We live continuously with a chasm between the haves and the have-nots, the healthy and the sick, the smart and the dull, the gorgeous and the ugly, the slim and the fat, the lucky and the cursed. It’s what we mean by “the world.” The question is how deep and wide this chasm should be allowed to become. The wider it is, the more unreal we become; the deeper, the more painful is the chasm. If we don’t work now to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor it will increase exponentially and we will be irreparably divided. In Gospel wisdom, the end is always a beginning. A change of heart, in the hard of heart, is the beginning of compassion, of active concern for the needs of others. When the spring of compassion is released, the human chasm, the ego, the isolated self, is reconnected. In reconnection (the literal meaning of the word religion), the great healing happens.
