Understanding and Compassion

Yesterday, Spirit was talking to me about understanding and the need to be understood. The wisdom they offered was a revelation.

Volunteers—especially those of the first wave, the oldest ones—tend to have a persistent feeling of being misunderstood. As a result, they often feel an almost insatiable need to be understood. It's like they need others to "get" who they are, maybe because these volunteers struggle so much to "get" it themselves.

It's an interesting experience being a first-wave volunteer and not remembering who you are. Naturally, every soul forgets who they are and where they come from before incarnating into a physical body. This requisite occurs for a few reasons. Among them is the fact that we must make our own way in this third dimension, learning lessons organically without the benefit of knowing the exam answers before the test is given. Another reason is that the human mind simply cannot—and, in fact, is not designed to—comprehend the enormity of a multidimensional universe with which our souls are in constant, active communion. We'd simply go mad. Some of us do have sketchy memories of what it's like to not be here on Earth. Some even have clearer glimpses of life before arriving in the third dimension. But, most have very little or no memory at all prior to being born. All these volunteers know is that they clearly have certain characteristics that are unique and decidedly not shared with the general population. These individuals know they've always had these feelings and traits, but that's all. They don't have a context in which to fit them. It's like having the bricks to create a house, but no mortar with which to build.

When the volunteers find out about themselves, they suddenly have that context, that comprehension. The dots begin to connect and the light bulb goes on. It's usually a big ah-ha moment. This piece of knowledge ends up being crucial to a volunteer's understanding of themselves. The very thing that's caused so much distress and pain is able to be mostly resolved with this one golden nugget of information: You are a volunteer. Here's who you are, why you're here, why you feel and act as you do, why you know what you know, and on and on. So, now there's that elusive understanding. It helps enormously. But, maybe there's still a niggling feeling that, still, most people just don't understand.

Humans equate being understood with acceptance, belonging, safety, love, and being "enough." Feeling understood equates to not being lonely, isolated, rejected, or maybe even feared. It provides a sense of grounding and connection—a basic need to love and be loved.

This is pretty important stuff. When Spirit offered this lesson yesterday they said that, although being understood feels good, it doesn't give us what we need. We don't actually need to be understood by anyone. In fact, we don't even need to understand ourselves. They said we'll never understand everything about ourselves and, although it's good to do the best we can to put our own puzzle pieces together, we must be content knowing that—at least while we're on this planet—we'll never get all of it. It's just not possible. So, knowing we'll never understand the entirety of who we are, we can't expect to understand the complexity of anyone else. That also means, of course, that no one else—no one—is able to fully comprehend us. They said understanding is great, but that's not the critical element. The thing we need more than anything is compassion toward self and others.

Compassion is our ability to care deeply and unconditionally. It assumes that whatever another person is going through, their experience could easily be our own at some point. It is the truest form of love in action. Though we are grateful for understanding, we need compassion. We need it from ourselves mostly. But we also need to learn to give it to others. Since we can only give who we are, compassion seems to be the thing we each need to focus on and cultivate within so the world can then be a more compassionate place.

Yes, inherent in compassion is understanding. But, Spirit explained that while understanding is more a mental activity, compassion is heart-centered. We're moving into a new time and age where the heart needs to play a much bigger role, so compassion—the energy of Source—is crucial. It is the emotional element that enables healing. It is a non-negotiable necessity.

Once we're able to shift into compassion, everything changes. Instead of seeking understanding, we simply hold loving space for ourselves and others—even if they vehemently disregard who we are, which is the ultimate not understanding. When we learn to give ourselves compassion, living more and more in that space of love, the old need to be understood diminishes tremendously. 
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Spirit wants this for us. Compassion strengthens our light and our unbreakable connection with the All That Is. It feeds the Universe, rippling out in directions we've forgotten exist and into realities we've yet to discover.