"The three hours on the Eurostar train from Paris to London seemed to last for centuries. I could not be sure of what might happen, nor could I imagine what it would be like to meet this monstrous enemy of mine. Thirty years of mutual hatred! Would we fall into insulting each other or even come to blows?
A taxi dropped me off at a centrally located hotel. Jordi came down to the lobby to meet me. He was a robust , calm gentleman with intelligence in his eyes. In silence, he led me to his father’s suite. When Allen Klein opened the door, I saw a man of my age, not at all fat, with a sensitive face and a noble forehead crowned with white hair. He could have been my brother. He looked at me for a few seconds, then exclaimed in great surprise:
“Incredible. I never imagined you as handsome!”
“And I would never have imagined you as looking like a spiritual sage,” I answered.
We embraced. The hatred fell away from my body like a tattered old overcoat.
Then we sat down, had tea, and looked at each other. Jordi had vanished discreetly. With great enthusiasm, Klein showed me photos of his two beautiful grand children, a boy and a girl. I described my family. After chatting for an hour as if we were old friends, we approached the subject of the lawsuit. In five minutes, we came to an agreement.
As we hugged again, saying good-bye, I told him: “If you and I can make peace, then I feel that even the Israelis and Palestinians can do it.”
The next day, in Paris, going against their grain, the lawyers drew up an agreement with two winners, instead of a winner and a loser.
I realized that one of the great joys that life offers is the experience of the transformation of enmity into friendship. I also understood the extent to which I had unconsciously obeyed a neurotic need of my own in my construction of a despicable enemy. No doubt Klein—like me, the offspring of persecuted Jewish emigrants—had also transformed me into odious scum. Each of us had projected upon the other a monster that had been implanted in our souls over centuries of persecution and pogroms. Our reconciliation was a blessing to our families, to our audiences, and to the world."
A taxi dropped me off at a centrally located hotel. Jordi came down to the lobby to meet me. He was a robust , calm gentleman with intelligence in his eyes. In silence, he led me to his father’s suite. When Allen Klein opened the door, I saw a man of my age, not at all fat, with a sensitive face and a noble forehead crowned with white hair. He could have been my brother. He looked at me for a few seconds, then exclaimed in great surprise:
“Incredible. I never imagined you as handsome!”
“And I would never have imagined you as looking like a spiritual sage,” I answered.
We embraced. The hatred fell away from my body like a tattered old overcoat.
Then we sat down, had tea, and looked at each other. Jordi had vanished discreetly. With great enthusiasm, Klein showed me photos of his two beautiful grand children, a boy and a girl. I described my family. After chatting for an hour as if we were old friends, we approached the subject of the lawsuit. In five minutes, we came to an agreement.
As we hugged again, saying good-bye, I told him: “If you and I can make peace, then I feel that even the Israelis and Palestinians can do it.”
The next day, in Paris, going against their grain, the lawyers drew up an agreement with two winners, instead of a winner and a loser.
I realized that one of the great joys that life offers is the experience of the transformation of enmity into friendship. I also understood the extent to which I had unconsciously obeyed a neurotic need of my own in my construction of a despicable enemy. No doubt Klein—like me, the offspring of persecuted Jewish emigrants—had also transformed me into odious scum. Each of us had projected upon the other a monster that had been implanted in our souls over centuries of persecution and pogroms. Our reconciliation was a blessing to our families, to our audiences, and to the world."
The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky - Alejandro Jodorowsky
