Rainer Maria Rilke wrote: “You are nearing the land that is life; you will recognize it by its seriousness.”
The land I have chosen is South Africa. Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) had become his most serious and daring, forming the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995 to heal both victims and perpetrators of Apartheid, to take each one on the journey into remorse, deep enough to bring life back into balance. Yes, that deep. Counseling agencies and clinical psychologists worked under the leadership of Desmond Tutu.
There is a book I hope you can read: A Human Being Died That Night, by a South African woman, Pumla Gobedo Madikizela, who played an important part in the Commission's work. You will recognize it by its seriousness.
Madikizela wrote of connectedness through “the sheer fact of [one's] being human.” Is this where we begin? Where the journey starts? So many were healed. Others were not able to crack open the anger to find their tenderness.