New Years
January 3, 2005

Between the unimaginable devastation of the tsunami and the senseless wars in Iraq and in the Sudan (and so many other places), this has been a year from hell. I have always been thwarted in a belief in a loving God by the degree ofsuffering intrinsic to our human condition. I once was able to questionthe Nobel Peace Laureate Mother Teresa in a letter about this. Sheresponded that the important response to human tragedy is to draw closer together in bearing the weight of it. To use it as an opportunity to grow in compassion. Below are some 'blessings' from figures I greatly admire: To add a quote from Tenzin Gyato (1989), the current Dalai Lama: “May all sentient beings, oneself and others, find constant happiness through love and compassion associated with wisdom.”

The author James Baldwin reminded us:

“I have always felt that a human being could only be saved by another human being. I am aware that we do not save each other very often. But I am also aware that we save each other some of the time...The miracle on which one’s unsteady attention is focused is always the same, however it may be stated, or however it may remain unstated. It is the miracle of love, love strong enough to guide or drive one into the great estate of maturity, or, to put it another way, into the apprehension and acceptance of one’s own identity.”

Einstein wisely noted:

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty." -- Albert Einstein (Sent to me by Ann-Louise Silver, MD)

Brian Koehler