Sølvregel nr. 5

Mitt samvittighetsfulle selv;
Ta hensyn til enhver sjels følelser.

Pir Zias kommentar:
Now that sounds very challenging! Wouldn’t it incapacitate us? It is difficult enough to bear the burden of our own hopes and fears. We might not be able to stand the strain of accommodating those of others. And because we have that concern, because we fear to be overwhelmed, we refrain from extending our sympathy unreservedly.

And yet if one reads the rule closely, it does not say subordinate yourself to the feelings of every soul. The rule doesn’t require us to change our mind or submit to anyone’s wishes. It asks us just to listen, to sympathize, and to seek to understand – to step momentarily into another person’s shoes and look through his or her eyes. That person’s story is as compelling as one’s own, in its way.

Our story, which we think so highly of, is only one of many myriad fields of vision, all interpenetrating, all included in the divine sight. Yet we have a special responsibility to represent our self. We have a duty to fulfill our purpose. One need not serve another’s purpose. But by simply acknowledging others, one’s willingness strikes a note of harmony.

We might take this as a contemplation: to make an intention for a week or month that every day we will choose a person, animal, plant, or other being and return again and again to identify with him, her or it. This has an expansive effect on one’s capacity for sympathy and understanding.

My conscientious self, have regard for the feelings of every soul.