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It’s been a number of years since I was in NYC and in the interim it seems to have improved enormously. I was staying in Noho and what had once been an area of dark streets, bums and thugs, heaps of trash and the occasional carcass of a car was now transformed into something rather more pleasing and far less threatening.

I used to walk through this area with two wallets - the ‘mugging wallet’ with $20 and no credit cards, and the real wallet in an entirely different pocket. I never was mugged (or at least ‘not yet’, as a NYC long-timer put it), but a series of people gave me this tip, which I took seriously after I saw two street beggars in an argument and one pulled out a handgun with a barrel that seemed about a foot long. But that’s another story.

The noise level, alas, was no better. New Yorkers seem to barely stir before 10 am but to make up for it they are frenetically active until about 2 am, and that was a bit of a strain for those of us who retire before midnight and arise at 7.

In this new, calmer, New York I gave a reading at EastWest books on 5th Avenue. They call it a bookstore but it’s far far more than that. It has books in profusion, ornaments, yoga equipment (a yoga studio is upstairs)…. They serve splendid teas and coffees and delicious healthy snacks and sandwiches. They have esoteric books, tapes, CDs, crystals and Tibetan items, and the most astonishing sense of peace in any place I visited over the weekend. After I’d been there a while I said hello to the security guy (a big man, heavy set, blue uniform, very reassuring) and said what a great place it was. “Yeah, ” he said, “This place has a great vibe. It’s something special. It’s got peace.”

He got that absolutely right.

Alyssa and Sky set things up for the talk, and a reasonable sized crowd appeared, including several of the staff (which I took as a huge compliment). I gave my slide show and we talked about the archetypal stages. It’s so pleasing to be in a crowd that ‘gets’ the ideas right away and then starts sharing real insights and wisdom.

It’s impossible to praise the folks at EastWest enough, or to thank them enough. And when, at 2:30 the following morning the firetrucks were caught in a traffic jam immediately outside my window, sirens bellowing, for 20 minutes or so, I once again felt how powerful even the memory of peace can be.

Bookstores can be sacred places. This is one. Take my advice and visit it when you get a chance. The only problem you’ll have is leaving, because you just won’t want to.