Rising From The Depths Of Suffering

With the Faithful Fools, we often ask students to ponder this quotation.

“If you have come to help, don’t waste your time. But if your well-being and liberation are bound up with mine, let us work together.”
– Queensland Aboriginal Activist

Recently, I pondered myself to a new perspective. My well-being is bound up with yours does not mean that I must suffer through everything that you suffer. It means that I am called to respond to your suffering as I do to my own. It means that my motivation may arise from empathy and shared experiences, but not necessarily from staying constantly in the depths of suffering myself.