23. The Soul

As first, while thinking what I could say about “Radical Compassion” by Tara Brach, which I read little by little, while reading something else in-between, I felt like I did not know what to say. Probably because I am already interested in such topics as empathy, dealing with difficult people, growing out of traumatic situations and victimhood thinking, I felt like that book was not telling me anything new. I was expecting somehow to learn something new from this book. I did not want to “misread” it or lose somehow the message, so I set it aside and started reading something else, but my mind kept going back to this book. Am I wrong? Am in a hurry? Am I avoiding something, emotions maybe 🫨! - I was thinking. I think that in the end, I figured it out. The book felt shallow, it was not deep enough for me and my expectation. I did hear good things about this book, and that might have created such expectations. I think that the example given along the way, while the author is describing a process she called RAIN, i.e. Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture, are quite interesting BUT I felt like she rushed through them. One paragraph could be describing the whole life of someone, with good and bad and how the person managed to get out of the hole, which for me was so fast. Also, I wished the book contained less “propaganda” for the RAIN process, which the author seems to have patented and was looking for buyers. Suffering/pain is probably the best teacher, and no average, comfortably living human being will start digging in their mind and soul just because of this book. They might do so when the pain hits. I also wished that there were fewer metaphors involving the rain, how it cleans and clears everything. I mean, we got it the first time! The book had nevertheless a soothing effect, the same as the series“ Chicken soup for the soul” had, during my early adolescence. I used to read and reread those books, dreaming that they would never end. Which is why I am to this day very interested in fat books 🤷🏼‍♀️. You might be interested in knowing that I grew up in a small town, in a small country, like 100 years ago 😉, when no new books were coming in. But I needed books to survive. When I say survive, I mean survive emotionally, mentally, intellectually. My soul needed the freedom and the oxygen that only imagination can generate. Well, what can I say. I needed some RAIN… In conclusion, this book might be great for someone new at Soul searching, trying to understand themselves and those around them.