What we will not look at, will not feel—in ourselves, or in the world—we cannot address.

I think it’s safe to say that none of us likes drama—or at least we say we don’t—yet drama is part of the human condition.

Compassion is when we meet confusion and pain with rational thought and skillful means. If we’re going to practice true compassion, we also need to be aware of the pain, fear, and instability of this world, and not use our spirituality to bypass our human accountability to life, each other, and the planet. When we say no low vibes, we are cutting ourselves off from vital aspects of our humanity.

While there is nothing wrong with cultivating a consciously optimistic attitude, we need to be careful that our optimism does not become a blind positivity bypass. The way that we do this is we consistently encourage ourselves to remain open to the hard, the human, and the holy—this means willingly welcoming pain, anger, and grief, as well as joy. 

New Age spiritualism often has us thinking that by simply focusing on the positive, we can somehow heal our wounds and the wounds of the world. This is immature and ineffective. To grow, heal, and change, we need to face our discomfort.

Wholeness is not to be found in another form of dissociation.

~Justice Bartlett

how will I know how to care for you?

inquiry for today~ when you cannot buy into just “letting go”……

the undying need for redemption

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,

I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

~W.H. Auden