Compassion and Coexistence: An Auto-Ethnographic Inquiry through Dreams, Memories, and Dialogues
Saumya Bahadur
Iconic Research and Engineering Journals January 22, 2026 DOI: 10.64388/irev9i7-1713731 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Auto-ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key findings | Argues that coexistence requires compassion, which requires understanding, though understanding is filtered by perception, memory, and klesha. Proposes that narrative and dreams can serve as epistemic sources, and asks whether a universal consciousness orchestrates the rise and fall of civilizations, including compassionate ones, as experiments to increase its wisdom. |
Abstract
This paper explores the possibility of compassion and coexistence through an auto-ethnographic lens. It draws upon recurrent lucid dreams of Tibet, visions of Nalanda’s destruction, and dialogical conversations with imagined companions such as Po and Pho. These narratives become the site of philosophical inquiry, where questions of knowledge, understanding, and compassion are examined against the backdrop of history—from Mongol invasions to British colonialism, from Tibet’s fall to modern conflicts like Israel-Palestine. I argue that coexistence is impossible without compassion, and compassion impossible without understanding. Yet understanding itself is layered with perception, memory, and the veils of klesha. This paper does not claim to offer final answers but unfolds the process of seeking, where narrative becomes research, and dreams become epistemic sources. Is it the universal consciousness which creates and dissolves various civilizations and religions in time to increase its wisdom and understanding? The paper explores the reasons for rise and fall of civilizations which were very violent and even the civilizations which worked on compassion and understanding. The rise and fall of such civilizations are experiments in increasing the universal consciousness.