It seems very close to what I meant. I admit I have seen a lot of people crumple when their illusions have gone away. I've been among them. Perhaps my idea of percentages is skewed, so the "very few" I wrote is wrong.

It's not a matter of ignoring those things, but acknowledging they exist and are part of life.

Yes, this, definitely. And somehow having a rock-solid foundation that can't be shaken by them. Even the worst of what humans do to other humans -- war, hunger, they're all there, and in my day-to-day life I ignore them. I could claim it's so I can do my work, but is it? Or is it because if I thought about them I might be uncomfortable? If the latter, then to me, that's denial. Now it might be denial I desperately need right at the moment. Maybe I'm not ready to face the horrors. One of the ways I've taken charge of my own happines is not watching the news, and that may very well be a smart move.

I am imagining what would happen if the Dalai Lama were walking through the rubble and violence of war. If he were watching some torturer feed a man to a wood chipper. In my imagination, he would be compassionate to the pain, he would urge the torturer to stop, but he would not have to close his eyes. He would long since have made his peace with this aspect of reality; in his face or not, it wouldn't be new information somehow. He already knew what humans are capable of. He's already done the grief. Me, I haven't. I'd be shaken to the core. More of my comfortable illusions would be pierced. I might never be the same, and I might not be too sane for a while.

I want to acknowledge. I fear that I haven't, except maybe for some of the little tragedies (like my chronic pain). My house is built on sand.

Now it reads like I want to swim in horror. That's not right either.