The Presence of the Divine is everywhere, inside and outside you. This is not in buildings made of wood and stone. Divide a piece of wood, I am there; lift a stone, you will find me.

*Gospel of Thomas.

A monk was meditating in the desert, and a beggar came up to him. The beggar said, "I need food.” The monk, having almost reached perfect harmony with the Divine, ignored him. Insisted the beggar, “I need to eat, sir.” Frustrated, the monk, keeping eyes closed, said, “Go into town and ask someone else. Can't you see you're bothering me? I'm on the verge of being fully one with the Divine.” The beggar said loudly, “Look!” Startled, the monk turned in anger, ready to upbraid the beggar. The beggar appeared as an angel, which he truly was. The angel spoke, “What a pity, you almost made it.” The angel left the monk alone.

We cannot separate our spiritual practice from our connection with others, for we are what we are by being connected already with others. A mark of every spiritually evolved being is compassion. Compassion is not first a feeling, as in an emotion, but first and foremost a recognition and acceptance of oneness with the other, both in being and in experience. We may not know the particulars of anyone else's pain, but we know pain itself. Suffering and pain is suffering and pain. By being honest about our shared humanness and sacredness, we open ourselves to an intuitive sense of caring for others. Likewise, we come to see that each person is the Sacred in disguise. By caring for another creature, we care for "God," for everyone and everything, for ourselves. This is vital, that we do not mistake action in helping others to be mistaken for compassion. Compassion is neither action nor inaction, and compassion can be equally present in each.

*Lotus of the Heart is a Work of Arem Nahariim-Samadhi ~ a Hospice Chaplain, interspiritual author, writer, poet, and bicyclist. He is someone in love with Life and inviting others to that same ecstasy of Love ~ and, by the way, herein is nothing he claims as his own.