Dear Friends,
As the year comes to a close, I am more committed than ever to fostering understanding, compassion and powerful achievement in the world.
I have also come to realize that I can’t do it without you. If you are looking for a reason to help me spread the true application of Scientology technology: the science of a meaningful life and personal improvement? Here is a great one:
Because the World Needs More Kindness and Connection!
I share your hopes for more peace and empathy in the world. Kindness is a universal language that blind men see and deaf men hear. If I have to talk about the amazing human abilities I would talk first about human kindness. It separates us from the rest of living things. It exposes our spirit and gives us the means to prevail. If people around us base every action on a conscious kindness our world will be beautiful and our lives will be fulfilled with meaning. If the mankind wasn’t so busy being greedy or power hungry or ego-driven, they would have more time to devote to being more kind.
The end of the year marks the time for clearing the slower energies of the past and preparing for a new cycle of growth. It is a time of awakening and recommitting to life as spiritual beings full of new energy and warmth. It is time again to celebrate of being spiritually rejuvenated and resurrected in a new spiritual realm allowing ourselves the reckoning of better deeds.
The completion of one cycle and going into the next is a sign representing energy, drive, initiative and motivation. I feel rejuvenated with a restlessness and an openness to change and new experiences. Now’s a perfect time to reflect on relationship to life and I invite everyone to revisit what brings your personal and spiritual fulfillment.
No matter what are your challenges, you can look at your life in new ways and this will support you to grow closer to your higher self. Empower yourself with the postulates of spiritual growth and change by learning from adversity.
I wish you an inspiring, productive and meaningful new chapter in your life’s journey.
Pierre Ethier
Why Does Compassion Feel So Good?
At the lowest points in our lives, the presence and care of one supportive person can be life-changing. Our pain or loss may be just as real, but we suffer less knowing we’re not alone.
Coming together in this way works in transforming one person’s pain into a shared feeling of uplift. Indeed, compassion is the opposite of a zero-sum game in which there are winners and losers. Both giver and receiver benefit.
One wonders about compassion: What is it? What are the benefits? How can we foster it? Here is why compassion is a good thing:
- Our suffering is recognized and acknowledged. Compassion starts with a willingness to see someone else’s pain. Rather than looking away, denying the pain, or choosing to ignore it, we acknowledge the person’s experience. This acknowledgment makes us feel less alone in our suffering.
- We understand the universality of human suffering. Part of compassion is knowing that at some point, everyone hurts. In this way the pain is relatable. While pain is a personal experience, it is also a common and unavoidable part of what it means to be human. Thus we feel a further joining with others in the shared recognition that pain is part of existence.
- There is an emotional response to our suffering. Compassion is not simply knowing that another person is in pain; there is an emotional component, a “feeling with,” as the etymology of compassion suggests. It’s comforting to feel another person’s heart go out to us.
- Compassion requires tolerating uncomfortable feelings. While there are benefits to being compassionate, it’s also not easy. Connecting emotionally with another’s pain activates our stress response (fight-or-flight, or freeze). It takes emotional work to stay with a person’s pain rather than fleeing or trying to deny it in some way (e.g., by blaming the person for their distress). When we see that a person isn’t running from our pain, we’re better able to withstand our own discomfort.
- There is a motivation to alleviate our suffering. Compassion involves feelings but not just feelings. We would probably not feel much compassion from someone who acted sad for us but was unwilling to help. When we respond with compassion we’re moved to act. As a result another person’s compassion can improve our situation, and we feel better just knowing someone is trying to help us.
Increasing Compassion
You can probably think of people you know who seem to have a lot of compassion, and others who have little. Recent studies suggest that compassion is not a fixed trait; it can improve with treatment, which in turn leads to other benefits.
The Sanctuary of Standard Scientology Technology is dedicated to Pierre Ethier: a Flag trained Class XII Auditor honored as The Best Auditor on the Planet for over a decade. 
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