You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.
— James Baldwin
This reflects the universal insights that (a) our suffering reflects universal suffering among humans and likely most if not all beings, and (b) that’s one of the things that connects us, that gives us empathy and understanding for each other.
Of course, it doesn’t come just – or even primarily – through books. It comes through honest conversations with others. It comes through any kind of storytelling. It comes through therapy with a good therapist. It comes through inquiry like The Work of Byron Katie.
And it’s not just about humans, it’s about all beings. We all suffer in very similar ways. We all long for freedom from suffering. We are all, very likely and to ourselves, consciousness although the body this consciousness is connected with can be quite different.