Two speakers discuss grief over global crises like wildfires and wars. One argues for "right-size" compassion: focus on your immediate surroundings rather than trying to save the world. Natural disasters are cycles of death and rebirth, and maintaining inner love matters more than absorbing others' suffering.
Chapters
When I look out into the world as I grow in understanding the intelligence of love, and I see fires in California, floods in North Carolina, hurricanes in Florida, wars in Ukraine and Palestine, my heart is broken. I feel helpless. I feel as if I can't do enough to help those people that are struggling. And I ask for your help. How can I help those who are struggling in the world around me that I see, that I feel, that are myself?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, it is important to know your right size, you see. And what we mean by that is know that you can always impact the— your immediate environment. Yes, always, always, always. Your light is shining and ever increasing. Love the one that is in front of you. You can't fix everything that is going on in this moment. You can't save everyone. We want to say That this sort of thinking is a holdover from religion, that it is up to you to save the whole entire world, that you'd better get busy, you see, and proselytize and pronounce and so on. This is not the way. The way is to mind your own internal state and your own internal being and removing everything that is not of you. When the fires are burning, it is because of this. It is because there are things That, hmm, there are things that are needing to be burned away. Now, we're not saying that anyone harmed by this fire, that, that, that the intention of all that is, is to harm in any way. We are simply saying there is a natural cycle of life, which is a death and rebirth and a death and rebirth and a death and rebirth. And fires are a natural part of that, a laying to rest. A bringing to ash so that something new will arise. And so we encourage you, even as you console, as you comfort, as you love, as you hold either physically or in your heart those who have suffered, whatever their suffering may be, the fires or the wars or whatever, be looking for the rebirth. Be looking, be looking, be looking. For even the Christ in his death, the symbol, there was the resurrection. Yes. And there is a life. There is a life that comes on the other side. There is a weeping that happens for all persons in this lifetime. There is a sadness. There is a sorrow. There is a devastation and a loss. But there is a joy that comes in the morning for all. For all. For all, there is a joy that comes. And so you cannot serve others by suffering alongside them.
