Yes, we're getting closer, we're getting closer to ourselves, aren't we? And to a rejection we may have of ourselves and the people from our own country. Sometimes, as I said, we need to be able to see all the people from our own country as babies coming into the world, being conditioned by society just as we were, trying to feel compassion for any type of conditioning that a person from our own society has.
As to other countries, we may not have been there personally, so we have to depend on news that we have received from these people, understanding that the information that we have received may be the totality of it, but in a general way, that is all we can try to do. However, if we are able to understand them as human beings, then we will get to the feeling of compassion no matter where they are in this world.
For example, many people in Iraq don't have as much freedom in religion as we do, which means less freedom of conscience. So being able to identify with this lack of freedom of conscience, and what that means for you, how much you value that, then you may be able to get closer to some of the difficulties people may have in Iraq.
I have never been to Africa, but I certainly know they may not have as much good fortune as we do, and I also know they may not have the freedoms that we do. So we open our hearts for everyone.