Instead of trying to explain the different mindset between ancient indigenous wisdom and ‘western ideas’ I decided to encapsulate it in a poem.

Todmorden Writer’s Group was set a task to write a poem or short story about Shadenfreude. I had just read ‘The Book of Joy’ His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams and was impressed by something they said, which was ‘Shadenfreude  is the natural outgrowth of envy. Mudita is the natural outgrowth of compassion.’ The poem is revealed in the video below and was inspired by this quote.

A World of Opposites

by

Pam C Golden