Dear friends,
Welcome to this meditation which I hope will help us place ourselves in the shoes of another person.
We'll try to feel how they feel,
Hope what they hope,
We'll try to experience their fears,
We try to imagine their loneliness and try to share their dreams.
It has been said that a psychological hug and that is what we're going to try to practice in this meditation.
So let us begin by settling down into that most elusive of states,
Quietness,
Meeting our daily challenge to slow down,
Stop for a moment,
And then take a deep breath.
Let's begin by taking a few deep breaths Can we begin by taking a few deep breaths,
Remembering that the breath is the doorway to awareness of this present Let's take a deep breath in,
Hold it and then let it completely out.
I'll give you a few moments to complete that breathing exercise in your own time at your own pace and then we'll continue.
All is well in this time and place.
All is well in the here and in the now.
A thought from Daniel H.
Pink.
Empathy is about standing in someone else's shoes,
Feeling with his or her heart,
Seeing the world a better place.
We begin this meditation by calling to mind someone we know.
At this point we think not of someone who is very specially close to us but someone with whom we have a reasonably comfortable relationship.
H.
Jackson Brown tells us remember that loves something and has lost something.
So just picture the selected person in your mind's eye and hold them in your hands.
Welcome back.
Still keeping that person in mind now try to imagine how they might be feeling today.
Think about how they might have felt as they faced into the day.
Did they go to work?
Are they studying?
Looking after a family at home?
Maybe recently made redundant or unemployed?
Maybe having moved house or needing to move house?
Maybe having a family?
Bearing in mind as John Cunningham says,
Empathy is full presence to what's alive in the other person at this moment.
We give ourselves a few moments to stand in that person's shoes just as they are now.
Next we look back and imagine that person's childhood.
Growing up,
Getting to know the way in the world,
Their challenges,
Their ambitions,
Their hopes,
Their struggles.
Another pause as we reflect with compassion on the circumstances that might have made that person the person they are today.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us that we must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or admit to do and more in the light of what they suffer.
So next let us consider how that person might be looking at the future.
Older age,
The loss of a partner or maybe never having had one.
Financial worries.
How they might be looking at the future.
Whom do they call?
Whom could they call if they were in trouble?
Could they know that they could call on us in a moment of difficulty?
A final pause to allow us to hold that person in a spirit of empathy.
Welcome back.
What we have been attempting here is referred to in Buddhism as Karuna.
Karuna means active sympathy or a person who is in a state of deep love.
This exercise can be applied to the people we know.
We can apply it to our nearest but never entirely known dearest and we can extend it out to other people and then even out to people with whom we have a difficult relationship.
When we meditate we try to be calm.
We resolve to approach the day in a spirit of calm.
We try to be less subject to the winds that blow us in the direction of annoyance or revenge or anything of that sort.
This effort to direct our intentions in a good way or as it is called a skillful direction is a key to the success of our lives.
If we work at this we'll have no regrets as we look back over our years.
Our lives can be a blessing to others but this is an accumulation of kindnesses and compassion practiced over time,
Day by day,
Hour by hour.
It's will help us in these efforts if we can practice the art of putting ourselves in the shoes of the other person.
As Henry David Thoreau puts it,
Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant.
The Cherokee tribe of North Americans don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.
Underneath their surface differences every person we meet,
The friendly,
The unfriendly,
The aloof,
The troublesome and all in between share the hopes,
Dreams and fears that are common to all humanity.
Each and every one got up this morning to face a new day.
Everyone seeks happiness.
Each person wishes to love and be loved.
Every individual fears pain and loneliness.
Each one of us need a listening ear.
All of us will benefit from empathy and every one of us will benefit from compassion.
The most important thing is to remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ,
The Lord Jesus Christ.
To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.
A practice that we could try as we go about the business of the day would be to sometimes brash confidence,
The annoying arrogance,
The frightening intolerance to the vulnerable,
Oversized child within and to offer that person a silent blessing.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering.
And that is my wish for you too as we come to the end of this meditation.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering.
And may you recognize in the events of your life that all your unspoken dreams have in them.
Amen.
Amen.
