No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous –
Almost at times the fool.

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Is this how Lewis saw himself? His numerous submissions to the Rainbow Bridge were usually sub-titled “with trousers rolled” – a reference to these lines from T. S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’.

Lewis made me laugh. I read one of his articles soon after I arrived here and asked who wrote this stuff. The person sitting next to me on the bus replied modestly, I did. We became friends; we discussed literature; about music I was too ignorant. Lewis was generous – finding me penniless and in tears on Forres High Street he immediately gave me £10. I know he gave much more to many others. We shared the distinction of having been residents of the Royal Hotel in Forres. Indeed it was hard to prise Lewis away from there and only the threat of being turned out on the street persuaded him to accept a council flat in Leys Road. But he saw no need for more than one room and resisted for a while all efforts to carpet his new home. His one luxury was his sound system.

I know little of his life before he came to Findhorn and was never sure how serious was mention of work as an accountant and homeless hostels in London. One of his articles in the Rainbow Bridge mentioned his association with the L’Arche Community. He was nine or ten years in India, and stayed at the Kurisumala Ashram, a Cistercian abbey in Kerala. He was always a great traveller. He would reappear after a while with tales of how respectfully he was treated in India or how surprised Buddhist monks in Canada were to see him. He would get on a bus in Forres to spend a day amid the scenery of the West Coast, returning very late or after a night in a hostel. A few days before he died he took a taxi out to Mundole to sit by the beauty of the Findhorn River.

No-one I have asked knows when Lewis came to Findhorn. I assume it was in the 1990s, certainly before 2001. He used to volunteer in Cullerne Garden, in particular doing the washing up, and occasionally in the Park Kitchen although he seldom ate in the CC. He was very present in the community, at meditations, sharings, talks, events. He usually had something to contribute to community meetings, his natural diffidence coming out as self-deprecating humour. I remember him Salsa dancing … I saw him at Dances of Universal Peace held by Maris Warrior in Shambala, at Tjitze de Jong’s Barbara Brennan Energy Healing weekend courses, Satsang with Krishna, various Buddhist events. The monks who came to make the sand mandala in the Universal Hall knew him. For although Lewis was Catholic, well known to members of the community who attend St Margaret’s Church in Forres, he found inspiration in many religions. But he always returned to his ‘beloved Yeshua’ (I never heard him use the name Jesus). He spent long hours in the Sanctuary.

Lewis was well known because he talked to people, both at the Park and in Forres. On Sundays he would go for a long walk about the town, up to NewBold House for tea, dropping in on friends on the way. He always turned up with a packet of biscuits. He was lonely sometimes, I think, and would say “I must be getting on with my meditation”. He was embarrassed by his lack of practical skills and yet courageously tackled mowing my lawn. Once he asked for a drawing lesson so we went out to Pluscarden Abbey where he disappeared. I found him hours later in a trance in the church where the monks were playing soft music for his benefit.

Lewis Mendel, born 1933, died 27th November 2017, aged 84years.

Below is Lewis’s last contribution to the Rainbow Bridge.

Extract from Pere Pierre Teilhard de Jardin’s book ‘Hymn of the Universe’.
Fold your wings, my soul, those wings you had spread wide to soar to the terrestrial peaks where the light is most ardent: it is for you simply to await the descent of the Fire – supposing it be willing to take possession of you.
If you would attract its power to yourself you must first loosen the bonds of affection which still tie you to objects cherished too exclusively for their own sake. The true union you ought to seek with creatures that attract you is to be found not by going direct to them but by converging with them on God sought in and thro’ them …
Love others as you love yourself, that is to say admit them into yourself, all of them … Accept pain.
(Submitted with awe by Lewis Mendel.)

Clare Headlam Morley