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Dr. Steve T. Georgiou "The Way of the Dreamcatcher: Spirit Lessons with Robert Lax: Poet, Peacemaker, Sage"
Stanford Bookstore Alcove, Stanford University
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005, 6 pm-7 pm
Edited by Peter Y. Chou |
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Preface: Walking to Stanford Green Library, I saw a light blue posted flyer: "Stanford Bookstore Author Event— A Slide Show and Book Signing with Author Dr. Steve T. Georgiou, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005, 6:00 p.m., Stanford Bookstore Alcove". I've seen many such flyers before, but have never went to any Author Event at the Stanford Bookstore. However, the book cover on the flyer looked familiar, and the name Robert Lax brought a tingling to my spine. Despite my interest in modern American poetry, I never came across the poet Robert Lax until 2002. Browsing through Thomas Merton books in the Stanford stacks, I found When Prophecy Still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax edited by Arthur W. Biddle (2001). As I read their letters, I felt an immediate kinship with Lax. He and Merton were from Columbia University, class of 1938, my alma mater. I'm familiar with Merton's life as a Trappist Monk, who broadened his spiritual horizon with Eastern philosophy. But as I delved into Lax's poetry, it occurred to me that here was a spiritual giant whose poetry sparkled with beautiful simplicity and luminosity. When I discovered a photo of Robert Lax in one of his books, he appeared to me like Saint Anthony, one of the desert fathers. For my niece Elisa's 27th birthday, I compiled a web page On the Number 27. I quoted book chapters, sonnets, and verses relating to #27 from my favorite philosophers, poets, and writers. But my favorite quote came from Robert Lax's 27th Poem in his A Thing That Is (1997): "life is not holy / because it is / beautiful / it is beautiful / because it is / holy"— I wept when reading it because it's so simple... so true. Sometimes later, I received a letter from Steve Georgiou with flyers about his book The Way of the Dreamcatcher: Spirit Lessons with Robert Lax: Poet, Peacemaker, Sage. A friend who saw the blue ballpoint pen handwriting on the envelope with a San Francisco return address said to me, "This writer must be very old. His writing is so small and faint." Reading the flyers, I realized at once how fortunate the author is in meeting a sage-poet like Robert Lax on and off for 7 years in Patmos (1993-2000). It reminded me of my illuminating times with a philosophic-sage Paul Brunton in Switzerland (1972-1979). I wanted to arrange a meeting with Steve Georgiou and chat about our mutual experiences with sages. Despite a second letter from Steve about his book, I never purchased it, or found the time to write him. So when I saw the flyer on the Stanford campus today, I made a point to go. I arrived at the Stanford Bookstore at 6 pm, went upstairs looking for the Bookstore Alcove and finding none. Someone told me to go downstairs. I went down to the basement and still no luck. They told me it's on the first floor. I ran to the checkout counter and was told to go to the left of the store to the Alcove. When I found it, there were about a dozen people there. An old bearded monk that resemble a Cypriot priest was at the podium, whom I assumed as the author. However, he later went to the back and sat down. A Stanford student introduced the author, and he ran sprightly up to the podium. Steve Georgiou is not some old writer whom I deduced from his handwriting, but a vibrant Greek youth with the appearance of an Olympian athlete. He began his talk on how he came to meet Robert Lax in Patmos in 1993, then showed over 70 slides of his times with Lax in Patmos. The talk ended with a taped recording of Robert Lax reading his poem about the Virgin Mary. It was my first time hearing Lax's voice... and I was overwhelmed. Here are my notes of this illuminating hour that Steve Georgiou shared with Stanford students on his spiritual lessons with the poet-sage Robert Lax.
Web Sites on Steve T. Georgiou's Book:
Finding My Religion: Web Sites on Robert Lax:
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