Feeling the World’s Suffering as Our Own

A man asks about our responsibility to help alleviate suffering in the world. As a psychotherapist, he often feels overwhelmed by the trauma he faces in his work. What can he do?

Rupert says: ‘I do think we have a sacred responsibility to share the non-dual understanding in one way or another. It’s really inevitable: to the extent that we feel another’s being as our own, if they suffer, we suffer. And for exactly the same reason that we seek to alleviate our own suffering, so we would seek to alleviate another’s suffering.

‘But if you feel debilitated by the suffering, you have to go back to that place in yourself that is inherently free of suffering. Because it’s only when you’re speaking or acting from that place that you’re really helping others to be free of their suffering.’

*This video is from one of Rupert’s in-person retreats at The Vedanta, 18–25 February 2023. For more information on upcoming retreats (many of which can be attended online via livestream) go to:

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