They who see themselves in all
and all in them
help others through spiritual osmosis
to realize the Self themselves.

Katha Upanishad - Part 2, Verse 8
(Translated by Eknath Easwaran)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Say that five times fast!

But man, I’ve been watching this Jeffrey Dahmer docuseries on Netflix. Talk about practicing this “seeing yourself in others and others in yourself” crap. Now THAT pushes the limits of sympathy right there.

I will say, though, they’ve done a wonderful job of dramatizing the impact of everyone involved. There was this father-son moment after Dad found out his son was eating people, and boy, a part of you starts to go, “Aww. Isn’t that swee—”

Then there’s a pause as you wonder if you should really be feeling that way toward a brutal murderer.

Meanwhile I’m over here studying all these lessons on love and compassion, now trying to put myself in the shoes of Jeffrey Dahmer and debating whether or not there should be space for any of that.

Not to mention “Hannibal” was another recent favorite of mine. And you’re lying to yourself if Mads Mikkelsen didn’t make you at least a teensy bit curious about a good leg steak. Did you see all those fresh ingredients??

(“Find out if I dabble in cannibalism next time on ‘Make Religion Great Again’!” 📺 👨‍🍳)

Jokes aside, trying to put yourself inside the mind of a cannibalistic serial killer is a darkeningly enlightening exercise. After pushing those boundaries, though, it’s much easier to sympathize with that person you bump heads with at work, or that guy who was rude in line at the bank. Much easier to brush it off and assume they’re having a bad day if there’s not a legitimate fear they might chop you up into bits and eat your liver later.

Let’s bring it back to what may be my new favorite term, “spiritual osmosis,” and help others to realize the Self by seeing ourselves in others first.