Being Available
Wisdom, Compassion, and Living the Paradox
The Razor’s Edge of Witnessing
In recent weeks, as the horror in Gaza continues to unfold, I found myself caught in a paradox I could not easily resolve. On Facebook, a post on 27 August 2025 by Anne Sweet sparked a fierce and heartfelt exchange. Jared Howe spoke of the shocking recognition of perfection even in the midst of atrocity. Frank Youakim pointed to the raising of consciousness as the only way to bring about collective change. Blake Ludwig named the intuition that something even deeper and more vital is needed right now. My own contribution emerged in dialogue with theirs: a reflection on the impossibility—and the necessity—of holding two seemingly opposite truths together.
Two Real Responses
On one side, there is the living realisation that reality is always, in this very moment, Love made manifest. However distorted, violent, or incomprehensible events may seem, nothing falls outside of the Whole.
On the other side, there is the raw human response: grief, anger, torment, rage at the suffering we are capable of inflicting on one another. To feel this is not weakness, but the ground of compassion—the recognition of suffering and the longing for its release. To turn away from this is to turn away from our humanity.
