self-absorption kills

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.”

                Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence

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We all want safety

Its OK

We all want comfort, even affluence

We all want influence and power

Not a problem

Unless

Unless what we want causes our world to contract

To narrow down until we cannot see past ourselves

And cannot see past this moment, this place

And then our natural desires become unnatural

There comes a point

Where we become willing to do all manner of evil

Just to get what we want

Our desire for wealth becomes so strong,

And our focus so narrow

That we forget

We forget the earth

We forget other people

We forget the poor, the ill, the elderly

The stock market soars!

Trump is God!

But in our selfishness

The cost exacted for that success is terrible.

The poor are neglected

The earth is abused

We have sold our souls for short term gain

And we have created long term pain

We have pushed out way down the path to

Whatever sordid goal we have created

But have pushed some aside,

Used others

And simply trodden on others

How long will we accept this essential selfishness

Sold to us by those for whom money is more important than people

How long?

How long>

How long?

O Lord, how long shall the wicked,

how long shall the wicked exult?

They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.

They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage.

They kill the widow and the stranger, they murder the orphan,

and they say, “The Lord does not see  (Psalm 94)

Since the beginning

It has been clear, that we must all get where we are going

Together

The way of the Sacred is not a way where the strong enjoy their strength

And neglect “the little ones” (children) and “the least of these”  (the vulnerable)

Privilege is an opportunity for service

Not an opportunity for abuse

“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien,

for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

You shall not abuse any widow or orphan...

If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry” (Ex 22:21-23).

Women

Children, especially immigrant children

The poor

Minorities

The LGBTQI community

Those suffering from mental illness

The elderly

The addicted

These little ones have a special place in the heart of God

And if we succeed

In becoming rich

In creating radical safety

In becoming the most powerful nation on the earth

But narrow our focus down

And kill our empathy

And erode our compassion

And abandon them…..

We lose