It’s conceivable that in some cases people behave brutally to those who are vulnerable because the person with the power in the situation is afraid to care. As for me, one possible way to address my own potential for cruelty (due to my own fear of caring) is to hold the idea of love, kindness, empathy, compassion (or other ways of phrasing it) in my mind, meditatively and contemplatively, thru writing, reading, singing, drumming, and so on.
There’s an obsessive streak to my personality. And that can be unhealthful, as I and others are aware. But with the right type of perspective, that tendency can be channeled into a type of spiritual mode of being. Some religious folk talk about how they are always in one form or another of prayer, and how they strive to make their entire lives a sort of prayer. I’m not religious, but I can relate to that idea in that it seems not only possible, but desirable and fulfilling to strive to be mindful of being kind (in random and also in highly organized ways) in all aspects of my waking and even some aspects of my dreaming life.
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