There was a Mass Shooting at the Mosques in Christchurch. We, people in Aotearoa New Zealand, are shocked and can’t believe that it could happen in this country.
There is a growing concern about the increasing atmosphere of hostility and indifference to the pain of others in the world.
I have been wondering what is at the root of this collective apathy.
Bringing this phenomenon to an individual level, I can’t help but think that it could be a manifestation that the individual’s ability to recognise and be with their pain has been diminished
.
How can we recognise others’ suffering if we fail to recognise our own suffering?
For this reason, I believe that our ability to engage with our vulnerability is of great importance in the context of contemporary crises.
We need to start with ourselves – bringing vulnerability into our lives with compassion.
Our increased compassion for ourselves not only helps ourselves, but also people around us. As we feel more empathic and accepting of our own pain, we will also be able to “viscerally” feel the pain of others.
Therefore the more compassion we bring into our life, the more compassion we can share with others.
Our inner change can extend the circle of compassion and care around us.
We collectively shape our cultures.
This means that when many of us start practicing compassion, it will begin to shape a new culture of compassion.
This is the starting point of world peace.
Each one of us matters.
Ikeda, D. (2006). 2006 Peace proposal: A new era of
the people – Forging a global network of robust individuals. Retrieved from http://www.sgi.org/content/files/about-us/president-ikedas-proposals/peace2006.pdf p. 4
