
02/09/2025
The willingness to witness others without judgment as they change - even if that change is not preferable or convenient to you - is the willingness to love.
To do so is to become a mirror, a quiet reflection that allows the other to see where and how they are caught.
Compassion means choosing presence over convenience. And sometimes, being a human being requires us to show up for others even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, or downright hard.
And it IS hard, because we all have wounds, complicated histories, and present moment circumstances that shape our capacity. None of this is easy, or linear.
Regardless, when someone is going through hell, yes, it may feel heavy to hold space, but imagine the weight on the one actually living it, feeling utterly separate, isolated inside their predicament.
When you push against somebody, when you have even the subtlest model in your head that they should be different than they are, at an unconscious level it awakens in them a pushing back, a resistance, a subtle paranoia, or worse, a crushing sense of shame.
More from Baba Ram Dass:
"To be a safe space for another human being means you don't have an agenda, but at the same time you do not engage in upholding their victimhood or entitlement. To care for the other, I must see the other as they are and not as I would like them to be.
In order to do this, I must also see myself as I am: I must see what I'm doing and whether what I'm doing helps or hinders the growth of the other. We show lack of trust by trying to dominate and force the other into a mold, or by requiring guarantees as to their outcome. This trust is most difficult to have with the others we’re most emotionally connected to because trusting the other, is to let go; it includes an element of risk and a leap into the unknown, both of which take courage.”
In heartfelt gratitude for the teachings of Ram Dass that provide me with so much nourishment and resource.