The echo of a pleasant sound, like the echo of a single kindness, casts ambient rings of pleasure around the conscious recipient. With resonance thus defined, let's consider empathy. Empathy (feeling with) -- unlike apathy (without feeling) or antipathy (contrary feeling) -- is the most defining characteristic of the human species and the one "that separates us from all other animals. That is to say, while anatomy includes us in the animal kingdom, our uniquely spiritual endowment challenges … [Read more...]

I had just moved in the spring of 1990, and after experiencing disappointment in another new romance, I decided that morning upon awakening to swear off men. As I sat up in bed, I noticed that there was a word floating mid-air in front of me. "OK," I thought, "if you guys float a word mid-air for me, then I know something really big is coming, so I had better pay attention." "Look at the word," I heard, so I proceeded to read it. "Relationship." I read aloud, from this illuminated word … [Read more...]

"Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relationships with other people." -- Arthur Schopenhauer What a dilemma for mankind! Since our very first breath, we are constantly seeking and experiencing relationships with other people on many levels -- with different expectations. Each experience will be either pleasurable or painful, and that is said to be determined by our own attitude and response to each relationship that we have. Ouch! That can be very hard to admit and come face to face … [Read more...]

Every relationship is an echo of the soul's relationship with Source, the foundation of existence and love. Existence as a finite being only happens in relationship to the Divine. Our relationships with each other reflect that reality. When we see the Divine in ourselves and others, we affirm our own existence. When we see others as of significance only in relationship to our own needs or wants, then we ultimately affirm the conditionality of our own existence. Such a relationship is not … [Read more...]

There are three of us in my marriage -- me, my wife and the "We." My wife and I cherish the presence of this third entity, the "We," which forms the triangle of our relationship. Its presence, as "our life," requires that both of us attend to its health. I advocate the acquiring of this "We" for every person, in any type of relationship. Relationships are wondrous and complex structures shaping human beings from womb to grave. Housing the challenges of life, relationships provide … [Read more...]

Our new President-Elect talks a lot about "bringing us together as a nation." That implies that we know how to relate to one another in a unifying manner. However, most of us are not very skilled at creating enriching relationships. Many of us take pride in our sense of independence. We believe ourselves to be separate from others. We often use our sense of "being different" as a protection against being disappointed, hurt or abandoned. We believe "my needs are different, so I … [Read more...]