Helplessness vs. The Helper

By adopting the Listening Mind, we garner
 a sense of natural compassion for others.

“In effort to express compassion, we end up feeling estranged” (125)

“when we have been used to knowing where we stand at every moment, the experience of resting in awareness without any specific thoughts to hold onto and trusting our intuition, turns our to be a refreshing and exciting adventure” (111).

A reoccurring theme of Ram Dass’s book is the “us vs. them” dichotomy. The problem with this relationship is that, neither the self nor the other ever feels a true connect or, compassion.  Although our intentions may sound warranted, Dass says that “In effort to express compassion, we end up feeling estranged” (125). Thus Dass offers the solution of being aware, in other words: The Listening Mind. And “when we have been used to knowing where we stand at every moment, the experience of resting in awareness without any specific thoughts to hold onto and trusting our intuition, turns our to be a refreshing and exciting adventure” (111).  When we begin to just take a stance of listening, we grow a sense of trust with the other. By growing trust in turn, we also eliminate prejudice and preconceived notions of others.

We often stigmatize the poor as "helpless" or
those inferior to the Self. 

            Another problem with this relationship is the unhealthy self-identity as the “helper”. This often imprisons us because we will always be associate the other as one that needs help. This separateness and division further stigmatizes the “helpless”. This type of relationship has often been critiqued in social efforts against poverty. Many organizations and government policies often stigmatize the poor as “lazy”, “dependent” or “weak”. In attempt to do service for the greater good, this may perpetuate things like sexism or racism. 

            With these associations attached, society has told us that needing help or being dependent is an act of weakness. Society celebrates independence in every possible. Even so much as that our eighteenth birthdays are considered a milestone because we receive legal independence. This is just one instance of our desire to be independence, to have self-autonomy.