Thank you for that information, Holden. Not only might those experiences give the professor more empathy for those who suffer with addictions to substances, but just witnessing his suffering might make it more difficult to outright despise the poor devil.
From the
Weirdo-Rejectionist thread:
We each would endure our illnesses and heartache alone within our own hearts, within our own animal body. I suppose this is why Schopenhauer suggests compassion as the only sensible attitude to take towards our fellow-creatures. One must even try to have compassion for those who have wronged us.
Schopenhauer suggests that, when you find yourself hating someone with intense feeling, to consider the pain this person has experienced in their life. Some say to forgive as long as you don't forget. It is difficult, but if even the slightest degree of forgiveness is to be felt in the heart, it must be linked to an intrinsic awareness of their suffering and general dissatisfaction. Even when people put up a front, like a couple that wants people to envision them as lovebirds, one knows from experience the drudgery that is animal existence. Want, need, and utter futility.
Note: I am coming out of the physical funk, giving the animal body much rest ... drinking water instead of booze. I witness those in my monkey-sphere suffering the consequences of their spiritual deficiencies, and I wonder if they will be transforming. The thing is, in this world, when someone is sinking in a downward spiral, reaching out to them is not always an option lest you be pulled into the vortex along with them.
The cold weather does frighten me to the core, and I wonder how the wildlife endures the harshness of their/our "Great Mother" (Nature). I dress accordingly - and I even act as though it does not get to me, but deep down in my bones, I am genuinely horrified by our vulnerability at the hands of the elements.