Feeling the Suffering of the World during COVID-19

We will feel our own suffering and we will feel the suffering of the world. I mean, if you’re going to become self-aware, you’re going to become aware of the suffering of others. You just don’t want to be flooded or overwhelmed with that.

You know, I find that one of the antidotes to suffering or to self-preoccupations is the simple pleasures—doing practical things, enjoying simple things, being grateful, the fact that you have food, being grateful for the fact that you can live in a warm house or apartment, being grateful that the Revelation is with you, being grateful for all the things that have happened in your life that have been a blessing or a help or an assistance, even being grateful for those who have erred against you for teaching you the importance of making wise decisions and becoming strong with Knowledge.

I mean, this is…I love the teaching in Joy and Gratitude. It’s one of my favorite teachings in the New Message. It’s about how to appreciate things in life. And even if you’re sitting at home and have to stay at home, you have so many things to be grateful for.

And when you exercise that gratitude, it begins to equalize and mitigate the effects of the outside world, the uncertainties of the time in which we live. It gives you a sense that, “Wow, I really have been supported and assisted in my life” and “Wow, some good things have really happened for me that don’t happen for other people.”

And you begin to have a sense of gratitude for your past, your life, for who you are, for the things you’ve done that have worked in life and for the things you’ve done that haven’t worked that have shown you how to become wise. I mean, all these kinds of things are the work at hand, the internal work at hand, the self-knowledge work, and gaining a platform to be in the world in such a way that you can serve the world without being overwhelmed by it.

And that is no small thing that I speak of here. We can only develop these skills incrementally. But times like this seem to be really optimal for really gaining ground in our own self-assessment and in developing kind of really functional skills and just compassion and forgiveness for the world.

I mean, you know, this is the price of…living in Separation is suffering. You know, the Buddha said to be born is to suffer. I mean, this is…Okay, you can go live in Separation but—and it may fascinate you to some degree—it is going to be an environment of suffering.

And so let’s just be real about that and not complain about the world, that it’s a world of suffering because it’s a world of Separation. So it’s not going to be paradise. It’s not going to be perfect. And it’s going to have these kind of challenges. And crises are part of life here.

So if we’re going to become a Divine influence in the world, we have to become with the world, but also with the Divine influence. We have to be that medium where the two meet. They are two different realities. They’re not the same. You can’t make them the same. You can’t call the world divine. You can’t call the Divine the world. I mean, it’s where these two distinct realities meet.

And that is kind of, if we look at this, ultimately where we want to get to is where we become the junction where the Divine can come into the world and serve the world without denying the world and without crucifying ourselves or other people for the world. And this is the kind of strength building that coming to terms with suffering within ourselves and other people can induce within us—the kind of compassion we will need, the tolerance we will need—but it’s going to require an equal amount of grace.

You know, I’ve done some recordings on practicing the Presence. Well, even if you’re home alone in your apartment, you can practice the Presence. And there are so many things that can be done now to develop your connection with Knowledge and all that Knowledge is here to give you.