An interesting issue to think about is : “what does friendship mean”? For the most part it is almost always a subjective experience and friendship means something different to any and every person I ask. For examples: people I hang out with (habit response); people I spend time with though I do not always want to nor even like them very much but I can tolerate them and need to socialize; people or person I have known for years, people or a person that lives next door or close to me; etc…..You get the idea. Is this what friendship really means? Perhaps for those that define it that way.

If we look deeper the classic spiritual texts have often described God as The Friend. This perhaps the most profound meaning of friend. Other ways of describing friend somewhere in between these two meaning sets is, someone or someones who listens to me without judgment and/or someone(s) who is there for me when I am in need. These ways of seeing ‘friendship’ can illuminate our experience of friendship especially during these troubling times. Explore for yourselves your meaning of this basic human experience and perhaps this exploration will make you more aware and less habitual in your experience of Friendship?!?