A most dramatic example of the St. Francis effect came from a woman in a group of state employees to whom I was giving a talk in Concord, New Hampshire. The woman related a story of two beautiful Egyptian geese she kept on her farm.
These magnificent birds, a male and a female, were, however, very ornery and aloof, at all times maintaining a healthy distance from her, never coming within a few feet of her even at feeding time. In the spring, the woman liked to practice meditation sitting by the pond on her farm. And one May day, she was doing so with her eyes closed and her meditation underway when she happened to open her eyes and saw that the two geese were right in front of her, their heads inches from her face. She was startled but closed her eyes again, returning to her meditation, and in another minute or so opened her eyes to find these beautiful animals still close at hand, this time prancing and extending their wings and legs in what seemed to her to be a kind of dance. Again the woman was amazed but she closed her eyes and continued her meditation, and minutes later felt the geese sit, one on either side of her, stretch out their necks and lay their heads across her lap. To her astonishment, she told us, the geese rested there for some time.
- from Chapter 8 of Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief by Dr Herbert Benson, MD
These magnificent birds, a male and a female, were, however, very ornery and aloof, at all times maintaining a healthy distance from her, never coming within a few feet of her even at feeding time. In the spring, the woman liked to practice meditation sitting by the pond on her farm. And one May day, she was doing so with her eyes closed and her meditation underway when she happened to open her eyes and saw that the two geese were right in front of her, their heads inches from her face. She was startled but closed her eyes again, returning to her meditation, and in another minute or so opened her eyes to find these beautiful animals still close at hand, this time prancing and extending their wings and legs in what seemed to her to be a kind of dance. Again the woman was amazed but she closed her eyes and continued her meditation, and minutes later felt the geese sit, one on either side of her, stretch out their necks and lay their heads across her lap. To her astonishment, she told us, the geese rested there for some time.
- from Chapter 8 of Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief by Dr Herbert Benson, MD
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