Three Amigos
Community life at the spiritual center had been deteriorating for
quite some time. The many stresses, confusions, and seductions of
modern society had taken their toll on people’s commitment to
activities sponsored by the center.
The head of the center had been fighting a rear guard action for
years, trying to encourage individuals to become involved in the
various programs, classes, groups, and services being offered
through the center, but with a diminishing degree of success. She had
been a good woman, of wonderful character, who had devoted her
whole life to the purposes and principles to which the center had
given expression for several decades.
Now, she had passed away, leaving just three individuals to carry
on her work. These three, two men and a woman, were her legacy,
and what a legacy they were. She had often referred to them as ‘the
three amigos’.
All three had become affiliated with the center a long time ago.
Little by little, the head of the center had witnessed each of them
spiritually develop into individuals of considerable spiritual
substance and quality.
Some years back there had been an old woman who showed up
at the front entrance, wanting to speak with the head of the center in
order to become a member. When the director of the center had
asked how the visitor had come to this decision, the old woman
recounted the following story:
‘There had been a person from the center – one of the male
Amigos – who used to walk to the center down a set of narrow
alleyways which ran along the back area of the building. Every day,
the man’s passage through these corridors was not only like
clockwork but followed the exact same route each day.
‘One of the people who lived in an apartment complex bordering
an alleyway on the man’s route had watched this member of the
‘three amigos’ pass by at the same time everyday and became curious
about who he was and what he was about -- so, inquiries were made.
‘Eventually, the individual who lived in an apartment near the
man’s daily path and who had made inquiries about the man’s
identity came to discover the man’s affiliation with the spiritual
center. When this fact came to the surface, the person in the
apartment became quite annoyed because that individual really
didn’t like the whole idea of spirituality and was contemptuous of
anyone who indicated having even the slightest interest in pursuing
such a possibility.
‘To demonstrate this displeasure, the apartment dweller used to
lie in wait for the man to walk by, and, when the man was directly
beneath the apartment, dump garbage, kitty litter, and anything else
which could be found that might humiliate the man. Oddly enough,
not only did the man never deviate from his usual routine or route
after such incidents, but he never reported the matter to the police.
‘Day after day this mode of engagement transpired. Each time,
the man would look up trying to see who had done this deed, and,
then, calmly, he would brush off what he could of the thrown refuse,
before moving on toward the center.
‘At first, when the man down below looked up, the apartment
dweller had ducked back from the balcony, not wishing to be seen,
but after awhile, the perpetrator just stood in plain view, arms placed
arrogantly on the balcony, laughing at the man in the alleyway.
‘After several weeks of this treatment, a morning came when the
man from the center walked beneath the balcony of the troublesome
apartment and, lo and behold, nothing happened. The man looked up
and there was no one there.
‘The man hesitated a minute, or so, apparently thinking about
something. He checked the balcony again, and, then, went down the
alleyway next to the apartment building, and headed for the front of
the building.
‘He asked a person on the apartment building’s front stoop who
lived on the second floor and was given the information asked for.
Next, he went up the stairs to the second floor and knocked on the
only door on the landing.
‘A elderly woman, wrapped in a shawl, hair disheveled, and
bearing a gray, sickly pallor, opened the door. Despite the
appearance of the woman hanging onto the door, he man
immediately recognized her and said, in a sort of rhetorical fashion:
“You are the woman who has been throwing garbage at me the last
couple of weeks, aren’t you?”
‘A look of fear descended upon the woman and she said: “Please,
I am sick. Go call the cops if you want to cause me trouble, but I’m
not going to argue with you about what I did or why.”
‘The man at the door responded with: “I don’t want to cause you
trouble. I was worried about you when you weren’t at your usual
spot waiting for me, so, I came to see if you were all right and if there
were anything I might do for you.”
The woman was stunned. She had tormented this man for weeks,
and, now, not only had he not complained or filed a complaint
against her, he was concerned over her welfare and health.
‘The woman broke down and cried. The man asked permission
to come in, and when the old woman beckoned him with a barely
raised and shaking hand, the man came to the woman’s side and
helped her to a couch where she had been encamped prior to his
knocking on her door.
‘The man covered her with the blanket which was lying
crumpled on the floor, and, then, he began to look after her. He
stayed with the old woman the rest of the day and into the early
evening, before he left, promising to return the following morning.
The individual who had told the story and who had come to the
center seeking to become a member concluded her tale by indicating:
“The woman in that story is me, and I wish to follow the same
spiritual path which that young man who cared for me follows.”
Then, there was an incident involving one of the other members
of the three amigos – the female representative. She had been the
victim of a mugging which, for a time, had her playing revolving
door tag with a number of medical clinics and a hospital in the area.
Although, eventually, most of her injuries were repaired and
healed, she was left with a slight limp. From time to time, the leg
would act up and cause her quite a bit of discomfort and pain for a
day or two before subsiding and, then, disappearing altogether –
until the next time the leg would act up again.
One day she was sitting with a friend, and the woman was
experiencing one of her recurring episodes of pain from the gimpy
leg. Her friend, noticing she was in pain, said to her: “Oh, dear
woman ... your pain is the result of those terrible boys who beat you
up.”
This female member of the three amigos looked at her friend in
a rather stern manner, saying: “No, nothing comes to me except by
the will of God. You’re confusing secondary causes with the Primary
Cause.”
Well, one could go on with more such tales involving the three
amigos. However, the foregoing stories serve to reflect something of
the character and spiritual quality of these three individuals, but this
is a digression, of sorts.
The three amigos were faced with a problem. Who should
become the new head of the center?
Actually, this was only part of the problem. The real problem
was that none of them wanted the position for himself or herself.
This was not because any of them wanted to avoid the headaches
which inevitably went with the position of director, or because they
wanted someone else to do the work, since, each of the three was
prepared to do whatever was needed, irrespective of who was the
head of the center, in order to work toward bringing the center back
to a life of spirituality that engaged and assisted the community.
Instead, such benevolent finger-pointing was because each of them
preferred one of the others to serve as the head of the spiritual center
rather than herself or himself.
Simply stated, they each thought the other was better than, or
knew more, or was more spiritually advanced than he or she was.
Each of them would say, to one another, words to the following
effect: “The previous head of the center said such complimentary
things about you [ i.e., one of the other three amigos], and, therefore,
I think you should be the director.”
However, no matter what was said, the person who was being
addressed would counter with something like: “Perhaps, but I
distinctly remember how much the previous head loved and admired
the two of you for the depth of your spiritual knowledge and
dedication, so, really, one of the two of you should be the new head
of the center.”
All three of them treated one another with such respect,
kindness, thoughtfulness, sincerity, love, and generosity, that
listening to them and watching them was like watching a beautifully
choreographed ballet of spiritual etiquette. Their unassuming, as well
as, innocent, displays of humility, modesty, and selflessness became
the talk of the neighborhood.
In fact, over time, so many people became enamored with the
quality of life exemplified by the three amigos that the center began
to thrive with spiritual activity. Membership applications began to
climb, and the center’s volunteer work began to increase in a number
of directions.
The revitalization of the center left only one problem. Who
would be the new director?
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