Compassion

Compassion is more important than intellect in calling forth the love that the work of peace needs, and intuition can often be a far more powerful searchlight than cold reason.

- Betty Williams (Irish Nobel Peace Laureate)

Peace, as in World Peace, has been really close to my heart from my childhood.  I was raised in a Baha’i household where the Oneness of Humanity, the Oneness of Religion, and Peace amongst the nations of the Earth were fervently prayed for daily. Like it is for all children, what was emphasized in my childhood became a core belief, and I took this belief so seriously and personally that I actually felt unentitled to happiness until such time as I had seen World Peace come to pass.  This was a little over the top, I know; but it was probably related to the "excess of compassion" my mother used to say was the core of my character.

My mom wrote about me in her diary when I was eighteen months old:  "There sits Laurel, in a ray of sunshine, looking as though she has the whole world on her shoulders."  I doubt whether I had fully internalized responsibility for the world by that young age - although I probably WAS concentrating on my internal thought world, as I have continued to do more or less all my life.

One thing I thought about a lot was the connection between compassion for individuals and "changing the world."  I got the sense from my parents that individuals didn't matter so much; it was changing systems through spreading the power of Divine Revelation that took priority for them.  My intuition nagged at me, however, and when at fifteen I announced I wanted to be a Psychologist, my mom actually told me I was too tender-hearted to be able to do that work. Somehow, her words diverted my path, and it wasn't until I was 35 that I actually started doing counseling work.  I felt I had found my home in counseling.

I still couldn't INTELLECTUALLY make the connection between helping individuals and saving the world, however much it was intuitively a "no-brainer."  Eventually I moved into coordination work instead, but it fit  me "like a foot in a glove."  I had to repeatedly bump face-first into some very harshly slammed doors before, having consulted my spirit guides via a medium, I finally accepted that my earlier path had been closer to my truth.

I had to do a lot of personal healing and learning to figure out how to get back on a path that is more appropriate for my skill set, inclinations and passion.  It was through that healing and learning that I came to see a connection, definitely, between personal, individual healing and world peace; and this connection came clear to me through learning Energy Psychology methods for self healing, and the Eden Method for self care and healing others. I also began to develop and trust my intuition. 

Here's part of what I now accept:  EVERY PERSON is connected to the Collective Unconscious (as described by Jung).  While we are clearly all affected by that united state of being, and it shows itself in universally common patterns in culture and dreams, I have come to believe the relationship is reiprocal: Every time healing takes place, and a person is relieved of the burden of their own private demons, a matching healing happens in the collective unconscious of the world.  It may seem like a minute trickle, but it is nonetheless one profound outcome (and an immeasurable bonus) of individual healing.

Your (and my) healing through the Eden Method, through Reiki, WHEE, EFT or any other modality not only has effects on ourselves and our loved ones and community, but it also contributes to clearing the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Humanity! 

I invite you to explore this idea further through Dr Daniel Benor's article World Healing through Collective Unconscious.

While Dr Benor and I each came to this conclusion independently, I enjoy his articulation of the truth I intuitively accept.  Since I am now committed to trusting my intuition at least equally with my intellect, I'm intending to pursue my thoughts about all this further as my own learning continues.  And I will continue to love and accept myself, and value the gift of compassion that, far from being the liability I was taught to fear it was, is in fact the strong capacity I have that will best "call forth the LOVE that the work of Peace needs," as Betty Willams has said.  Moreover, I will continue to allow my intuition to function as a "searchlight," and I hope, also, to learn to amplify my intuition until it has reached the strength it was destined to achieve.

Note: I actually wrote this post in 2011 when I was just starting to learn how to do energy healing. Since then I have become a Certified Clinical Practitioner of The Eden Method, and am now in my fourth year of the Program, learning Advanced Methods. I have a practice where you can experience the Eden Method in person (Victoria) or online. You can Book a Session here. I also organize online and in-person events, including the Celtic Spiral Chakra Meditation, Study Circles, Meetups and more. Check the Events page.

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

 -Ralph Waldo Emerson.