Five Questions with Aryae Coopersmith

What Makes You Come Alive?

Holding space in a circle with other people where we connect and share so deeply that things which were hidden before, now get revealed. Sitting in silence in a redwood forest, hearing the wisdom that comes through the ancient trees. Being present as people learn from each other and support each other. Hugs of all kinds.

Pivotal turning point in your life?

The Meeting of the Ways concert in San Franciscos Masonic Auditorium in February, 1972. Teachers from all over the world, together with their students -- Hindus, Yogis, Sikhs, Muslims, Sufis, Buddhists, Christians, Jews " gathering to sing together, dance together, to celebrate the emergence of a world where we know, we really know that, in the words of my teacher Reb Shlomo, were all on the same path; were just wearing different shoes. The experience has never left me. Sadly the world is still very far away from this dream. But the dream doesnt go away, and it never will. It has been a blessing to find people now, around the world, who are ready to get together and keep the dream alive.

An Act of Kindness You'll Never Forget?

Wendy and I were visiting our teacher Reb Zalman at his home in Boulder, CO. As a spiritual teacher, he often surprised his students with his interest in the mundane aspects of our lives. He was 87 at the time; I was 68. The downstairs part of the house near his office was filled with piles of tech stuff: old computers, cables, disk drives, monitors, printers – you name it, it was there. So we pulled up a couple of chairs near his desk, and talked. Some of the conversation was about his latest tech toys. He especially loved the voice recognition software which made it possible for him to keep writing and publishing several books a year. I had to ask him a few times to repeat himself. Suddenly he stopped talking and looked at me.
“Aryae, do you use hearing aids?” he said.
“No.”
“Well, you might want to see if you could use some.”
Before I could protest, he was up from his chair, wading into one of those piles of stuff, and emerged a minute later with hearing aids. “A spare pair,” he said sheepishly. I could take them back to the Bay Area with me and see if they made a difference. “And don’t worry about them,” he said. “Just send them back when you’re done.”
It turns out they did make a difference, so I went to an audiologist, got a pair of my own, and sent him back his. Like many people with hearing loss, I had been unaware of the amount stress I was experiencing everyday from the effort to try to understand what people were saying. Being able to hear, easily, clearly,with no stress, made a huge difference in my life. I had thought I was going to visit him to talk about spirit. It turns out that he was tuned in to my well-being in a way I hadn’t expected.
I will always thank Reb Zalman for that.

One Thing On Your Bucket List?

I've been hiking in the forest with my kids, and it's been very satisfying. So when my granddaughter's old enough, it would be great to do the same with her.

One-line Message for the World?

In Reb Zalman’s words: “The only way to get it together, is together!”