[Patamuta]

I think that if TNH's "going inside" practice weren't so unfamiliar and bizarre and idealistic-seeming, it wouldn't be work. What I mean to say is... if it came as naturally to us as our other habits of looking at people, then we would indeed be far more advanced in our personal practice and personal work than I think most people probably are (myself included).

Often I really do have trouble truly putting myself in someone else's shoes. Often this is because they're experiencing something I feel I just flat-out cannot understand well enough to properly empathize with. For example, the fear that racial minorities feel when confronted with white supremacy is monstrous on a level that I can only connect symbolically to the fear that I feel when confronted with gross misogyny. However, it's hard for me to really get inside where they're sitting.

Sometimes that's enough, though. As long as we can honestly admit that we don't understand a pain which is too great or too (thankfully for us) alien to our own experience, we can say that somebody is going through something beyond our proper imagining. I think that's a good first step to being there for them in what ways we can.

So yeah, there's a lot of suffering that I just don't "get" well enough to be inside those feelings TNH's way. That's just where I am, and that's okay. It shouldn't stop me from making the recognition that what's happening is bad on a level that should cause me concern as a fellow human being.

Bit of a ramble, but that's sort of how my thoughts run on this one.