“Yes, it is true that all of us – indeed, all sentient beings – are essentially alone. No other being will ever completely feel like we do or think like we do or act like we do. Each of us is perfectly unique, and our underlying aloneness is the other side of that uniqueness. The question then, becomes not whether we are indeed alone (We are) or whether we can quench that basic aloneness (We can’t). No, the question becomes whether we will allow our innate aloneness to become the suffering of loneliness – or whether we will choose to let it to lead us into a more caring sense of community. Loneliness is painful; community is peaceful – that is a truth in common for all sentient beings, human or otherwise. The self-focus of loneliness makes us yearn for the company of others – any others, really – and cling to the same in desperation once it arrives. Community, on the other hand, allows us to respect those others equally in their uniqueness by focusing on caring for them and their needs over ourselves and our own. Allowing our aloneness to empower our acts of kindness – in essence, allowing our aloneness to make our surroundings into one all-encompassing, meaningful Community – is not some lifelong struggle or perpetual striving. No, it simply requires one choice made in any one moment – the choice to Care about any & all seen nearby more than the one seen previously in the mirror … In this way we literally become all that we wholeheartedly inhabit … Community is thereby rediscovered no matter where we happen to be, our lives become laden with Peace & Meaning, because they have become wholly dependent on the chosen mindset with which we interact with others, not how those others interact with us or what we might ever hope to gain from the same.” ~ inspired by Henri Nouwen, Lawrence Millman & Alain de Botton

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt