I really do think I can tap into the meaning of your words. I may be coming at this from a slightly different angle, but it resolves in a similar place. I think living in this space you described while dealing with what feels like the insistance on drama from the majority of people around me is the current lesson. I wrote about the "independence of solitude" before I took my current job and it really is coming true. I am leading a team of very smart, capable people in an organization with a great mission where everyone is trying their best to do the right thing (I really do believe this)...but oh the fucking drama. And I feel the pull of it.

For a person who deals in relationships, commiseration (a form of perpetuating that drama and using it to quickly build a cheap version of a working relationship) is a like an illegal street drug: a cheap, easy way to get where you want to go, but the high won't last and the euphoria is not a place to build lasting structures. Commiseration is not the right thing to do, particularly if I'm looking at building my practice of karma yoga.

Damnit, Alex. There you go again, giving me something to write about. And I totally walked away from the point you were making. I got off onto my own soapbox.. :-) You are too thought provoking for your own good.