Individual Resemblance

The word transference was on my mind today. I experience this often when I see a familiar face of a person I actually have never met before. If I think I see a past girlfriend, my instinct to flee the area is triggered. When I drive past a place I have frequented in the past, I remember either a single or several particular events. It is quite interesting how the memory faculty can trigger emotions about something which happened many years ago. It is quite peculiar how, depending on who you are reminded of when seeing a familiar looking stranger, what other thoughts and emotions are triggered.

I have an older friend who reminds of my maternal grandfather. He looks nothing like my grandfather, but when I speak to him and look into his eyes, somehow it is like I'm speaking with my grandfather. And the love I have for my grandfather, the respect and the manner in which I speak towards my grandfather, who now lives in the spirit realm, is transferred onto my older friend.

The prior disdain I had for all clergymen of the Catholic organization was in response to being expelled by a priest from private school when I was a child. This is something that has taken years for me to overcome. As a human being, I can be quick to be very critical. I must remember that the men in flowing robes I see today are individuals, although they are loosely associated regarding their vocation, and look alike. It has taken time for me to appreciate the expulsion, for it has added to my life's experience and perspective. I don't see men in flowing robes who speak behind a pulpit any different than men in suits or polo shirts who speak behind a pulpit.