Waking Up

Loving our neighbor can mean many things—feeding the hungry, donating money, volunteering, treating all people we encounter with respect, being an activist or voting with our conscience, taking care of the earth, etc. A big motivation for all these things—and loving our neighbor in general—is empathy, which involves taking on a deeper understanding of other people’s lived experiences. When we have learned to fear, hate, disparage, or “other” another person or group of people, finding empathy can be challenging.

Thankfully, we all go through times in our lives when we “wake up” to other people’s pain and suffering, strength and resilience, or to injustice in the world despite our fear, ignorance, or learned hate.

We want to hear from you. Tell us a story about “waking up.” Was it a gradual process or more of an epiphany? Who or what helped you to wake up? Was there a spiritual dimension to your waking up? How did the experience change you or the way you live your life?

Fill in the box below or email your stories of "waking up" to becca@lumunos.org. We may use your story in our next newsletter. Thanks!