This month’s spiritual exercise is reflective and invites us to engage empathy as a spiritual path to kinship. Below are two links–one to a video and another to a photo exhibition. Set aside some time to meditate on the one that moves you most. Here is one way to engage them, but feel free to find your own way:
Look over them both and choose one that moves you most.
Set aside an hour to meditate on the one you’ve chosen.
Savor it. Watch the video or look over the pictures 2-3 times, spending enough time with it to let it “speak to you.”
Ask yourself, “What is the challenge in this for me?” and “What is this piece inviting me to understand better or do more of?”
Make a commitment. Based on your engagement with the piece, identify one action or change of behavior you want to make. (For some inspiration, check out Karmatube, and look at the right-hand column titled, “Recent Pledges On …” )
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A Lesson in Empathy (Empathy as the Blood of Kinship)
Our lives intersect with others all day, everyday. Sometimes we know these other lives well; frequently, though, the points of connection are brief and transient. Who are these people? How might they tell their own stories? What thoughts preoccupy their minds? What joys and troubles are coursing through their feelings?
This short film, produced by the Cleveland Clinic, reminds us that empathy is our tool for beginning to know these things. It asks the question: If we could catch a glimpse of others’ stories, would we treat them differently?
In a world where the act of touch is reserved to those that people are comfortable with, this exhibit breaks through the stereotype and creates images that suggest that these complete strangers are close – like friends or family. In the artist’s words: “Touching Strangers encourages viewers to think about how we relate physically to one another, and to entertain the possibility that there is unlimited potential for new relationships with almost everybody.”
As always, I love to talk with people as they explore and discover greater depths of spirit. If you would like to talk with me, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.
Pax tecum,
RevWik