Have you ever had something register with you? As in, that finally clicked into place? One meaning of that word in Merriam-Webster is “a condition of correct alignment or proper relative position.”
It’s almost a form of recognition but it goes a little further than that.
I registered this when I was reading Madeleine L’Engle’s, A Circle of Quiet. L’Engle lived in New York and could see another woman across the courtyard dressing.
When I woke up in the morning the wonder of that revelation was still with me. There was a woman across the court, and she had dreams and inner conversations which were just as real as mine and which did not include me. But she was there, she was real, and so, therefore, was everybody else in the world. And so, therefore, was I. And that was my moment of awareness (of ontology?): that woman across the court who did not know me, and whom I did not know, was a person. She had thoughts of her own. She was.
madeleine d’engle, a circle of quiet
…
That afternoon when I went to the park I looked at everybody I passed on the street, full of the wonder of their realness.
I’ve had moments in my own life when I’ve had this revelation. It actually has happened more than once.
It happened when I watched the movie Meet the Patels. Basically when I saw the show, I came away saying things like all mothers want the same things for their children: Happy and healthy.
It happened with my friend, Eunice. It happened with my Grandmother. My mom. My friends. My husband. They’re real, everyone of them.
Their realness makes me real. My realness makes them real. It registers. ❤
TotallyKris 