Festivals. These common events, often outdoors, are ways to be around other people while not really seriously engaging them. I spend a lot of time by myself, or alone with family. We don’t know many folks locally (I’m pretty sure very few locals read this blog), so online community is often how I connect. Still, even we introverts crave the human touch now and again. In October we attended the Covered Bridge and Arts Festival in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. It is one of the largest free festivals on the east coast, and just a couple of hours from us. While there, we learned about the much smaller Riverfest in nearby Berwick, held the same weekend. We decided to stop there on our way home. The thing about craft fairs is that you get used to seeing pretty much the same kinds of things over and over. That’s fine, because we’re here for the atmosphere.
At one of these events, while my wife and daughter were examining the wares, an owner came up to me (I was just outside the tent) and said, with a bit of surprise and wonder in his voice, “You have the spirit of God. You can tell someone who does.” Now, this can be a sales ploy, of course, but he seemed sincere. He really didn’t nail my spirituality, but he was correct that I am a very spiritual person. Given his talk of Jesus, I suspect he’d have been put aback if I told him that horror films are one form of spiritual practice for me. So I remained relatively noncommittal until he turned to my wife to tell her about the products in his tent. Still, the encounter left me reflective. I don’t think myself any kind of spiritual guru, but I have been singled out by a number of people over the years and I wonder what it is that they see.
Some New Agers suggest we all have auras. That’s generally considered paranormal, of course. I’ve known people, however, who’ve been accurately “read” by strangers who seem sensitive to such things. Or are extremely good at cold reading. When I go to a festival I don’t mean to have my aura showing. I spend a lot of time alone, so maybe I’m hiding my aura in my house. No neighbors have complained about the light pollution, in any case. I admire those who see something special in strangers, even if it’s an attempt to get them to buy something. That’s why we go to festivals, I guess: to have a kind of spiritual experience that comes from being with others.
