What, then, is our neighbor?

"Thou hast regarded [thy neighbor’s] thought, his feeling, as somehow different from thine. Thou hast said, ‘A pain in him is not like a pain in me, but something far easier to bear.’ He seems to thee a little less living than thou; his life is dim, it is cold, it is a pale fire beside thy own burning desires…. So, dimly and by instinct hast thou lived with thy neighbor, and hast known him not, being blind. Thou hast made of him a thing, no Self at all. Have done with this illusion, and simply try to learn the truth. Pain is pain, joy is joy, everywhere, even as in thee. In all the songs of the forest birds; in all the cries of the wounded and dying, struggling in the captor's power; . . . amid the countless hordes of savage men; in all sickness and sorrow; in all exultation and hope, everywhere, from the lowest to the noblest, the same conscious, burning, willful life is found, endlessly manifold as the forms of the living creatures; unquenchable as the fires of the sun, real as these impulses that even now throb in thine own little selfish heart. Lift up thy eyes, behold that life, and then turn away, and forget it as thou canst; but, if thou hast known that, thou hast begun to know thy duty."  

                                          –Josiah Royce

This excerpt from the writings of Josiah Royce, an American philosopher, is one of my favorite quotes.

It was recently brought to mind after I received a thank you note from someone who had faced "one of the biggest challenges"of their life. Although I had listened to the story of their struggle with care and empathy and had provided what I hoped was beneficial encouragement and support, I was somewhat surprised that this was deemed worthy of a thank you note and, mostly, surprised at the words this person used to describe their recent experience. I simply didn’t realize the magnitude of the experience for the person in the moment. I was so thankful that I had taken the time to care, to help carry the load, rather than brush it off as “something far easier to bear.” This is my prayer, always, to know true empathy for “my neighbor.”