Not sure. Living with vechan's illness and working with her through it definitely deepened that perspective that you're talking about, but it's easy when people get / are doing better to slip back into the old calllous habits.
Pff. working with her through it, like I had anything to do with it. Being with her while she worked through it is more correct and less self-aggrandizing.
in your professional life, you've eased a few people back into the gene pool, despite their best efforts to disqualify themselves.
your compassion makes you a keeper! yes indeed, I think we'll hang on to you.
I'm not sure there's one answer. it's hard to inspire people to act on reducing suffering. there's this thing called diffusion of responsibility.
but now I sound like a hater, so I should talk about what worked for me.
travel, I guess -- I didn't know anything about Islam or its history, but when I was woken up every day before dawn by the muezzin, I got curious. for me, there was no suitable replacement for direct observation and immersion. that doesn't really scale very well, which is I think the real question that's buried in your post: how do we commodify the inspiration to help?
yes.. but i'm wondering if you have to commodify the inspiration to help if it's something we feel because we're aware of the larger world perspective.
and i'm wondering if the answer isn't somehow a collective perspective opening/change that's mindful and not a reaction to an event (e.g. 9/11)
i guess the most distilled way to put it is: how do you get people to care without personal pain?
if we assume that pain and suffering is unavoidable in life (which i do), and we also assume that suffering and tragedy broadens one's perspective (which you do), then all you have to do is wait for people to get it.
but also, as i said earlier, i'm banking on technology connecting all our brains in such a way that we begin to experience and learn as a group, which will have many crazy consequences but among them, i hope, would be increased compassion for other humans.
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your compassion makes you a keeper! yes indeed, I think we'll hang on to you.
I'm not sure there's one answer. it's hard to inspire people to act on reducing suffering. there's this thing called diffusion of responsibility.
but now I sound like a hater, so I should talk about what worked for me.
travel, I guess -- I didn't know anything about Islam or its history, but when I was woken up every day before dawn by the muezzin, I got curious. for me, there was no suitable replacement for direct observation and immersion. that doesn't really scale very well, which is I think the real question that's buried in your post: how do we commodify the inspiration to help?
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and i'm wondering if the answer isn't somehow a collective perspective opening/change that's mindful and not a reaction to an event (e.g. 9/11)
i guess the most distilled way to put it is:
how do you get people to care without personal pain?
Reply
if we assume that pain and suffering is unavoidable in life (which i do), and we also assume that suffering and tragedy broadens one's perspective (which you do), then all you have to do is wait for people to get it.
but also, as i said earlier, i'm banking on technology connecting all our brains in such a way that we begin to experience and learn as a group, which will have many crazy consequences but among them, i hope, would be increased compassion for other humans.
Reply
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