Compassion - A Word that at times gets Lost in the Mix

[blossomingtree]

Compassion is easy when it's with someone whom is nice, complimentary, soothing.

It's not easy when it's someone who criticizes, has a different world view, etc.

At the most rudimentary level, the opening of the (true) heart gives rise to boundless compassion.

How and when it is applied is the journey of all true spiritual seekers.

For those still in the dark, compassion is not yet made whole (true).

[lemex]

Originally Posted by blossomingtree

Compassion is easy when it's with someone whom is nice, complimentary, soothing.

It's not easy when it's someone who criticizes, has a different world view, etc.

At the most rudimentary level, the opening of the (true) heart gives rise to boundless compassion.

How and when it is applied is the journey of all true spiritual seekers.

For those still in the dark, compassion is not yet made whole (true).

Right on!

For me, compassion is the simple recognition that others experience things as we experience them.

That's not to say that we all see the world the same way, but a more general understanding, for example that pain hurts, loss saddens, threat angers, love grows, etc., nor is it to be confused with empathy, which is a vicarious experiencing of someone else's feelings, though empathy is a natural extension of compassion.

IMO, this is the foundation of the Buddhist's seeming affection towards 'sentient' beings. In fact, it is to all sentient beings that the Bodhisattva vow of compassion is pledged:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentie...ngs_(Buddhism)


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[weareunity]

I wonder how other readers feel about the suggestion that those whom we have experienced as being truly compassionate are themselves not aware of being so. petex

Originally Posted by weareunity

I wonder how other readers feel about the suggestion that those whom we have experienced as being truly compassionate are themselves not aware of being so. petex

Being aware of being compassionate is not necessary to being compassionate. At the same time, one would hope someone aware enough to be compassionate would be aware that they are compassionate, IMO.


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[Emm]

Originally Posted by naturesflow

I often am very clear now in my own grief and very conscious of others entangled in grief at funerals and other life experiences that affect people deeply. I find myself looking into the current stage of grief as an activation for many in such places to open and let go of their own deeper. Many believe they are sad for the one before them, but many don't realize they are sad for their own grief unresolved and connected to that current experience. In being more clear now with grief myself, (having built a compassionate response to my own deeper core levels of grief)understanding compassion in this light your showing, my presence is listening more clear to the needs of others in their suffering not my own needs in all that. (unless you have entered into your own deeper levels of self grief and sadness to build clarity of being, you will always be triggered to show what you carry within and what still plays out as attachment and entanglement with others )

You are so right although I believe nothing is by chance, we are witnesses perhaps because there is something for ourselves to heal too, to bring to consciousness our own pain so we can let it go. Take the death of Princess Diana for instance, so many grieved that day, entanglement on a large scale ...who knows how many found peace thereafter through the releasing of unspent tears.

[blossomingtree]

Originally Posted by weareunity

I wonder how other readers feel about the suggestion that those whom we have experienced as being truly compassionate are themselves not aware of being so. petex

I believe it is not self conscious, yes.

[weareunity]

Hello Kioma and thanks for your thoughts. Suggestion I put forward is about compassion being an instinctual response for some without reference to thoughts of ought, should, or have been instructed that it is good to do so,--and for some more of an aware and reasoning process perhaps including reference to ought, should and instruction. If so, and without being judgemental, trying to understand why such distinction, and possible transition from second to first? petex

[blossomingtree]

It is our true nature sun behind the clouds and all, I hear.

Originally Posted by weareunity

Hello Kioma and thanks for your thoughts. Suggestion I put forward is about compassion being an instinctual response for some without reference to thoughts of ought, should, or have been instructed that it is good to do so,--and for some more of an aware and reasoning process perhaps including reference to ought, should and instruction. If so, and without being judgemental, trying to understand why such distinction, and possible transition from second to first? petex

To me, compassion is an awareness. It is a realization, a reaching across the divide between 'self' and 'other' within oneself.

'Instinctual' to me implies non-awareness, a behaviourist action which one can't really help doing.

I think compassion can become 'second nature' so that one does not have to think about it to have that awareness, but it is, fundamentally, an awareness derived from observation and understanding.


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