying our sandwiches and each other when all of a sudden, J-R walked into the kitchen to join us. Fantastic. He sat down with us at the table and just became one of us, one of the guys. We continued to joke and talk and included J-R as just one more guy to joke and talk to. It all seemed very natural.
Now, one of the guys that was part of our work party was someone that I had never seen before. I had never met him up until that day. So he was a new guy to MSIA, which was fine with us. We welcomed new people all the time and he seemed to fit right in. As we were finishing up our sandwiches and getting ready to go back outside, this new guy got up and walked around the table to where J-R was sitting. He kind of leaned over to look J-R square in his face and said to him, “Are you a master?” The way that he asked this was face to face in a direct, almost confrontational tone of voice. The rest of us guys quickly glanced at each other, unsure of the situation. However J-R chuckled, looked directly at him and said, “I’m just a babe in the woods.” The rest of us just laughed, but in my own inner workings with Spirit, I concluded that what J-R had said in answer to the question is exactly what The Master would say. “I’m just a babe in the woods.”
Now strangely, I only saw this new guy one more time, and then never saw him again after that day.
Lee Clausen
