Suffering and Compassion

Shall we speak of the suffering of others or of the compassion?

There is much similarity in both, for one holds the other inside. 

Where suffering appears, it is because there is a great wounding within; there is an outpouring from a place where compassion also resides. For only through suffering can compassion truly be experienced. 

It is not necessary for the suffering to consume or for the compassion to be the overriding factor in everything.

Suffering - although linked to pain, sadness and other feelings that appear to draw the person downwards and enchain in sorrow - suffering alone, held within a level of awareness conscious of its heritage and roots, can be a source of compassion as well as resident of the same house as the suffering both within us and in others. 

If we perceive suffering to only align with the feelings of anguish, then we seek only to ensnare it within a place of hopelessness and despair. 

If we however, look to and hold suffering as a necessary sphere of growth, and an opportunity to look beyond to hope, then we empower suffering to align with compassion. 

To hold our own suffering in tune with a place of rest and grace. 

We can liberate the suffering by allowing it, and by a compassion that permits it to be held but also permits it to be released. 

In the place where both suffering and compassion reside is the place where we understand what it is to be conscious and where we permit ourselves to be connected. 

In freedom we reside.

27th June 2020