Dear Greg:

My suggestion: attend to your own suffering, soothe it, comfort yourself, resolve conflicts in your personal life, in your existing relationships. Be selective as to your existing relationships with family members and everyone else, eliminating and/ or limiting some, promoting others. Starting a healthy relationship if none is in existence.

Suffering is everywhere, caused by a lot of people. Not just in the white house or congress or this or that cooperation …but in almost every single home, on the street, in the playground.

Using the serenity prayer, replacing “things” with suffering, it goes: …grant me the serenity to accept the suffering I cannot change, the courage to change the suffering I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

anita

Hey Tannhauser

We can only believe in something, whether it be Buddha, God, Allah etc.. each person is entitled to this. You give your opinion because this is what YOU believe because of certain things you went through. Personally i dont believe there is a deity that is looking upon us and making us all suffer because thats what she/he/it wants to do. I think we can form our life by our actions or the way we deal what life throws at us. I have also been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, but im on a path of self love and self care and thats all I need to make ME happy. If prayers help one, meditation and so forth may help another.

Cultivating hate for anyone whether it be a God, religion, person or a thing isnt healthy, well i dont think its healthy for the mind. Why hate at all? Why dont you just feel neutral? If you dont believe in God then so be it, this is your choice but tis not healthy to be cultivating hate and wasting your energy for such a negative act.

I do also agree with Greg in the sense of dread he feels when hearing news of whats happening in the world today, and yes its for tragic!! I wish it would all stop but this isn’t ”Gods” doing, or Allahs doing, but PEOPLE’S doing, we are creating harm to one another and it will never stop. We as people never truly lived harmoniously as Ego, Greed, Fear, Selfishness all exist and the list can go on and on. To be honest with you I like to be somewhat ignorant to things happening, i accept and acknowledge the fact we are all suffering but sometimes living in my own little happy bubble it stops me from thinking negatively and just looking at the road ahead of me.

I wish you all the best however in all your endeavors 🙂

Great Question Greg

I think this is something a great many people struggle with. I know I do.

I think to show compassion to others one must start by being able to show compassion for one self. Be the change you wish to see.

I also think that many people mix the concept of compassion with the misunderstood concept of ‘unconditional love’. A misunderstanding that if I love you I must also like you and everything that you do. (Unconditional love is not unconditional allowing. Love allows who we are and our actions to have purpose and meaning. Without accountability and responsibility our actions would not matter and there would be no purpose meaning or Love.)

I think Compassion and this perspective of Love work together as it removes the connection between the concepts of compassion and love from the ego. One can be loving and compassionate towards those they disagree with without getting angry or mean or having to be right and still stand for what they think is right without getting their sense of self all wrapped up in it.  Its when the sense of self gets wrapped up in things that the trouble starts and the difficulty of being compassionate and loving begins.