Chapter 8: The Practice of Compassion

 

In today’s world, we are surrounded by environments so hostile to our human and spiritual growth that higher truths cannot easily penetrate our consciousness. Yet these truths are just what we need. Physical reality is simply an external manifestation of something already set into motion at a deeper level, and material solutions to our problems will not work because they do not probe beneath the surface. To make lasting changes, we must make a concerted effort to look beyond the superficial aspects of any situation.

In all circumstances, regardless of any other remedies we may try, today’s intractable problems call for deep compassion. Compassion sees profoundly into the heart of each situation and offers unconditional love as a remedy. As we gain more consciousness of our innermost spiritual nature, we understand that compassion can help us transcend the temporary and the relative aspects of things. This growing awareness can eventually guide us out of our negative circumstances. As we open ourselves to compassion, our consciousness becomes more transcendental and we radiate higher energies that uplift others and offer healing in a world of pain and suffering.

A Prerequisite for Returning Home

The ultimate purpose of spiritual life is to go back home to the kingdom of God, or the spiritual world. The practice of compassion is an essential aspect of our preparation for this goal. Preparation is necessary even in mundane life; it helps us function appropriately in various environments. For example, if we are going to a formal party, we prepare ourselves by dressing formally. If we are giving a musical performance, we rehearse thoroughly before appearing on stage. If we are in a play, we must learn our lines. Without proper preparation, we leave ourselves open to extreme embarrassment.

Similarly, we must be well prepared for our eventual arrival in the spiritual world. As we saw in Chapter 3, all the major scriptures emphasize that we are eternal beings who have a home far beyond the mundane realm of our material existence. We are out of place in this material realm, which serves as a training ground for higher experiences but is not where we can be truly happy.

Right now, we must prepare ourselves as expediently as possible to regain what we have lost and to receive the treasures that are awaiting us in the spiritual kingdom. No one can expect to enter the kingdom of God without deep compassion. Almost all orthodox scriptures-including the Bible, the Koran and the Torah-instruct us to love our neighbors as ourselves. But loving our neighbors as ourselves, for all its value, can sometimes turn into a business proposition, because it is based upon the idea of exchanging one quantity of love for another. In such a situation, the love may be conditional rather than freely given. This is not transcendental.

As explained in Chapter 2, as spiritual warriors we must go further, loving others even more than ourselves. If we love our neighbors even beyond the way we love ourselves, thinking only about the other person’s welfare, we have become agents of compassion, and we are well on our way to becoming transcendental.

When we selflessly align ourselves with transcendental consciousness, the universe will supply us with amazing support. Because we are no longer controlled by the normal limitations of the earthly realm, we can accomplish miracles. As we develop higher perception and higher love, we become so worthy to receive such blessings that eventually we will be “paroled” from the restrictions of the material prison atmosphere.

Beyond the Salvationist Mentality

Although compassion is a requirement for returning home to the Lord, we should not view it egocentrically as a means to enhance our own chances of salvation. Indeed, compassion extends far beyond any selfish motivation-even beyond the desire to enter into the kingdom of God. For this reason, if we simply study a few techniques of yoga, seek to gain some psychic powers or try to improve our own chances of being saved, we are engaging in elementary spiritual activities. In the final analysis, these are merely ways to cope with the prison environment and find some relief from the anxiety and stress of material life. They do not transcend this world of selfishness and so have very little to do with genuine spiritual realization. We cannot go back to the spiritual world with such a mentality.

Because self-centeredness interferes with spiritual advancement, we must constantly take inventory of ourselves and examine our thought patterns to root out selfishness. Most of the time we are preoccupied with our wants-not even our needs. We have become so accustomed to pursuing our desires that we distract ourselves from the experience of deeper love and happiness and from any steady feeling of well-being. Instead, we remain focused on the problems inherent in a world of duality, constantly feeding the senses and reinforcing the feeling of “I” and “my” instead of moving beyond them to higher pleasures. Even such a lofty desire as the wish for salvation is rooted in selfishness. Actually, salvation is something that happens automatically as we abandon our selfish desires and deepen our compassion.

The Meaning of Compassion

Compassion is unfettered by material restraints. The term “material” implies survival of the fittest, based on who is more dominant, controlling and capable of manipulating others. Compassion is the opposite. It is a spiritual trait, based on selflessness and freedom from envy or any sense of proprietorship. It is not sentimental and it does not come and go with our feelings. When we are compassionate, we offer unmotivated, unconditional love to others, freely making sacrifices on their behalf.

Compassion is spontaneous and has nothing to do with guilt, fear or resentment. If we offer help to others when we do not really want to, we are not motivated by compassion. In such cases, we feel compelled to act by the circumstances, offering ourselves grudgingly only because we have not found a way to escape. But the situation is entirely different when we give assistance to others in an exhilarated, joyful state of consciousness. That is true compassion.

If we profess to love God, we must also love His parts and parcels-all the living beings around us. A true devotee of the Lord is only interested in being a servant of others, viewing everyone as a manifestation of the Lord’s energies. We can exclude no one from the range of our love and compassion, because when we serve others, we are actually serving the Lord.

Material life is full of countless misfortunes. If we are concerned only about our own comfort, or even our own liberation, we are clinging to a selfish orientation and cannot attain the ultimate goal of loving association with the Lord in His kingdom. But if we develop a deep level of selflessness and compassion, we become genuine servants who can share divine love with everyone regardless of their circumstances. As we encounter those who are suffering-the blind, the handicapped, the ill, the homeless, the imprisoned, the abused or those forced to flee their homes, for example-we love them so much that we want to take their burdens on ourselves to free them from their pain.

Compassion Is Not Condescending

As mentioned earlier, we should all seek to become expressions of love in action, looking for every chance to serve. However, we should be careful about our mood of service. Sometimes people have a way of parading their own supposedly evolved position by offering help with a condescending attitude that implies, “You can’t cope, but look at how well I can handle this situation.” We should never simply tolerate others or feel pity from a self-professed superior vantage point. Compassion is not about approaching others with the mentality of, “I’m going to be kind to you,” or “I’m going to show you how good I am.” Such attitudes are nonsense, and are the opposite of compassion.

Our attitude should be, “I am your Godbrother; I am your Godsister. I am your loving associate and I see that you are wounded. It is my desire and my duty to assist you.” As we discussed in the previous chapter, we should view the other person’s difficulty as a call for help-a call for our love, compassion and service. Nobody wants to experience pain, confusion or anxiety. Even people who seem attached to confusion simply want attention-in other words, they want love.

When we evaluate each situation from this deeper perspective, we can more easily remain undisturbed by another’s hostile or inconsiderate behavior. We can say to ourselves, “Oh, this person needs love, and the Lord is giving me a chance to do some service. Let me see how I can help.” When we think in this way, we are less tempted to merely tolerate the other person’s weaknesses.

Actually, if we help other people without feeling compassion, they will only superficially benefit. Communication between people occurs more powerfully on the subtle than on the gross level. The feelings that we hold back are the ones that we communicate the most strongly. Therefore, the other person realizes, even if subconsciously, that we are just trying to demonstrate our superior wisdom and self-control. The recipient of our assistance will not feel uplifted because the help is not genuine.

Although this nonverbal communication of feelings can work in a negative way, as just described, it can also serve a positive function. If we act out of a genuine desire to help, share and grow, then even if someone’s ego tries to blot out our good intentions, on some level the message will get through. At a later time, if not immediately, the person will be able to respond.

Compassion Requires Courage

Compassion goes beyond ideas of “I” and “mine” and transcends notions of material comfort and security. When we practice compassion, we have no interest in power of any kind, not even psychic or mystic power. Forgetful of ourselves, indifferent to personal loss or gain, we feel the suffering of others so deeply within our own hearts that we dedicate ourselves to doing something about it. This requires great courage.

The innumerable problems in the world today require powerful spiritual soldiers who can move through heavy levels of contamination without being affected. Such warriors can help people who feel alone, abandoned, helpless or hopeless-who go to bed in misery or who wake up in fear-to know that God loves them and that there is hope.

Those with Physical Challenges

Have you ever imagined what it might be like to be blind? Life for the blind can be extremely difficult. Because so much of what we do requires sight, they are often forced to depend on others who can see for assistance. When they are especially desperate for help, people may ignore them or even abuse them. If we want to become transcendental and develop qualities that lead us back to God, we must experience compassion for such persons. We must be willing to make sacrifices so that they can have a better situation in life, even if it means that we are renouncing our own security and comfort. Could we possibly see ourselves taking someone else’s place to free that person from blindness?

What would it be like to have impaired speech? Visualize yourself unable to express yourself in words. Can you feel deeply the inner frustration that this situation would produce? How ready are you to take such a person’s place? It is this level of selfless love that determines your readiness to return back home to the kingdom of God.

We have all visited people confined to bed with a serious illness or unable to walk because they have become helpless invalids. Since they cannot take care of themselves, they have to depend on others to feed them, bathe them and sometimes even take them to the toilet. Such dependence can be very humbling. In some situations, so-called friends and family members resent these persons, considering them to be heavy burdens because of their need for constant monitoring and assistance.

Frequently these persons create such difficulties that even their close relatives feel a sense of relief when they die. Family members may be just waiting, hoping that death will come very soon to remove their obligations. Is your compassion for these souls so strong that you would be ready to exchange places to free them from their torment?

The Homeless

Homelessness is a problem throughout the United States and around the world. Even in Washington, D.C.-the nation’s capital-many people are huddled on the sidewalks, on grates or in doorways, at all times of year and in all extremes of weather. At the end of the day, these people have no family to console them, no refuge. As a contrast, think of your own life: In the morning you leave your comfortable home for your job or other activities, and at the end of the day you come back to spend the evening with your family or those close to you. Loved ones give us a purpose in life, infusing us with enough strength to go back out again the next day to meet new challenges.

But imagine those who have no work, no home and no family. When such people finally find a place to rest on the street, children may stone them or the police may arrest them. Whenever we pass them by, we may avert our gaze or at most offer them a quarter. Is our compassion strong enough to allow us to feel their sadness and their misfortune?

Many people are so fearful, tense and competitive these days that they revel in someone else’s misery, feeling better when they find someone whose condition is worse than their own. If a calamity befalls a friend, they may offer words of sympathy and encouragement, but in their inner consciousness they are glad to have escaped such a fate themselves. Such an attitude is indicative of material consciousness. When our compassion is so strong that we are ready to take a homeless woman’s place to free her from her torment, then we will be eligible for entry into the spiritual world-not before.

Those in Confinement

It is a sad commentary on American society that many citizens have become lawbreakers instead of leading a natural life. Modern society is not meeting the needs of many people. Our high rates of criminal activity and incarceration indicate that something is seriously wrong with society itself. In the United States, the most distressing part of the situation is that teenagers are committing so many crimes. Youth represent the future of any nation. But growing numbers of young people feel so angry, disturbed and frustrated that they strike out at their environment in unproductive ways-some of them extremely serious.

Can you imagine being sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole? Each day you wake up with nothing to look forward to. You may have lost all contact with the outside world, and even your own family no longer communicates with you. You wish that you had never been born, and your greatest anticipation is the moment of your death. You may want to commit suicide, but you do not have even this expression of freedom, because everything that could be used in such an attempt has been taken away.

To deepen our compassion and develop a sense of gratitude, we might want to break our normal routine and visit a prison to understand the plight of the incarcerated. Or we might choose to visit a hospital or a mental institution to remind ourselves how many people are bedridden, ill and hurting. When we witness the levels of impairment and hopelessness that others suffer, we can gain a deeper appreciation of our own good fortune and make a firmer commitment to use what we have to help others. Once we have done so, we will take less for granted and understand that our complaints are often self-indulgent, occurring simply because our normal means of sense gratification are not available.

In Western society, our problems are rarely life-threatening. We can easily get caught up in our own personal frustrations and anxieties, complaining constantly and forgetting that millions of people are in circumstances far worse than anything we have ever encountered. We may complain that we cannot make our car payment this month, but at least we have a car. We may bemoan our inability to pay our insurance premium on time, but at least we are insured. Although the American welfare system is falling apart, most countries in the world do not even have welfare systems. In many developing nations, a handicapped person without a job and without a family for support would have to beg or starve.

Yet we take our social safety nets and our material prosperity for granted. Instead of being grateful and thanking the Lord, or dedicating ourselves to helping those who have less, we often complain about what is lacking. But, remember, if we want to enter the kingdom of God, we must be ready to make any sacrifice to ultimately help glorify the Lord and allow others to come closer to Him.

The Plight of Refugees

Think now of a refugee family, its members living like wild animals in primitive conditions, desperately roaming from one environment to another in search of food, shelter and security. We have all heard news stories about the tremendous suffering that occurs when massive numbers of people are driven from their homes with no food, shelter or medical attention. They are literally living from hour to hour.

We have no experience to compare to theirs. We may live from paycheck to paycheck, but they live from one minute to the next, wandering from city to city or from refugee camp to refugee camp, unable to relieve their misery. They are often profoundly traumatized, experiencing terror, pain and grief from the violence they have endured in the past, suffering intensely in the present, and perceiving nothing but more pain, or even death, in the future. They may have been forced to run for their lives from the horrors of war, leaving behind all their possessions, while those most dear to them were killed in the strife. Their loved ones may have even been tortured and murdered before their very eyes.

Such refugees have to live with these terrible memories constantly, possessing nothing secure to depend upon and leaving behind everything that would normally serve as a foundation for a future. Because they have lost everyone and everything most dear to them, many may no longer have the desire to live. In effect, they have lost a large part of their identity.

How would you feel in such a situation? Everything that gave your life meaning has vanished. Those you love the most are lost, maimed or dead, and you have to pick up the pieces of your life. You have nothing left, yet your ability to go on requires faith in a world that has inflicted tremendous pain and confusion upon you. Millions of people are in such a condition today, with little future to look forward to. The problem is growing even larger as racial, tribal, ethnic and religious conflicts proliferate around the globe. In such circumstances the common people suffer the most-especially the children.

Although refugees may appear to be better off than prisoners, because they are apparently free to go anywhere they choose, actually they are just as trapped. And the children who have lived through such terror may be affected for the rest of their lives, never trusting anyone again. They may cry themselves to sleep at night out of grief and loneliness, and have horrible recurring nightmares because they have seen their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers murdered in front of them.

The Abused

Now imagine a small, helpless boy being repeatedly abused by those who are supposed to be his protectors. How painful to contemplate an innocent child turning to his parents for love and care and receiving nothing but more torture! Child abuse is on the rise in our society. Abused children learn early to mistrust adults and to see the entire world as a hostile place. Millions of children have this perspective because they have experienced nothing but anger and violence.

Another growing area of abuse is that of the elderly. Imagine an elderly lady who has given her life to her family, only to experience isolation and humiliation in her old age. Her own children reject her and treat her with contempt. They forget that they too will become old someday, dependent upon others-perhaps their own children-who will supposedly love them out of gratitude and respect.

Sometimes this elderly lady’s children beat her, knowing that she will not dare to fight back or tell anyone else. These ungrateful children become disturbed by the mere fact that she is still around. Like vultures, they take her money and other assets while she is still alive, hoping she will die soon so that they can collect her insurance and be finished with her once and for all.

How Compassionate Are We?

Do these situations move us to tears? Would we be willing to remain on this hellish planet eternally, giving up all concern for our own liberation, so that these souls could be free? Only if we can answer honestly in the affirmative will we be eligible for entrance into the kingdom of God. Of course, the Lord will not actually allow any of His beloved servants to suffer eternally on behalf of others, but a high-level servant of God must demonstrate a genuine willingness to do so. The Lord becomes extremely attentive to those who have surrendered at that level of consciousness. Indeed, such a degree of compassion actually purchases the Lord’s help to alleviate the hurt and despair of others.

Many spiritual traditions tell us that saints literally feel the pain of all those around them. Because they feel this despair so intensely, they are very careful not to give anyone cause for suffering. Instead, they rejoice when they can help someone else experience happiness.

Imagine yourself in any of the difficult or painful situations described in this chapter. Feel the intensity of suffering involved, and meditate on the type of love required to help souls who are hurting so much. As we have seen, deep compassion means that we are willing to take suffering upon ourselves so that others can lead better lives. We are not talking about mere religion here, but about a profound level of spirituality that requires great commitment. It is not for the faint-hearted. As spiritual warriors, we must develop a high degree of spiritual maturity to make such enormous sacrifices willingly and help raise the level of consciousness on this planet.

Such total commitment and intensity are prerequisites for entering into the environment of divine love. Spiritual life is not an extracurricular affair, nor is it merely concerned with providing us our “daily bread.” Those who attain entry into the Lord’s kingdom have moved far beyond concerns of guilt or fear of punishment, and they have no interest in what God can do for them. Rather, they understand that spiritual life is about making a change in consciousness so that they can totally offer themselves in service to the Lord and His creation.

At times, the extreme selfishness and intense suffering around us can be so overwhelming that we wonder if anyone is capable of expressing selfless compassion. Fortunately, though, there are always divine messengers who can teach us about compassion, providing role models that can raise our consciousness to a higher level of spiritual expression. Those who encounter such selfless beings are blessed with a rare opportunity to witness evolved souls in action who gladly forgo all personal gain to enable others to return back home to Godhead. Given the total commitment and infinite compassion of such saintly souls, how can we not be moved to emulate them? With their protection and assistance, we can accomplish miracles.

Compassion Is Spiritually Empowering

We attain deeper levels of spirituality according to the extent of our love and compassion. When we experience an intense wish to make dramatic changes for the better, we become highly empowered. Although the fulfillment of such a strong desire may be far beyond our own capacities, remember that our sincerity and dedication can attract the Lord’s energies, enabling us to perform feats that we could never accomplish alone.

Many great prophets have had such empowering experiences. Some have arrived directly from the higher abodes as ambassadors whose mission is to make a serious difference on this planet. Still others, born on this Earth, have become so compassionate and intense in their wish to help that they receive divine empowerment. They feel the pain of others to such an extent that the Lord allows His divine energy to enter them and assist in their compassionate mission.

Acting as agents for the Lord, they receive one of the greatest blessings that anyone in this state of evolution can experience: the ability to eradicate the negative karmic patterns of others, as Jesus did when he died for humanity’s sins. The lives of such compassionate beings counteract much of the negativity and collective karma in society, giving people more opportunity to learn about the higher truths.

Help for the Disillusioned

The world’s materialism constantly captures the senses and force-feeds us artificial nourishment that does not satisfy or sustain us. In fact, materialism acts as a slow poison. Something is seriously wrong when many of our most brilliant minds dedicate themselves to perfecting the ability to kill, or when one of the planet’s greatest businesses is the illicit drug trade. A culture is not healthy when it stockpiles enough chemical and nuclear weapons to annihilate everyone on the planet many times over.

As we saw in the first chapter, the impotence of our spiritual leaders prevents them from counteracting the widespread negativity in today’s world. Consequently, everyone is increasingly subject to demonic energies. In such an insane world, we should avoid trying to fit a warped mold and we should not be afraid to be different. To adapt to such a crazy environment is a sign of real insanity, and to be different can be a healthy, thoughtful position.

As spiritual warriors, though, we must understand the prevalent atmosphere and not be surprised when people reject our help. They may be caught in the thrall of sense gratification or feel powerless to fight against the behavior all around them. In addition, they may have been disappointed in the past and are afraid of being cheated again by spiritual messengers. They hold themselves back as a means of self-protection.

Yet compassion requires us to act. If we are too cowardly to share our love and devotion unabashedly with others, or if we are too afraid of being singled out for our so-called eccentricities, we are part of the craziness and will be of little help. Although we must not force ourselves on anyone, as our love and compassion become deeper and stronger, we will surround others with such a powerful spiritual radiance that they may begin to accept us and what we have to offer. When we remain equipoised, fixed and consistent, disillusioned people may begin to realize that our behavior is not based on any ulterior motive. Because people really desire the best for themselves, once they are convinced that we genuinely want to help them grow and advance spiritually, they will become more open.

Insufficient Love Is the Problem

We must always remember that most of the world’s suffering is not because of material conditions, but because of insufficient love. Think of the rage and aggressiveness of many children today. Given the environment in which they are being raised, it is almost impossible for them to behave otherwise. As products of self-centered and exploitive unions, they have been conceived in violence, with no expression of genuine love. In the womb, these children hear only anxiety, frustration, anger, gloom and despair. After they take birth, they are exposed to the same atmosphere. At every critical developmental stage-indeed at almost every moment-life treats them with hostility, abuse and neglect. These souls have never met anyone who really cares about them.

Sometimes, though, certain people from these environments escape the usual fate. They do not turn to drugs or crime, and they are not in prison. Instead, they become politicians, doctors, social workers or educators with genuine concern for others. How do they escape the hostility and degradation of their surroundings? When we look at their backgrounds, we discover that at least one person in their lives made a difference. Someone truly cared about them, and that person’s love transformed their consciousness. They gained a sense of motivation and self-respect that gave them the strength to resist the negativity around them.

We never know when we are playing an important role in the life of another soul. We all affect each other in subtle as well as obvious ways, and sometimes we are unaware of the impact we have on someone else. In these times when so many people are suffocating from the heavy impurities of the planet, a little breath of fresh air, a little opening, can make a huge difference-especially if it is potent. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of our small, seemingly insignificant gestures. The more we manifest the divinity within us and express it through compassion, the more we can uplift those we meet in the course of daily life.

Becoming Receptive to Higher Energies

As we contemplate the problems in society and feel a desire to make a difference, we must develop our inner resources in order to be capable of offering service. We cannot give what we ourselves do not possess. In order to have something valuable to share, we must purify ourselves and live in a more transcendental way. Then our interactions with others will be genuine, emerging from our inner core rather than being superficial behavior adopted for the sake of appearances.

The effect we have on others is based on who we are and the energies we radiate. On the physical level, we may not have to do much to make a difference. As we interact with individuals and their environments, our own love, devotion and higher awareness are automatically communicated to others, who in turn can also make an important difference.

That is why we must work on ourselves: so that we can naturally radiate love and compassion. Such work is not at all egocentric. We become like soldiers preparing to go into battle. Any interaction with another person abounds with subtle influences and exchanges that are far more penetrating than external appearances might suggest. Once again, the little words, simple expressions and kind gestures that we share with people in need are often much more beneficial to them than the dollars we put into their hands.

Spiritual practices such as reading, meditating or chanting can help prepare us for greater service to humanity and the planet. However, our motivation for such practices must never be to enhance our material situation or to gain psychic or spiritual leverage over others. We should always ask ourselves, “How can I develop and grow so that I can share?” That kind of attitude, accompanied by humility and compassion, can make us more receptive to higher energies.

The Art of Self-renewal

If we want to serve others effectively and with steady compassion, we must also learn the art of replenishing ourselves. Leaders, as discussed in Chapter 1, are not the only ones who require rest and renewal to perform their functions properly. We all have a similar need for self-care as we fulfill our daily responsibilities. Some members of the helping professions-social workers, nurses or doctors, for example-can become extremely jaded and insensitive because they try to help others without taking time for themselves. Eventually they become caught up in the lower energies of the people they are dealing with, which causes them to be callous and unkind.

We can renew ourselves by prayer, meditation, diet or by taking time away from the environment and exposing ourselves to an influx of spiritual energy to cleanse our consciousness. Chanting or mantra repetition can be a tremendous help. Many traditions use beads as a support for chanting or mantra meditation. When spiritual practitioners chant on these beads, they are praying, “Dear Lord, somehow I have fallen away from you. Please pick me up. Please allow me to be of service once again.” The chanting also allows people to cast off many of the negative energies that surround them constantly at work or in the streets.

Imagine what it would be like to see people’s thoughts as we go through the routines of our daily lives! Visualize yourself in a city, commuting home from work on a bus. Now imagine that another passenger is angry. The impact of that anger is the same as if the person were throwing a rock at you. Another person is fearful; somebody is disturbed; and yet another individual is envious of what you are wearing. You are actually sitting on a bus with fifteen or so people bombarding you with rocks. Is it any wonder that you walk away wounded? Your physical body may not feel it, but your subtle body has been attacked. You carry all those bruises home with you.

Chanting, or repetition of a sacred mantra, allows us to heal those wounds. It builds up our resistance so that we can ward off these onslaughts against our consciousness. That is why so many traditions emphasize the importance of calling on the names of God. Even in mundane life, when we call someone’s name, we are inviting that person to notice us and come to us. In the same way, when we speak the Lord’s name, we are summoning His presence. Chanting the holy names can be a powerful practice that invokes the loving protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It can also be a most important way to help us become profoundly compassionate.

Questions and Answers

Question: What happens when people reach such a level of selfless love that they are genuinely willing to take the place of those who are suffering? Can they actually do so, and what happens to them?

Answer: People with a strong level of compassion and selfless love are ready to make sacrifices to allow others to excel, even if it means they have to share their credits or give them up altogether. When there is no other way to assist, they can share their strength, love and spiritual energy to help someone else. God will intervene on behalf of someone who really lives and thinks this way.

The problem is that normally we try to control, manipulate and dominate others. Consequently, we keep experiencing all kinds of miseries. Remember, spiritual realization is not something imposed on us or a state of being that we can get from outside. It is something dormant within us. Our outside experiences are meant to help us develop more faith and gain more clarity about how to access the realization we already possess. We have simply covered it over with innumerable superfluous concerns. In our insanity, we try to run away from those states of consciousness that are most beneficial for us.

Question: My mother has an aging dementia, which is like Alzheimer’s. It keeps getting worse, but she has no physical deterioration. I have just assumed that this situation was her karma. Am I wrong? A friend recently asked me why I don’t help her more.

Answer: We should always try to heal ourselves and others. Some people are active healers and have the ability to channel healing energy or allow the Lord to use them to help someone else. But we are all healers, because we can always help others raise their level of consciousness. Every sickness has a consciousness component, and we can help others learn to live better so as not to get sick, or to use the sickness as a means of acquiring more spiritual realizations. We can show those who are ill how to avoid being depressed and overwhelmed by the illness.

To be healers, we do not necessarily have to lay hands on someone, offer prayers at a distance, or engage in other types of metaphysical activities. We can simply assist others by helping make improvements in their character or by helping to relieve them of some of their suffering, even if it is nothing more than just a visit and a few kind words. If we are carrying a higher, spiritual energy, we will automatically uplift the other person’s spirits by our natural radiation.

As you speak to your mother or read to her from any of the scriptures, even though her mind may not understand, her soul will. As you allow yourself to connect with her in a spiritual way, she will be able to receive what you have to offer. Unfortunately, sometimes nurses and doctors unwittingly discourage, or even kill, people by the comments that they make when they think a patient cannot hear or understand. People who are anesthetized or in a coma can still take in what we say on some level.

Under anesthesia, although the body is asleep, a part of one’s consciousness is still active and extremely receptive to the surroundings. Under such conditions, a negative comment about a patient’s prognosis can be devastating, because the unconscious accepts it as the truth. Someone who has been exposed to such words may become depressed and hopeless for no apparent reason. That is why people in the caring professions should be careful to manifest higher energies and to speak positively, lovingly and with compassion at all times. They can help their patients heal faster and more completely. On the other hand, if they are not careful, they can destroy any chances for recovery.

Question: Many spiritual organizations are talking about purchasing rural land to develop self-sufficiency and to get away from the dangerous, violent conditions in the cities. Is this compassionate? If we are all trying to save ourselves, how do we help those who need us the most?

Answer: First, understand that those persons and organizations that are leaving the city just to save themselves will be part of the devastation. This is not compassionate behavior. Everything that happens on this planet is highly monitored. People are aligned to various energies based on their consciousness. Those who are trying to get away from any environment just for reasons of self-preservation are already deeply caught up in egotistic nonsense, and they will carry the same nonsense wherever they go, because their consciousness has not changed.

That being said, urban life is unnatural. Factories, pollution, superficial commodities, sealed buildings-all this and much more is completely contrary to a natural way of life. In cities, people have little ability to grow anything. They must depend upon supermarket food, as well as upon electricity, elevators, gas-fueled cars and trains, and many other manufactured items that remove them from the natural order. Rural environments, where we can rely on nature to a greater degree, are healthier. In such an environment we can connect more easily with higher energies because there is less interference.

Although many people are fleeing the city just to save themselves, there are others who have an unselfish, compassionate motivation. These individuals and groups are trying to demonstrate to others how to become self-sufficient and live off the land. They are making efforts to implement the motto, “Simple living and high thinking.” Such people and communities are in a more exalted position that brings divine protection.

Keep in mind that many souls may have to meet physical death as the Earth cleanses itself. This cleansing is concerned with consciousness, and many souls will have to be recycled. But many other souls will be able to remain here to help create a sort of heaven on Earth. In fact, a great number of souls have deliberately come to this planet at this time to finish up some work for their soul’s evolution and so graduate to the higher realms. What happens will be based on each person’s level of consciousness. God never leaves any of us alone at any time. Higher agents are always ready to help us.

There are particular environments, such as many rural areas, that attract evolved beings from the higher realms more than others. When we spend time in such environments, we can more easily become aware of the presence of these beings. That is why it is very important to develop some connections outside of the city. In rural settings, we are more likely to have a sense of control over our destiny and experience more natural ways of life. We can express more of our higher nature and consequently become more fit to help others. Such environments provide powerful support for the practice of compassion.