Does it remove the humanity of the person who can no longer stay/sit because being in presence of that suffering is creating so much suffering for themselves that they see no other option but not be there?
In my opinion, not at all. This is talking about an ideal way of being but not always a practical one for any number of important reasons. We are obligated to take care of ourselves first, and if doing that is fundamentally at odds with helping someone, then the right thing to do is to not sit with that person (as painful as that may be).
This is really good: "In the same way that it was deduced that the Higgs Boson and the planet Neptune “must be there” even though we lacked the tools to observe them directly, so too must there be a goodness at the bottom of it all."
I think the challenge of this kind of question comes from the fact that in the modern world - whether we're a fundamentalist or fundamaterialist - we have such a strong bias toward believing that we can 'think" our way through anything (a few yeas of working as a psychologist with folks from the poorest areas of rural South Carolina quickly eliminates the belief in that idea)
I don't know that, in 50 years living in and around NY City, i ever met anyone who admitted being a religious fundamentalist. Within a week of moving to Greenville, SC, I found it rare to meet someone who was not proud of being a religious fundamentalist. This actually came in handy!
I did about 2000 psychology evaluations for people in South Carolina applying for social security disability. In one case, a woman with a true horrifying abuse background (to avoid triggering the reader, I won't say a thing about any of it - it really was that horrifying).
At one point, as she and I were both crying, I said to her (knowing without even asking what her religious orientation was), "Where is Jesus, now?"
She mumbled something, through her tears, about him sitting up in heaven at the right hand of the father. I responded, "no, i mean where do you experience him?"
She looked confused, and I asked her to enter deep into her heart. Interestingly, though this might be an instruction given to someone who is at least an intermediate level contemplative, she appeared to know exactly what I meant. the tears stopped, her face at first just stopped, then broadened to a smile.
Really, her first words were, "Why hasn't anyone ever told me about this? Why didnt' my pastor tell us this when I was growing up?"
To me, the question about what if the universe is bad takes a far back seat to "why isn't every human being told about the Divinity deep within their hearts?" How can we love God with all our mind, heart, body and soul if we don't know that She is right here, within us? How can we love our neighbor as ("as," not "like" - "AS") our Self if we don't know that She resides in them - every one of them - as much as She does in every leaf, flower, car, AI (yep - whether consciously or not) and even in Trump, Biden, Putin, Netanyahu, and all the rest!
"Why isn't every human being told about the Divinity deep within their hearts?" Yes, this is also a great question, though unlike your client, I think very many people can't feel it so readily when they're in the throes of suffering.
For me, In the throes of suffering I feel it the most, though may not acknowledge it, thereby closing my minds eye to experiencing HaShem truely, fully.
HaShem (Divine Presence) is with me allways, through the good, & not so good. In truth, both the “successes” and the “failures” are from HaShem and they are both for my good. Allways try and be Happy, it mitigates the not so good.
The Sages teach there are 72 names of HaShem, depending what one is experiencing in living life one is interacting with one or more names at any one moment, which changes moment to moment. One can think differently, change their thought in any moment and their whole world and how they interact with it will change.
One can meditate on any one of the names of HaShem and bring abundance of light energy into their being and world. The meditative practice is healing.
This sounds to me like Jewish mystical practice, if I understand it correctly. This tracks very closely with my experience of the Presence of the Divine Mother, supporting me, and the world, through what our minds label as “good” or “bad,” bringing the energy of Divine Light, Love and Power into the being and the world.
Yes, as a Jewess, I enjoy reading the Zohar and learning Kabbalistic Jewish thought. I am by no means an expert, these thoughts are mine and from my learnings.
What you describe is similar to my knowledge, Though I learned we reference both types of light energy, we combine the masculine and feminine energy together to create.
The 1st being created was a singular being of pure light, containing the masculine and feminine energy. HaShem split the being, keeping a portion of each in each individual, thereby creating an environment where the masculine and the feminine seek out it's match to create the single being of light once again.
I strive, though difficult at times, to see the good in all, this helps and opens my cconsciousnes, my minds eye, to the spirituality of the existence of, and interaction with the experienced knowing of what is beyond.
Being Happy mitigates the not so good!
When I change the way i look at things, the things i look at will change! B'H
True about "Divinity" per se - but I would also suggest, based on over 4000 people I've worked with one to one, that if one doesn't use traditionally "religious" or "spiritual" terms, it's almost always possible to find something that symbolizes for that person something that provides a visceral, embodied sense of Divinity.
It may be a few lines of John Coltrane for some; for others it may be the view for hundreds of miles at an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway; for others it may actually be a line from one of the Psalms or other parts of scripture, and for still others it may be "the tree at the end of the earth" (a phrase from a patient who was hospitalized after talking of suicide, describing an oak tree next to a bench in the hospital courtyard, which gave her great solace during her hospital stay)
Beautiful, just beautiful
Does it remove the humanity of the person who can no longer stay/sit because being in presence of that suffering is creating so much suffering for themselves that they see no other option but not be there?
In my opinion, not at all. This is talking about an ideal way of being but not always a practical one for any number of important reasons. We are obligated to take care of ourselves first, and if doing that is fundamentally at odds with helping someone, then the right thing to do is to not sit with that person (as painful as that may be).
This is really good: "In the same way that it was deduced that the Higgs Boson and the planet Neptune “must be there” even though we lacked the tools to observe them directly, so too must there be a goodness at the bottom of it all."
TY 🙏
I think the challenge of this kind of question comes from the fact that in the modern world - whether we're a fundamentalist or fundamaterialist - we have such a strong bias toward believing that we can 'think" our way through anything (a few yeas of working as a psychologist with folks from the poorest areas of rural South Carolina quickly eliminates the belief in that idea)
I don't know that, in 50 years living in and around NY City, i ever met anyone who admitted being a religious fundamentalist. Within a week of moving to Greenville, SC, I found it rare to meet someone who was not proud of being a religious fundamentalist. This actually came in handy!
I did about 2000 psychology evaluations for people in South Carolina applying for social security disability. In one case, a woman with a true horrifying abuse background (to avoid triggering the reader, I won't say a thing about any of it - it really was that horrifying).
At one point, as she and I were both crying, I said to her (knowing without even asking what her religious orientation was), "Where is Jesus, now?"
She mumbled something, through her tears, about him sitting up in heaven at the right hand of the father. I responded, "no, i mean where do you experience him?"
She looked confused, and I asked her to enter deep into her heart. Interestingly, though this might be an instruction given to someone who is at least an intermediate level contemplative, she appeared to know exactly what I meant. the tears stopped, her face at first just stopped, then broadened to a smile.
Really, her first words were, "Why hasn't anyone ever told me about this? Why didnt' my pastor tell us this when I was growing up?"
To me, the question about what if the universe is bad takes a far back seat to "why isn't every human being told about the Divinity deep within their hearts?" How can we love God with all our mind, heart, body and soul if we don't know that She is right here, within us? How can we love our neighbor as ("as," not "like" - "AS") our Self if we don't know that She resides in them - every one of them - as much as She does in every leaf, flower, car, AI (yep - whether consciously or not) and even in Trump, Biden, Putin, Netanyahu, and all the rest!
"Why isn't every human being told about the Divinity deep within their hearts?" Yes, this is also a great question, though unlike your client, I think very many people can't feel it so readily when they're in the throes of suffering.
For me, In the throes of suffering I feel it the most, though may not acknowledge it, thereby closing my minds eye to experiencing HaShem truely, fully.
Do you have a practice of invoking the Name of God? And does it evoke any kind of sense of Presence, Divine Presence?
HaShem (Divine Presence) is with me allways, through the good, & not so good. In truth, both the “successes” and the “failures” are from HaShem and they are both for my good. Allways try and be Happy, it mitigates the not so good.
The Sages teach there are 72 names of HaShem, depending what one is experiencing in living life one is interacting with one or more names at any one moment, which changes moment to moment. One can think differently, change their thought in any moment and their whole world and how they interact with it will change.
One can meditate on any one of the names of HaShem and bring abundance of light energy into their being and world. The meditative practice is healing.
This sounds to me like Jewish mystical practice, if I understand it correctly. This tracks very closely with my experience of the Presence of the Divine Mother, supporting me, and the world, through what our minds label as “good” or “bad,” bringing the energy of Divine Light, Love and Power into the being and the world.
Yes, as a Jewess, I enjoy reading the Zohar and learning Kabbalistic Jewish thought. I am by no means an expert, these thoughts are mine and from my learnings.
What you describe is similar to my knowledge, Though I learned we reference both types of light energy, we combine the masculine and feminine energy together to create.
The 1st being created was a singular being of pure light, containing the masculine and feminine energy. HaShem split the being, keeping a portion of each in each individual, thereby creating an environment where the masculine and the feminine seek out it's match to create the single being of light once again.
I strive, though difficult at times, to see the good in all, this helps and opens my cconsciousnes, my minds eye, to the spirituality of the existence of, and interaction with the experienced knowing of what is beyond.
Being Happy mitigates the not so good!
When I change the way i look at things, the things i look at will change! B'H
True about "Divinity" per se - but I would also suggest, based on over 4000 people I've worked with one to one, that if one doesn't use traditionally "religious" or "spiritual" terms, it's almost always possible to find something that symbolizes for that person something that provides a visceral, embodied sense of Divinity.
It may be a few lines of John Coltrane for some; for others it may be the view for hundreds of miles at an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway; for others it may actually be a line from one of the Psalms or other parts of scripture, and for still others it may be "the tree at the end of the earth" (a phrase from a patient who was hospitalized after talking of suicide, describing an oak tree next to a bench in the hospital courtyard, which gave her great solace during her hospital stay)