Compassion, is not there to make you feel good.

[Tony]

Compassion, is not there to make you feel good.

Does that sound a little harsh? If one wants to get to the heart of the matter, one has to get to the heart of the matter! We all have the same problem, we want to do good, and we want to feel good. Unfortunately this is pulling in two opposite directions at the same time. A little bit for them, and a little bit for me.

Just hearing this cuts the ego to the quick, because wanting feel good is the ego claiming the activity. This is a very very subtle inner reaction, which we would like to ignore. This is how consciousness is mislead, it wants to hold on.

If we want to be conscious we have to be prepared to face every facet of our being. Studying ones inner being is realising ones true inner qualities, and finding the inner unity.

The outer unity, is compassion, selfless compassion.

The parts finding its oneness within, then find oneness with everything else. The simplicity within, finding the one taste in the complexity without.

At every step along the path there is increasing self-perception and increasing self-deception. The strange thing is that they are both beneficial. It is easy to see that an increase in perception is of benefit. One reads things, hears things and experiences things so perception develops. This is extremely difficult to let go of, because it feels good. This is the trap, pride. Once that has taken hold, all the other negative emotions pour out!

If there are demons about, they will feed on this. Demons do like a bit a of ego, very tasty! So the perception has turned into deception. Pointing this out makes it worse, ego wells up even more, that's when you can spot it! This moment is really uncomfortable, it has produced a conflict.

Demons really hate this moment, because liberation (a little liberation) is about to take place. In just letting these feelings be, just letting go, a sense of relief takes place and confidence arises, because it can be seen that these feelings are only a residue from the past. They are not you now at this moment. All thoughts and phenomena now be liberated. The mind is now free from elaborations.

Letting go of everything, is everything.

People who are mind controlled, are unaware of what is going on, and get sucked in. Everything is smooth for them. The difference between street level people and people who are looking is that, street level people cover their emotions up, but they are there smouldering away for a long time. This smouldering could become a personality. For those that are looking, the emotions flare up, but are seen as the stepping stones.

To get to the next step, we have to drop what we think we have. We have to let go of approval and disapproval. After all who are we trying to impress or deceive?

[Davidallany]

Tony, you are a champion. Great thread.
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[jimbojp]

Thanks for that Tony,

So what's the reason for compassion, I mean what do I get out of it?

[greybeard]

Hi Tony another thought provoking thread

Nasargadatta said "Until you become enlightened you will have an agenda, that may be to do good, but you are doing it with the reward of feeling good in your mind"
Thats not an accurate quote but the essence is there.
There is no harm in doing good for a feel good result.
However the serious spiritual aspirant surrenders the fruits of the end result to God.

In a world of duality Compassion balances off suffering.
In a world of unity consciousness-- Christ consciousness there is no suffering so there is then no need for compassion.
We are not there yet in this world, so compassion is a very necessary attitude to have.

Chris

[Robert J. Niewiadomski]

Thanks for that Tony,

So what's the reason for compassion, I mean what do I get out of it?

But is compassion not for you but for whom you give it?

Best wishes :)
Robert

[jimbojp]

Thanks for that Tony,

So what's the reason for compassion, I mean what do I get out of it?

But is compassion not for you but for whom you give it?

Best wishes :)
Robert

Thanks Robert,
Yes,
but my ego tries to get involved too sometimes, I can't deny it...
:)

[dan i el]

Nice one, Tony

[Jayke]

Compassion is one of those words I had to look into more deeply, I remember the tantricas saying what use is compassion when we can just love, they say that compassion is a form of arrogance because it presupposes that your better off than the person your feeling compassion towards and there's an element of looking down on them because your capable of being able to help them in some way in which they can't help themselves. That struck a chord with me when I heard it so I looked into what compassion originally meant:

comes from the prefix 'com' = with or together
passion = comes from the greek meaning powerful emotion or intense desire

being in compassion means to be in a powerful emotion together with others, which would mean compassion is more a state of being rather than something we do. So while in compassion we do acts of love and the energy of that harmony begins to resonate with and inspire others. We don't do anything for ourselves, we just allow ourselves to be...and that beingness begins to resonate out and start to change the world for the better.

That's my take on it anyway, I'd be interested to know how they define compassion in buddhism as well though, what's your working definition of the word compassion Tony?

[9eagle9]

Nope compassion is seemingly cruel sometimes. Like my daughter who gets her knickers in a twist when I tell her she's walking out the door with her pants unzipped, missing half her papers, her bookbag. You're MEAN, she mutters. Should I just let her walk out the door that way...lol? Half put together with papers and gum wrappers trailing after her?


We often confuse passion and compassion. Passion prompts us to self identify and wallow in the woundness of others. Compassion allows us to observe and advise and assist from a less self identified place.

[Omni]

But is compassion not for you but for whom you give it?

Best wishes :)
Robert

My exact thought this thread inspired. A good one IMO.

Compassion is central to not being a sociopath. lol. If everyone has compassion, it does benefit us. Even if only a little have compassion, it benefits us in a collective sort of way. Acts of compassion brighten the world, and make days turn from horrible to great. If there was no compassion in this world it would be a pitiful place to be...



I remember the tantricas saying what use is compassion when we can just love, they say that compassion is a form of arrogance because it presupposes that your better off than the person your feeling compassion towards and there's an element of looking down on them because your capable of being able to help them in some way in which they can't help themselves.

This just isn't true at all for me, maybe it is for others. I have had compassion for people in much better situations than me. I am capable of compassion when I am in a much worse situation than the person I am feeling it for. It has nothing to do with me lording over them in some superior way. It's about empathy for what they feel, and valuing their experience to the point of feeling for them if their experience is not good. Me being in a better situation has nothing to do with it. Me caring about them has everything to do with it.

Empathy is tied with compassion. With empathy you FEEL what THEY feel. In other words you are experiencing what they are. How does that equate to being superior? It's more about oneness IMO.


what use is compassion when we can just love

A lot of use. Diversity in energy is valued by me, personally. You could also say what use is liking something if you could love it. Well variance is it's use. So if you witness a cat suffering, are you saying love is what we should be feeling there? Not IMO. Compassion is(if you noticed, compassion has love infused in it at times, it's a complicated emotion). I think saying compassion is a flaw, is horribly wrong personally. It's all part of an absolutely flawless set of emotional variance to experience.

People can have compassion for those they do not love. I am capable of compassion for those I hate. I only hate those who torture me every day. Before I was tortured every day, I had no hate at all. I suppose it's an element working against me... But it's there.

From a certain perspective I am synchronous with occasionally, there is no single flaw in the entire universe. Only illusions about how flawed things are because how they effect us on a surface level. We think it's a flaw because we do not have the full picture and see how everything ties together, and everything has a reason and purpose.

For example you may think all the poisons in food is a flaw. What about 5,000 years from now when we can travel to other planets more comfortably because we have aligned with a more resistant body to toxins and poisons to our own physiology? Food for thought.

Everything is perfect from a certain point of view(I almost called it elevated but it's not nec a superior view than seeing the flaws in things too). I bitch about how screwed this planet is more often than I'd like to admit, it's hard not to feel that way when you are tortured with advanced technology pretty much every day, and live in a society that is rotten to it's core, and see people full of illusions and egoic tendencies and material and shallow perception points. But I do have moments where I am in unity mode with all that exists, even that in which I despise. Like the end of a certain movie I wont name in case someone hasn't seen it. One can search his whole life for the perfect flower. Finally just before dying, the main character(or one of them) realizes all of them are perfect.

Thanks for the great thread pie'n'eal. Your presence on this forum is valued by many(including me). Keep up the good work :)

[Tony]

There many levels of compassion. Basically it's caring about others more caring about your self.

The question of spirituality takes us from inner knowledge, to outer expression- compassion, but there are more steps. With this inner knowledge, which is wisdom comes a deep appreciation. This deep appreciation which inspires, becomes aspiration. This is devotion.

This is the tricky bit, wherever the wisdom comes from it up to personal choice. But this wisdom is handed down from somewhere. True one can say wisdom just is, but in acknowledging this appreciation, one is opening up. This is were we get a bit weird. Opening up is like being a receiver, and what one receives are blessing. On our own we can only go so far, we need help, for the next steps.

Both compassion and devotion eliminate the “fixated I”. The act of devotion is not to made us a blind slave, but to reveal more of true inner potential. Thought art that who one seeks. One can call that God, Enlighten beings, Guardian angel, Knowledge-holders. I'm sure they do not care what we call them, just that we open up to our own true potential.

I suppose one could use Dylithium Crystle and shout “Beam me up Scotty,” but I'm not totally sure that works. You might end up in a nasty smelling Klingon ship, with hairy Klingons shouting K'pla!

[9eagle9]

I disagree on that point. You should care about others as much NOT MORE as you care about yourself, but first you have to care about yourself. If you really have that down pat, then looking out for others becomes effortless you are not even aware you are doing so.

Those who don't care about or address their own well being will

1) Not care about others. Survival mode. Not selfish just too overwhelmed with their lack of own well being to be able to extend to others. If you have nothing how are you going to offer it to others. What will you be offering. Nothing.

2) Make a big issue about caring about others more than self. Martyr complex. Self identify with others issues before addressing their own.


The more one has for themselves the more good they can do in the world.

[Tony]

Compassion is one of those words I had to look into more deeply, I remember the tantricas saying what use is compassion when we can just love, they say that compassion is a form of arrogance because it presupposes that your better off than the person your feeling compassion towards and there's an element of looking down on them because your capable of being able to help them in some way in which they can't help themselves. That struck a chord with me when I heard it so I looked into what compassion originally meant:

comes from the prefix 'com' = with or together
passion = comes from the greek meaning powerful emotion or intense desire

being in compassion means to be in a powerful emotion together with others, which would mean compassion is more a state of being rather than something we do. So while in compassion we do acts of love and the energy of that harmony begins to resonate with and inspire others. We don't do anything for ourselves, we just allow ourselves to be...and that beingness begins to resonate out and start to change the world for the better.

That's my take on it anyway, I'd be interested to know how they define compassion in buddhism as well though, what's your working definition of the word compassion Tony?

Maybe its empathising, using EQ. Yes, there is knowing ones true nature (or getting a glimpse of it) and seeing that others are suffering, so compassion arises. The safety net is inbuddhism is to look at ones own faults, not that of others. Respect others dreams.

[Omni]

The safety net is inbuddhism is to look at ones own faults, not that of others.

I for one would absolutely LOVE to see a buddhist explain buddhism on Avalon. Please? Someone? I like bullet points not whole books. lol.

Another perspective I have learned by, ironically, others faults. Is when you see a flaw in someone else, self reflect and see if you have that flaw yourself anywhere. Some may have this process corrupted by bias or ego. But I have found it helpful. And how much I despise certain things in others has helped me further purify myself of those flaws. I find often when I am accused of something, people are seeing themselves in me(often in an illusory way applying it to me instead of realizing the whole premise came from it being in them and them applying what is in them to me).


I don't know a lot about buddhism, but I can strongly sense(and tell) that it has much of value. I really hope someone will post about it.

[Jayke]

I think the point the tantricas were trying to make omni is that when you move beyond compassion into love...there's no need for compassion because their is no judgement towards your surroundings...there is no society where people live that is rotten to it's core, there are no people full of illusions and egoic tendencies and there is no material and shallow perception points. If you need to give compassion to help alleviate those symptoms it's only because the mistake was made to project any imperfections on those things in the first place. When there's no judgement about what's right and wrong it's like you say...everything is perfect.
I see your point about wanting to experience a variety of emotion rather than just being in love all the time. But isn't that just trying to put something into a box and label it one thing when in reality love is dynamic and full of the potential of anything...it can't really be described with any definition because words are designed to constrain while love is more an experience of unifying and liberation.

If you despise something and have compassion for it...does that really help you deal with the root cause of why you despised it in the first place...is that leading you towards enlightenment or is it just giving you an excuse so you don't have to take a deeper look as to where the seed of that emotion came from in the first place. People have a tendancy to use compassion as a way of sweeping those judgements they're too afraid to look at under the rug so to speak...where instead they would have had a perfect opportunity to deal with the emotion at it's root cause if they'd look at it from the perspective of love. After all, Jesus didn't say have compassion for your neighbour...he said love your neighbour...I'm guessing there's a reason he made that distinction.

Ties into Carl Jungs shadow work and alchemy like you've already pointed out.

[Loren]

Great thread. Walking daily by homeless people on the street and not assisting them , do I ,should I, feel guilty ? Should I leave them to their own karma and not get mine involved ? Selective compassion, when someone wipes out in front of me on a bicycle and I automatically run to their assistance... I , we , obviously do not want to see people suffer but who are we to judge what their souls are here to experience... to evolve. " Be in the world but not of the world" . Love and Light to All. L

[Jayke]

Great thread. Walking daily by homeless people on the street and not assisting them , do I ,should I, feel guilty ? Should I leave them to their own karma and not get mine involved ? Selective compassion, when someone wipes out in front of me on a bicycle and I automatically run to their assistance... I , we , obviously do not want to see people suffer but who are we to judge what their souls are here to experience... to evolve. " Be in the world but not of the world" . Love and Light to All. L

I had an interesting experience at the weekend that kind of mirrors what you're saying Loren, on my way to my girlfriends house on Sunday morning I bumped into a lovely yellow shelled snail trying to cross from one side of the pavement to the other, pretty little thing, all shiny with yellow and black swhirls with a hint of reds and blacks...only problem I perceived is that the sun had been up for a while and the poor little snail was starting to retreat into its shell to avoid the heat, stranded in the middle of the pavement...if I'd have left it there it would have baked in the heat of the sun for sure so I decided to do the right thing and help it out...I picked it up and placed it on the grass under a few leaves at the side of the road, placed it in a bit of shade to keep it safe from the baking heat. No sooner as I'd turned and started to walk away I heard a jogger running past and a big 'crunch' sound...I turned around to see my little friend the the snail had been completely squished into a puddle of goo.

Almost as if the universe was giving me a clear message, teaching me a lesson 'stay out of other peoples business', if you do things to inspire them and they choose to follow then that's fine but the moment you start projecting onto them what you think is best then they'll only end up getting crushed by your interference.

[Omni]

I think the point the tantricas were trying to make omni is that when you move beyond compassion into love...there's no need for compassion because their is no judgement towards your surroundings...there is no society where people live that is rotten to it's core, there are no people full of illusions and egoic tendencies and there is no material and shallow perception points.
Another word for compassion, is care. Compassion involves love sometimes. What you are talking about seems to be over-simplifying things to me at this moment. We define things by comparing them to other things. I see no superiority in not identifying things, such as illusions, shallow views, ego, etc. If you don't, how can you see any flaws in yourself? And correct those flaws if you have them? I'm more into understanding the intricacy of reality than simplifying it to the point of no diversity and variance.

I do see validity in ways in what you say, don't get me wrong. But compassion has many uses IMO. Love in it's standard pure form is not care. Love leads to care, love can be combined with care, though. Compassion is caring. Caring has distinct and priceless value IMHO. I don't think feeling love for a being suffering makes feeling compassion for a being suffering invalid. Compassion holds love quite frequently. I see no validity in the belief that compassion is useless if upgraded to love. The emotion of caring is priceless IMO. It's not something to be thrown out. Love can hold compassion, and compassion can hold love. They are both integral parts of the emotional matrix IMHO. It's much easier to hold compassion for someone, than holding love for someone in my experiences.


If you need to give compassion to help alleviate those symptoms it's only because the mistake was made to project any imperfections on those things in the first place.
I don't need compassion to remedy those symptoms.


When there's no judgement about what's right and wrong it's like you say...everything is perfect.
My point was, if one knows the full situation, everything is right, or tied to a bigger dynamic in the universe that is right too, in which that dynamic existing(which is perfect), is the reason for things that seem wrong. So the things that seem wrong, are based on a dynamic that is right. I didn't mean not defining right and wrong.

I was told telepathically(by whom I do not know) that soul progression on earth, is about 10 times more potent than soul progression on a Utopia planet(although the variances scale in different ways depending on how progressed the soul is, so putting it in a linear form with one set of perspective is bound to be flawed).

All the things perceived as wrong, contribute to a greater good IMO. One could see earth as a soul honing place. One can see that wrongs are actually also right. One does not have to throw out defining right and wrong to see that the universe is perfect. That is what made that premise so profound to me... It's not about making it all grey. It's about understanding the deeper dynamics and reasons for things, that make everything right and perfect.


I see your point about wanting to experience a variety of emotion rather than just being in love all the time. But isn't that just trying to put something into a box and label it one thing when in reality love is dynamic and full of the potential of anything..
I don't think you could come up with an emotion that does not have a purpose, and that should be deleted from the universe in some sort of upgrade(without having an isolated POV IMHO). Love alone doesn't account for the emotion of caring. All of the emotions tie together and are dynamic to each other, and certain ones add together and form synergistic partnerships. Love and compassion are two that form a synergy at times IMO. And a valuable one. I simply do not believe compassion is a flaw. I don't think isolating what one feels to love, when witnessing someone suffer, is better than feeling care for that person(love can be infused with that care). Love is not something I want to feel for everyone always. Compassion however, I dont mind feeling for all beings who may suffer.


.it can't really be described with any definition because words are designed to constrain while love is more an experience of unifying and liberation.

Well I could argue given how holographic things are, that when one solidifies one stance, it can almost always be wrong(and right). Relevant to this is: I don't think words are put there to constrain, I see it more as a level of expression for lower beings in the scheme of things. A matrix of language that allows more diversity in things(although very frustrating at times). Granted, words are constraining compared to levels of communication above them, I agree there. Telepathy is great. I experience it every day. far better than words. But given how judgmental people are, and other things. Telepathy is something we as a society are not ready for IMHO. At least not full openness. Do you think your grandparents should hear the thought "I want to masturbate" or do you think ones wife should hear the thought "that girl has a fine ass". No, we aren't quite ready for that yet. In that respect, spoken language is quite fine.


If you despise something and have compassion for it...does that really help you deal with the root cause of why you despised it in the first place..
I have no problem disliking those who are sociopathic psychopaths who torture maim kill ruin taint poison and defile that in which I love. I am still capable of having compassion for them if they were, say, in my own situation(although it would take a little time for me to not like that fact given my years of severe torture sufferage).


is that leading you towards enlightenment or is it just giving you an excuse so you don't have to take a deeper look as to where the seed of that emotion came from in the first place.
I do not despise someone, and feel compassion for them at the same time. My point was, your statement saying compassion is an act of feeling superior to someone else, is not always right. I personally don't think it's right often. I don't agree with thinking caring for someone is somehow wrong enough to label compassion useless if upgraded to love.


People have a tendancy to use compassion as a way of sweeping those judgements they're too afraid to look at under the rug so to speak...where instead they would have had a perfect opportunity to deal with the emotion at it's root cause if they'd look at it from the perspective of love.
I just don't agree with this. One can be just as ignorant feeling love as they can be feeling compassion. There can be flaws intermixed into any emotion, including love. Love leads to a lot of horrible things too. Much worse than compassion IMO in terms of how much negative it creates in peoples lives. Love not being mutual can destroy a life(at least temporarily).


After all, Jesus didn't say have compassion for your neighbour...he said love your neighbour...I'm guessing there's a reason he made that distinction.

Compassion and love go hand in hand. With love comes care. Care = compassion. So jesus kind of did say have compassion for your neighbor by default IMO(if he even existed, and did say that).

[Tenzin]

The safety net is inbuddhism is to look at ones own faults, not that of others.

I for one would absolutely LOVE to see a buddhist explain buddhism on Avalon. Please? Someone? I like bullet points not whole books. lol.

Another perspective I have learned by, ironically, others faults. Is when you see a flaw in someone else, self reflect and see if you have that flaw yourself anywhere. Some may have this process corrupted by bias or ego. But I have found it helpful. And how much I despise certain things in others has helped me further purify myself of those flaws. I find often when I am accused of something, people are seeing themselves in me(often in an illusory way applying it to me instead of realizing the whole premise came from it being in them and them applying what is in them to me).


I don't know a lot about buddhism, but I can strongly sense(and tell) that it has much of value. I really hope someone will post about it.

Buddhism is just the 4 Noble Truths (and actually should not be regarded as a religion, and even the Buddha did not intend it to be one when he first started teaching those truths). Nothing more, nothing less. If point form required, then there need only 4. Whatever the Buddha taught in all his 45 years of teaching since his Enlightenment, all points back to these Truths. The entire process from ignorance to enlightenment is encapsulated in them; starting with the awareness that ignorance/delusion exists, ending in its elimination.

Many people, even most Buddhists don't know what the 4 Noble Truths are REALLY about, and thought enlightenment comes in some mysterious ways, when the Buddha already taught that it came about when he sat in meditation, of which instructions have been very clear in the doctrines. So detailed that he even specified what we can expect to experience and realize at each stage of our spiritual awakening.

And the very first we should realize in the entire process: knowing that there is no self/ego in all of reality, but just a mess of processes that slide from moment to moment. Not just an understanding with our human intellect, but to actually 'see' this happening in deep meditation. When that happens, you will take the red pill without the slightest hesitation. (Red pill in the Matrix movie) And your real and long journey to true awakening begins. * light beaming down from the cosmic source with angelic music in the background * :D

[Jayke]

Do you remember ever hearing about Albert Einstein when he talked about his theory of wood vs his theory of marble. Some people like to add layers upon layers of complexity onto something...like putting pieces of wood together to build a house, they're the builders, the creators, the scientists.
Other people prefer to chip away at the marble and reveal the simple treasures that already lie hidden within, these are the philosophers, the mystics, the meditators. Each path is looking for the same destination, they're just on opposite sides of the track...similar to how DNA seperates and then reunifies at every twist. They both ultimately fold back into one. Both paths contain just as much value and worth as the other.

I feel we're both talking about the same things omni, however lost in translation that might be.

[truthseekerdan]

If there are demons about, they will feed on this. Demons do like a bit a of ego, very tasty! So the perception has turned into deception. Pointing this out makes it worse, ego wells up even more, that's when you can spot it!

Because of our 'negative egos' we create 'negative illusionary entities' that religions call demons, etc. Our thoughts are powerful creation, unfortunately due to conditioning and spiritual ignorance we use them to create suffering in this world. What we believe produces experience and when we experience our existence only through what we believe, we may have inadvertently imagined uncertainty, which in turn has created fear.

When we fully understand this, we begin to understand our inner domain and our whole reality begins to change. We start to realize that our happiness is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our happiness. Love in our life is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our love. Compassion is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our compassion, et cetera. If we did not have this understanding before, we probably only imagined certain things must occur in order for us to live a more meaningful life.

Much Love to All

Dan

[sunnyrap]

my experience is that true compassion and giving to others is synonymous with giving to yourself--'they' are 'us' -- the reward to real giving is built in, instantaneous--feeling 'good' doesn't even cover the real experience--it really isn't even complicated--you see where you can give real love/service and act without further thought because you are addicted to that feeling of love and connection for which there is no substitute

[Tony]

my experience is that true compassion and giving to others is synonymous with giving to yourself--'they' are 'us' -- the reward to real giving is built in, instantaneous--feeling 'good' doesn't even cover the real experience--it really isn't even complicated--you see where you can give real love/service and act without further thought because you are addicted to that feeling of love and connection for which there is no substitute

As Abba said, 'Knowing me, knowing you, ah ha!"

[Tony]

The safety net is inbuddhism is to look at ones own faults, not that of others.

I for one would absolutely LOVE to see a buddhist explain buddhism on Avalon. Please? Someone? I like bullet points not whole books. lol.

Another perspective I have learned by, ironically, others faults. Is when you see a flaw in someone else, self reflect and see if you have that flaw yourself anywhere. Some may have this process corrupted by bias or ego. But I have found it helpful. And how much I despise certain things in others has helped me further purify myself of those flaws. I find often when I am accused of something, people are seeing themselves in me(often in an illusory way applying it to me instead of realizing the whole premise came from it being in them and them applying what is in them to me).


I don't know a lot about buddhism, but I can strongly sense(and tell) that it has much of value. I really hope someone will post about it.

To recognise one is suffering. - without that there is no need to change.
To find the cause of that suffering – a belief that things and “I” truly exist.
To find the path that leads away from that suffering.- method, antidotes, teachings.
To tread that path.- meditation, reflection and study.

* Ask questions. - there are many paths in buddhism, and you have to find the one that
satisfies and suits your temperament. Or you could rely on synchronicity.

[truthseekerdan]

* Ask questions. - there are many paths in buddhism, and you have to find the one that
satisfies and suits your temperament. Or you could rely on synchronicity.

I see religions like a 'spiritual alphabet' -- they are 'good' up to a point to teach one that something exists beyond this material world, and each of them has a 'piece or more' of the large puzzle we call "truth". However, one does not want to limit itself to only knowing the alphabet, but to actually start using it to read and find out more. The main block that holds us back from accepting this type of understanding is our personal belief system which can deny our potential for change or separate us from knowing our true nature. To know our true nature we need to make 'an effort' to connect to our higher self (oversoul) for spiritual guidance, understanding and knowing the truth beyond perception.

To perceive a truth is not the same as knowing a truth. If we abuse an error made by someone else, we are abusing ourselves alone. If we choose to judge, we have chosen conflict. Judgment is not required to organize our lives. Judgment is not required to arrange our selves as individuals. Where there is knowledge, no judgment is required. We can point to something beyond our being by knowing that through our finite existence, the infinite expresses itself. This awareness is the impulsive nature of love. Love without conditions is the heart of universal consciousness. Lets all return to our universal unity in consciousness. Much Love :luv: ~ Dan

[<8>]

Hi

Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.
Compassion is not sentiment but is making justice and doing works of mercy. Compassion is not a moral commandment but a flow and overflow of the fullest human and divine energies.
Always treat others as you'd like to be treated youreself ... Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you. (a few words from the web. What can i say I was lazzy to day..:P)

We live in a hard world my friends. If you feel good after doing a nice thing. Feel good and know you are on the right path.

[9eagle9]

Well first....ask them if they want help. Don't make the assumption that they are not experincing a rich life nd need to be brought up to speed... or in some dire need simply because they are not in a circumstance similiar to yourself. If the offer is made and and they accept...different matter. We impose a lot on those who we PERCIEVE are not materialistically on spot with us....it is a form of judgement actually. "You need to be like me." Even if you have empathy with them they do not need to be like you. Self identification.

For years in this area there was a 'famous' homeless person. He was called Indian Joe and I have no idea where he spent his nights but his days were made trotting about the area, hitchhiking and wandering around the local malls. If you offered him a meal or a ride he would accept it...but only for the company and conversation that was involved in it. He was well fed for sure because so many people ...identified with him. An offer of a ride or meal wasn't necessary he craved conversation and not because he was needy....he was such a character everyone had his tag. And wanted to hang out with him.

He never forgot anyone. You have a brief exchange with him for a moment, and he'd remember you years later.

That's how he chose to live his life. He was so animated, and wise and talkative many people recognized him for who he was and wanted to take him in and better his existence....

He maintained his existence was already better.

Years later I FINALLLY know where he was coming from.



Great thread. Walking daily by homeless people on the street and not assisting them , do I ,should I, feel guilty ? Should I leave them to their own karma and not get mine involved ? Selective compassion, when someone wipes out in front of me on a bicycle and I automatically run to their assistance... I , we , obviously do not want to see people suffer but who are we to judge what their souls are here to experience... to evolve. " Be in the world but not of the world" . Love and Light to All. L