Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest known for his mystical tendencies and wily wisdom, and he sends me a personal email every morning.  That’s how I choose to think of it, at least.  This morning, he writes:

Our suffering in developed countries is primarily psychological, relational, and addictive: the suffering of people who are comfortable on the outside but oppressed and empty within… So we turn to ingesting food, drink, or drugs, and we become addictive consumers to fill the empty hole within us.

Can you relate?  A young Muslim-turned-Buddhist once told me that medicine and technology has left us no better off than before – it simply shifted our suffering from outside to inside.   Continue reading →