I found some in the most roundabout way. I was looking through Half Price Books and found a copy of "The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra." This was interesting but living alone in the foothills, hard to visualize in action. So I consulted Apple Maps and looked for anything Buddhist and one meeting place turned up 50 miles away. Better than nothing, I drove there and met very like-minded and yes, compassionate people. The main philosophy in the west is some Ayn Rand-ish survival of the greediest, whereas Buddhism is all about sharing and caring.
Sure, it's going to be difficult to find compassionate people in a "beat the other guy down" ethos. It took me a long time to find them. Take the lack of drum-beating and media-bombardment as positives.
I found some in the most roundabout way. I was looking through Half Price Books and found a copy of "The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra." This was interesting but living alone in the foothills, hard to visualize in action. So I consulted Apple Maps and looked for anything Buddhist and one meeting place turned up 50 miles away. Better than nothing, I drove there and met very like-minded and yes, compassionate people. The main philosophy in the west is some Ayn Rand-ish survival of the greediest, whereas Buddhism is all about sharing and caring.
Sure, it's going to be difficult to find compassionate people in a "beat the other guy down" ethos. It took me a long time to find them. Take the lack of drum-beating and media-bombardment as positives.