Meeting someone and truly encountering someone are two different things. It’s about the quality and the thoroughness of the experience. It’s about using your mind, senses, feelings and intuitions. It’s about being present, it’s about being mindful of what’s happening without letting your preconceived ideas cloud your spirit. It’s about being there and nowhere else. And it is also about understanding the mythical dimension hidden behind that particular encounter, it’s about seeing through and in depth, it’s about acknowledging the meaning – the importance or the significance – for you or for the other one – of that particular moment in time.

Do you really know how to… encounter?

Do you have what it takes so as to genuinely encounter someone? Do you feel qualified… so to speak? How much are you willing to risk when encountering someone? How vulnerable are you ready to allow yourself to be? How curious you are? How well prepared for any possible surprises you are? How creative do you think you are… if needed be?

How do you think it’s like to encounter yourself? Can you see yourself from an outer perspective? Can you guess how it is to meet yourself? Can you put yourself, metaphorically, in someone else’s shoes and look back to you? What if, while looking back, you discover something new about yourself? What if you discover something dark about yourself? What are you going to do with that newly acquired insight?

What remains with you after encountering someone? What remains with you after encountering a previously unknown side of you? Are you changed? Or you remain immovable like a rock? Is the other one – the other person – transformed? Does the encounter make a difference? For you? For the other one? For anyone? For the world? What if nothing really matters? Are you still going to be willing to encounter the world, the others and finally, yourself?

And if yes… why?