Problems

March 3, 2024

The first level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is the physiological sustenance of our body. This includes solving the problems of obtaining food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. If we cannot function physically, we cannot live.

In the First World, most people have food, clothing, and shelter. However, there is a Third World among us of hunger and deprivation. Often, we do not see the misery of those who suffer from a lack of the basics. However, in the conscious spiritual life, we realize that those who suffer in poverty are part of the whole to which we belong; therefore, their problems are our problems.

Whatever our political views about the USA's southern border issues, there is one thing we know: our collective is affected in some way by every hurting woman, man, and child fleeing from fear and deprivation. Some of us wall ourselves off from others' suffering. Our egos want to protect us from guilt, pain, and responsibility. Therefore, we declare ourselves a separate entity that is not to be affected by others' misery. Yet, in consciousness, we cannot deny that each person is affected by every issue facing the country at large. The question to be answered by a country that is conscious is, "What creative ways can we address the problems of human suffering without harming ourselves or anyone else?"

Many of us personally suffer with those in peril because we, too, experienced the terror of struggling for survival. How is that so? Because those who suffer with others remember threats to their survival in their own lives and want to prevent such suffering in others.

You and I might not have been fleeing a corrupt country infested with drug lords and violence. We may not have been bombed during strikes from an invading country, but we were under threat. Perhaps we lost a job and didn't know how we were going to make it. Maybe someone threatened our lives or our reputation. Maybe someone crossed a boundary and assaulted us mentally, physically, or sexually. Perhaps we have been through an unbelievable trauma. Maybe we felt like we couldn't go on and considered fleeing this life. Perhaps we couldn't protect our children from something and were anxious for their lives. Maybe we could not get the proper medical care. Whatever the suffering we experience, it helps us empathize with all those who suffer. And our Holy Plan is revealed as how to aid those who suffer.

Corinthians 1:3-4 speaks about suffering and those who seek to live the spiritual life. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."

Inquiry: How do you suffer, and how are you comforted?

Dear God,

Make their wounds my wounds. Grant me your comfort so I may, in turn, comfort others in their problems and brokenness.

Amen

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