There was an elderly gentleman that "appeared" in my life over 25 years ago for a brief "parenthesis in my reality," and gifted me with a present that I'm now starting to realize was ironic, or was it the irony of "fate". Hmmm
I was standing behind the bar talking to the day bartender in my pool room 'CJ's Billiard Palace', which was unusual, especially during business hours.
He came through the door unassumingly, and quietly sat down at the bar in front of us "would you like a drink, I'm a champion bartender," I said, cracking a smile, as the bartender chimed in "as long as you just want a bottled beer or Pepsi."
The gentleman beamed, seeing we were enjoying some kind of "private joke," and replied "I'll just have a bottle of water, thanks." The bartender reached in the cooler the for water as the man directed his gaze back to me.
"I think you might be a better pool player than bartender, would you agree?"
"You have a good point there, partner, if I had to rely on my bar-tending skills I'd be sleeping in the street," also smiling, but a little uneasily, the man's eyes were clear and very bright, it almost seemed like he was looking inside of my mind, at the "TV" of my thoughts.
That's ridiculous of course, no one can "see our thoughts,or read our minds" and quite frankly I'm glad. I wouldn't want to be on either side of that ability, life's confusing enough sometimes exactly the way it is.
"You are the professional pool player that owns this place, I've seen you play before," I nodded still adjusting to the intensity of the man's crystal blue eyes, his voice remained soft, almost soothing.....
"What, may I ask do you expect to achieve from your pool Game," he ask motioning to the Brunswick table, just left of the front door where he had entered only minutes before.
"I guess I would like to compete with the world's best players and maybe even beat a couple of them"...... my mind was running through thousands of past memories, it seemed like I had known this man before, but from where?
No memories seemed to match, I instead had one of those strange déjà vu sensations, like "this has happened before."
The man lay his opened napkin on the bar in front of us and looked back at me, "you know that game is perfect don't you," he looked back at the napkin on the bar, then quickly back to me.
"Perfect, if you're asking do I play the game perfectly, the answer is no, but I do have these moments, my eyes lost focus as I instinctively reminisced a feeling of being in the 'The Zone'."
He shook his head and chuckled "you're human young man, perfection is not in your nature, however, it is in the Game, the Game is perfect at the highest level" .....
.....the man picked up the napkin on the bar and lifted it up, appearing to look under it for something, "you just have to uncover that perfection."
Looking back into my now refocused eyes "do you understand?!?
He lifted the napkin up again as if there were treasure buried underneath "the perfection is in the Game, and you have to be the one to uncover It - that perfection will play through you, the Game can only express it's perfection though people that play."
Other things were said, but the memories trail off like a dream, in my memory the man just disappeared, but I'm sure he got up and walked out of the pool room that day like a regular person.....looking back I'm confident this man was no ordinary man, not by a long shot!
It took me a number of years to understand what the intriguing man with those crystal blue eyes meant by "the perfection of the Game playing through me," however, the seed began to grow, and over the course of time started making more and more sense, which led to the most satisfying discovery of my career!
After developing the understanding of the deepest level of pool, the Game became my teacher, and I couldn't have picked a better one. I've learned in my later years, some of our greatest teachers in life aren't chosen, they choose us......"when the student is ready the teacher will appear" - I'm thankful to all my partners, mentors and teachers that passed on their knowledge and wisdom.
'The Game is the Teacher'
www.cjwiley.com
I was standing behind the bar talking to the day bartender in my pool room 'CJ's Billiard Palace', which was unusual, especially during business hours.
He came through the door unassumingly, and quietly sat down at the bar in front of us "would you like a drink, I'm a champion bartender," I said, cracking a smile, as the bartender chimed in "as long as you just want a bottled beer or Pepsi."
The gentleman beamed, seeing we were enjoying some kind of "private joke," and replied "I'll just have a bottle of water, thanks." The bartender reached in the cooler the for water as the man directed his gaze back to me.
"I think you might be a better pool player than bartender, would you agree?"
"You have a good point there, partner, if I had to rely on my bar-tending skills I'd be sleeping in the street," also smiling, but a little uneasily, the man's eyes were clear and very bright, it almost seemed like he was looking inside of my mind, at the "TV" of my thoughts.
That's ridiculous of course, no one can "see our thoughts,or read our minds" and quite frankly I'm glad. I wouldn't want to be on either side of that ability, life's confusing enough sometimes exactly the way it is.
"You are the professional pool player that owns this place, I've seen you play before," I nodded still adjusting to the intensity of the man's crystal blue eyes, his voice remained soft, almost soothing.....
"What, may I ask do you expect to achieve from your pool Game," he ask motioning to the Brunswick table, just left of the front door where he had entered only minutes before.
"I guess I would like to compete with the world's best players and maybe even beat a couple of them"...... my mind was running through thousands of past memories, it seemed like I had known this man before, but from where?
No memories seemed to match, I instead had one of those strange déjà vu sensations, like "this has happened before."
The man lay his opened napkin on the bar in front of us and looked back at me, "you know that game is perfect don't you," he looked back at the napkin on the bar, then quickly back to me.
"Perfect, if you're asking do I play the game perfectly, the answer is no, but I do have these moments, my eyes lost focus as I instinctively reminisced a feeling of being in the 'The Zone'."
He shook his head and chuckled "you're human young man, perfection is not in your nature, however, it is in the Game, the Game is perfect at the highest level" .....
.....the man picked up the napkin on the bar and lifted it up, appearing to look under it for something, "you just have to uncover that perfection."
Looking back into my now refocused eyes "do you understand?!?
He lifted the napkin up again as if there were treasure buried underneath "the perfection is in the Game, and you have to be the one to uncover It - that perfection will play through you, the Game can only express it's perfection though people that play."
Other things were said, but the memories trail off like a dream, in my memory the man just disappeared, but I'm sure he got up and walked out of the pool room that day like a regular person.....looking back I'm confident this man was no ordinary man, not by a long shot!
It took me a number of years to understand what the intriguing man with those crystal blue eyes meant by "the perfection of the Game playing through me," however, the seed began to grow, and over the course of time started making more and more sense, which led to the most satisfying discovery of my career!
After developing the understanding of the deepest level of pool, the Game became my teacher, and I couldn't have picked a better one. I've learned in my later years, some of our greatest teachers in life aren't chosen, they choose us......"when the student is ready the teacher will appear" - I'm thankful to all my partners, mentors and teachers that passed on their knowledge and wisdom.
'The Game is the Teacher'
www.cjwiley.com