My late father was intensely interested in how people thought. Not *what* they thought, but how. He would listen when you described someone, and compare that to his impression of them when he met them. He would ask me about my groups of friends, why they qualified for their grouping, and the characteristics of the group as a whole. He liked to play with ideas like different cultural understandings of the same situation.

I suspect it was from him that I inherited my interest in people’s passions. I have little patience for small talk, but I love to listen to people talk about what makes their heart sing. Even if I don’t understand the details, listening to or even reading someone expounding on the things they love is fascinating for me. Their beauty, their soul, their godspark shines through; it is a thing of wonder to behold.

In Western Mystery Tradition, it is taught that an initiate should never eat with people who they do not hold in high esteem. Rather than take this to be pompous blather that it sounds like on the surface, I believe that it means that, if you are going to share food with someone (a sacred act), you should connect with their Divine self, their godspark. The fastest way for me to do that is to get them to talk about their passion. People are inherently fascinating; every person has something unique about them that defines their path.

How do you connect with people? What draws you to them? Do you have a technique for getting past your differences?