Compassion through social strife

[Sacred Fool]

1) Discuss how compassion might be offered during times of high emotion and social strife, like now, especially when engaging in discussion with those we disagree with.

Swerving back towards the OP just a bit--hoping to keep Austin happy and engaged--and to respond to Diana's last post: because responding under stress to emotion is like playing music under stress or is similar to performing various sorts of duties under stress, a person tends to fall back on their training and their habits.  In other words, under stress, I am compassionate towards myself and others in exactly the patterns I am (or am not) normally so; however, under stress I may have to lean in on them a little more.

I have a family member who has drifted over to the far right over the course of a couple of decades, and speaking with this person about politics is a trying experience.  There is some agreement between us here and there, but one thing that makes it all difficult is that whenever we disagree it's usually in a completely polarized manner with no shades of grey. 

I find I sometimes face the same problem in my interior work.  For instance, when dealing with items involving long term intense fear, there's often fierce reflexive resistance to opening up to seeing another side of the phenomenon. 

In both cases, my "training" tells me to allow generous space, to be gentle and to respect that the intelligence I'm dealing with is where it's at for it's own reasons.  Under stress, I more or less do the same, but more deliberately.


I'm thinking now, when dealing with internal strife, I am softly offering it a better place to be, an experience of reduced stress.  Usually the internal stuff is amenable to the idea, but sometimes only gradually.  With the family member, I've not seen an inclination in that direction.  More's the pity.