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“I thought you weren’t interested in war and politics,” said Kinri.

Dandelion laughed, a trace of melancholy in her eyes. “Much as I wish love conquered all, it’s impossible to understand love or the art inspired by it without seeing the ugliness of politics and war. War is love corrupted.”

“War is love corrupted?”

Dandelion nodded. “That’s how I see it. War comes from hatred, but hatred is always based on a selfish love, a love that seeks to confine rather than to expand-love of home can turn into hatred of strangers; love of country can turn into arrogance toward other states; love of fellow travelers can turn into a desire to suppress anyone with a different opinion.”

– Ken Liu, The Veiled Throne

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It’s fortunate that other people’s outlook conflicts with ours, since then we have the chance to escape our narrow-mindedness and open ourselves to other values. I have lived in a community for twenty-five years, and I may have received more from people I found it hard to get along with than from those I found congenial. Those I found hard to get along with opened my horizons to other values, but if I’d only met people who agreed with me, I might never have glimpsed any new horizons.

Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom, pp 62-63.
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The most difficult thing in the world is to listen, to see. We don’t want to see. Do you think a capitalist wants to see what is good in the commum’st system? Do you think a communist wants to see what is good and healthy in the capitalist system? Do you think a rich man wants to look at poor people? We don’t want to look, because if we do, we may change. We don’t want to look. If you look, you lose control of the life that you are so precariously holding together. And so in order to wake up, the one thing you need the most is not energy, or strength, or youthfulness, or even great intelligence. The one thing you need most of all is the readiness to learn something new.

Anthony de Mello, SJ – Awareness
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One further point: What really hurts is not so much suffering itself as the fear of suffering. If welcomed trustingly and peacefully, suffering makes us grow. It matures and trains us, purifies us, teaches us to love unselfishly, makes us poor in heart, humble, gentle, and compassionate toward our neighbor. Fear of suffering, on the other hand, hardens us in self-protective, defensive attitudes, and often leads us to make irrational choices with disastrous consequences.

Fr. Jacques Philippe – Interior Freedom
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MS. TIPPETT: The kingdom of God?

BROTHER THAY: Yeah, because I could not like to go to a place where there is no suffering. I could not like to send my children to a place where there is no suffering because, in such a place, they have no way to learn how to be understanding and compassionate. And the kingdom of God is a place where there is understanding and compassion, and, therefore, suffering should exist.

MS. TIPPETT: That’s quite different from some religious perspectives which would say that the kingdom of God is a place where we’ve transcended suffering or moved beyond it.

BROTHER THAY: Yes. And suffering and happiness, they are both organic, like a flower and garbage. If the flower is on her way to become a piece of garbage, the garbage can be on her way to becoming a flower.

Transcript: Thich Nhat Hanh, Cheri Maples, and Larry Ward — Mindfulness, Suffering, and Engaged Buddhism | On Being