“Gathering and sharing is where we find belonging, making meaning of what happened to us in our past, and find healing to make sense of what it means for our future”. I love this idea that we make meaning through sharing.
I missed your words. Thank you for continuing to share knowledge and push growth, change, and all the good things that lead us to be kind to ourselves while doing better.
Beautiful, Vanessa - thanks for this. A few connections came to mind:
(1) I was listening to this great podcast interview with Gopal Dayaneni when he offers an extended reflection on suffering, where he observes that it's not suffering per se that is the problem; it's the unequal distribution of that suffering:
(2) I'm reminded of Rebecca Solnit's work on how humans respond to natural disaster: the shared suffering can bring out the best in us.
(3) The Japanese art/concept of kintsugi (repairing broken ceramics with a golden composite): that the very act of repairing what has been broken can make the product even more beautiful. The opposite of sincere, perhaps: not seeking perfection, but improvement and repair?
Yes to both of those points. The inequality of suffering and the separation it causes definitely amplifies the pain. The pandemic has shown all of us how different the world could be if we did rise to the occasion and come together to alleviate suffering.
“Gathering and sharing is where we find belonging, making meaning of what happened to us in our past, and find healing to make sense of what it means for our future”. I love this idea that we make meaning through sharing.
I missed your words. Thank you for continuing to share knowledge and push growth, change, and all the good things that lead us to be kind to ourselves while doing better.
Beautiful, Vanessa - thanks for this. A few connections came to mind:
(1) I was listening to this great podcast interview with Gopal Dayaneni when he offers an extended reflection on suffering, where he observes that it's not suffering per se that is the problem; it's the unequal distribution of that suffering:
"When you equitably distribute the suffering, you change the very nature of suffering, it's not suffering anymore. If we were all navigating it together, it becomes the way we live, who we are." (https://forthewild.world/podcast-transcripts/gopal-dayaneni-on-the-exploitation-of-soil-and-story-232)
(2) I'm reminded of Rebecca Solnit's work on how humans respond to natural disaster: the shared suffering can bring out the best in us.
(3) The Japanese art/concept of kintsugi (repairing broken ceramics with a golden composite): that the very act of repairing what has been broken can make the product even more beautiful. The opposite of sincere, perhaps: not seeking perfection, but improvement and repair?
Welcome back.
Yes to both of those points. The inequality of suffering and the separation it causes definitely amplifies the pain. The pandemic has shown all of us how different the world could be if we did rise to the occasion and come together to alleviate suffering.