[August 2006 journal entry]
A painful consequence of moving from the ‘religious’ path I inherited and traveled into my early 30s to the ‘non-religious’ and ‘with the world face to face’ path I have been describing and interpreting in my journal entries since 1992 is rooted in the shift in my primary/defining focus/concentration to seeing ‘from below’, to seeing from the perspective of the sufferer, to seeing from the perspective of the stranger/adversary. My closest/deepest relationships are with similarly focused/concentrating individuals. The pain stems from diminished closeness/intimacy with individuals – including family members and close friends – who have secondary/conditional focus/concentration on seeing ‘from below’, on seeing from the perspective of the sufferer, on seeing from the perspective of the stranger/adversary.
