What is Visible Helping?

What is visible helping? Simply put, it is a cycle of giving and receiving that opens a way to bring relief to suffering, and a path to happiness. Not everyone is open to experiencing this cycle, and only a few of us are capable of feeling it all of the time. When we do, however, it can move us in ways that bring about a cascade of helping and, gradually, greater change.
As much as we might like, problems that affect our whole community, our whole world, are rarely solved all once. Change comes about gradually, often almost imperceptibly at first, until a critical mass is reached. Then, broad awareness and motivation for change can bring about powerful sustained change. Visible Helping focuses on creating and maintaining the cycle of ideas and change that we believe are at the root of change.

There are three basic steps to the visible helping cycle. The first is a single act of compassion or loving-kindness. At the surface, it can be a small act, something that eases a little suffering, that provides a glimpse of hope. There is more under the surface, however.

Everyone is a giver, everyone a recipient. If we see someone as having “nothing,” we are focusing too much on the material. We all suffer and lose hope, regardless of whether society deems us a “have” or a “have not.” We all have in us the potential for happiness. In this moment, we can feel what the other feels, and care what happens to one another. It gives a sense of agency-it is possible to make things better-and change-it is possible that the suffering will not last.

The second step in visible helping is what happens when others see this exchange. Maybe it is seen in the moment. We see one person comfort another in a time of loss, see one person offer to make a phone call for another, see a exchange of money or food. In that moment we can see the power for both, and experience a desire in ourselves to feel the same. Sometimes, the mark of helping is seen later. When food is placed in one of our pantries for example, others who come along see this and can vicariously experience the feelings that the person who placed the food felt, as well as the feelings of the person who picks it up.

The third step is engaging in a subsequent act of giving or receiving. Maybe it is a similar act to what was seen. Maybe it is something entirely different that is inspired by the realization of possibility. Each new act of compassion or loving-kindness spreads and evolves into new ways of coming together, with new people, in new situations, over new problems and solutions. And these new acts begin the cycle again.

As I said at the beginning, it is key that we are open to visible helping. Many things can stand in the way. In future posts, we’ll talk about the challenges of visible helping, of knowing our motives for giving and receiving, of the risks of opening ourselves up to possibility. We will tell stories of how others have done in visible helping, announce opportunities for giving and getting help, and feature creative acts. For now, we hope you better understand what why we are committed to seeing and being seen, and open to learning more.

Thanks for listening.

Kate, Contributing Author