Eric Kritzler

1. Have you ever had a transcendent experience?  If so, what happened?

a.       Not sure about this one. I had an out of body experience once when I was playing in a Jazz Band competition in Niagara Falls, It was hot and I was playing tenor sax. At one point I completely stopped thinking about what I was doing and started to see myself playing detached from actually thinking about the music. I marveled at how I could do that and sound good and then I drew further and saw myself and the band from above. I wondered how I would get back to myself for a moment and the song ended, and I lingered. I actually thought I might be dying but I shook my body and all was back to normal. Never had that happen again.

b.      As for actual transcendence, I often feel life is VERY karmic and see it happen all around me often. I do good things for others because it makes me feel good (which is good-selfish) and in turn I feel that the universe does good things for me. I am reminded how lucky I am everyday and sometimes it is a little overwhelming. I remember once I went to go walk my dog, Jake, one night and it was a 65 deg night, clear and beautiful. I sat down on my back stoop, he sat next to me pressed tightly and I had an overwhelming sense of how lucky I am to be alive, and there at that moment.  

2. If you had to pick one sense and lose all others, what would it be?

a.       I would have to pick smell as although it would highly impact taste, it would be the least intrusive of senses to lose. Sight is so important, Hearing is losing things I love, Touch is critical for my mental and physical health, Taste is crucial to enjoyment of food (even if I lose smell).

3. What is your favorite attribute in a person?

a.       Besides a smoking hot body, you mean? LOL. That is a tossup between sense of humor and desire for truth and knowledge. Honesty is really up there as well.

4. Describe your happiest accident.

a.       I suppose that many of the things that got me to where I am were accidents in their own right. Surely, Luck favors the prepared and I’ve been preparing for the last 40 yrs, but being here right now, typing this email is my happiest accident.

5. If you had to choose one personal object to leave behind when you are gone, what would it be?

a.       If you were to ask me this question 10 yrs ago, I’d say it was my old Porsche 914 as it defined me in many ways. However, since the birth of my daughters, Although they are not objects, they are what I am most proud to leave behind. Cliché? Yes, but it is so true. Each one is a wonderful human being.