Compassion, altrusim, the warm heart and caring mind..

[Vajradhara]

Namaste all,

thank you for taking the time to read my OP.

as the title suggests i'd like to talk about those things... those words and phrases which we use to suggest, in my paradigm, Bodhichitta, the altruistic concern for the wellbeing of other sentient beings.

some beings may use the term compassion, others use metaphors of caring hearts, warm minds, positive energy and all of that. i'd rather not get too bogged down in the semantics of what i'd like to talk about but if you're not clear i'll try to explain it with other simile and metaphor.

i'd like to know what you think it is?

is your view derived from your world view (religious, philosophical etc)?

did your view of what compassion is change when you accepted the aforementioned world view?

if so, how?

have you ever been on the receiving end of your conception of compassion?

is there anything that you do, religious, meditation etc, to increase your feelings of compassion?

if so, how successful do you think that you've been?

metta,

~v

 

[Nick_A]

Hi Vaj

I've come to the conclusion that compassion is actually an emotional quality that we have as a potential. All we really have is selective compassion. Compassion is an attribute of a spiritually developed human being.

I've been just pondering these in the context of Studying Simone Weil. I recently learned of this book and intend to get it.

Amazon.com: Simone Weil: The Way of Justice as Compassion (Twentieth-Century Political Thinkers): Richard H. Bell: Books

We do not normally contemplate justice and compassion together but I know enough of Simone to understand how they are related.

Another teacher was taken with Simone and even tried asking questions in class which the students naturally felt were wrong.

After being reminded of how complex this question of compassion is, all I can honestly say is that I am without this quality and am limited to selective caring. Compassion requires putting oneself into the position of all others but this is much easier said than done so we are limited to selective compassion.

Persecuted Church Weblog: Simone Weil and Responding to the Afflicted

All of these quotes are related to the issue of how to respond to someone who has gone from "simple suffering" into a state of full "affliction." Specifically, most of the quotes relate to the question "Can the non-afflicted offer true compassion to the afflicted?"


From "School Studies"

"The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all of those who think they have this capacity do not possess it. Warmth of heart, impulsiveness, pity are not enough" (114)

"The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: What are you going through?" It is a recognition that the sufferer exists, not only as a unit in a collection, or a specimen from the social category labeled "unfortunate," but as a man, exactly like us, who was one day stamped with a special mark by affliction....The soul empties itself of all its contents in order to receive into itself the being it is looking at, just as he is, in all his truth" (115)

From "The Love of God and Affliction"

" [T]hose who have never had contact with affliction in its true sense have no idea what it is, even though they have suffered a great deal" (120)

"[C]ompassion for the afflicted is an impossibility. When it is really found we have a more astounding miracle than walking on water, healing the sick, or even raising the dead" (120)

"[E]ven the grace of God cannot cure irremediably wounded nature here below. The glorified body of Christ bore the marks of the nails and spear" (123)

"One can only accept the existence of affliction by considering it at a distance" (123)

From "Forms of the Implicit Love of God: The Love of Our Neighbor"

"Christ does not call his benefactors loving or charitable. He calls them just. The Gospel makes no distinction between the love of our neighbor and justice...We invented the distinction between justice and charity" (139, emphasis added)

"Generosity and compassion are inseparable, and both have their model in God, that is to say, in creation and in the Passion. Christ taught us that the supernatural love of our neighbor is the exchange of compassion and gratitude which happens in a flash between two beings..." (146)

"Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him" (150)

"In true love it is not we who love the afflicted in God; it is God in us who loves them. When we are in affliction, it is God in us who loves those who wish us well. Compassion and gratitude come down from God, and when they are exchanged in a glance, God is present at the point where the eyes of those who give and those who receive meet. The sufferer and the other love each other, starting from God, through God, but not for the love of God; they love each other for the love of the one for the other. This is an impossibility. That is why it comes about only through the agency of God" (151)

I am not sufficiently emotionally developed to be capable of this quality of compassion though I can be selectively compassionate.

 

[Netti-Netti]

i'd like to know what you think it is?

A wish for other beings' happiness. Hope that's not too "out of the can."

is your view derived from your world view (religious, philosophical etc)?

More experiential.

did your view of what compassion is change when you accepted the aforementioned world view?

It became clearer and more focused.

have you ever been on the receiving end of your conception of compassion?

Yes. In fact, that would be a primary learning experience.

is there anything that you do, religious, meditation etc, to increase your feelings of compassion?

Yes.

if so, how successful do you think that you've been?

Heh, a work in progress.

 

[wil]

Funny the banner ad from Wayne Dyer says "Do what you want in 30 days"

tis practice...be the change yeah?

Awareness that there is an issue.

Awareness that you want a change.

Awareness when you slip.

step by step.

It is hard to see the progress, but you hear it from others.

As you improve, your desire to improve more increases, so one keeps raising the bar.

 

[seattlegal]

Namaste all,

thank you for taking the time to read my OP.

as the title suggests i'd like to talk about those things... those words and phrases which we use to suggest, in my paradigm, Bodhichitta, the altruistic concern for the wellbeing of other sentient beings.

some beings may use the term compassion, others use metaphors of caring hearts, warm minds, positive energy and all of that. i'd rather not get too bogged down in the semantics of what i'd like to talk about but if you're not clear i'll try to explain it with other simile and metaphor.

i'd like to know what you think it is?

That's a tough one. To try to define it would be to limit it.
I would say that one property of compassion is that it transcends boundaries without really disrupting them.

is your view derived from your world view (religious, philosophical etc)?

Observation.

did your view of what compassion is change when you accepted the aforementioned world view?

if so, how?

My view of compassion changes every time I see different applications of it.

have you ever been on the receiving end of your conception of compassion?

Of course.

is there anything that you do, religious, meditation etc, to increase your feelings of compassion?

Pay attention, be mindful.

if so, how successful do you think that you've been?

metta,

~v

That's another tough one. From an absolute standpoint, can you objectively measure success of something that really can't be measured? You can only measure it subjectively and intuitively.
From a relative standpoint, you can compare how you were in the past to how you are now. This can include objective measurements, but underneath it all, it's still very much subjective.

 

[Netti-Netti]

That's another tough one. From an absolute standpoint, can you objectively measure success of something that really can't be measured?

Failure is at least observable, if not measurable, and it is certainly worth noting to get direction by learning from mistakes. Recall the team of Buddhist monks who reported not being able to help people in very basic ways - like taking care of physical needs. The monks' intentions may have been in the right place, but practically speaking their compassionate action had failed.

 

[Nick_A]

Failure is at least observable, if not measurable, and it is certainly worth noting to get direction by learning from mistakes. Recall the team of Buddhist monks who reported not being able to help people in very basic ways - like taking care of physical needs. The monks' intentions may have been in the right place, but practically speaking their compassionate action had failed.

Welcome to the world of the "Wretched Man." To admit it without benefit of an excuse for not doing the "right" thing reveals our hypocrisy and since the secular world is maintained on structured hypocrisy, any willingness to admit the human condition is seen as a lack of proper "eduction."

I remember watching one TV evangelist in tears proclaiming "I have sinned" That is just an excuse after being caught. Now if he had said before being caught: "I am sinning" and confessed to what he was doing, that would have meant something.

Until we can admit the human condition within ourselves, no real change other than in style is possible. But how many are willing to "Know Thyself" and admit it without trying to profit by it in a worldly manner?

 

[Netti-Netti]

Welcome to the world of the "Wretched Man." To admit it without benefit of an excuse for not doing the "right" thing reveals our hypocrisy and since the secular world is maintained on structured hypocrisy, any willingness to admit the human condition is seen as a lack of proper "eduction."

I remember watching one TV evangelist in tears proclaiming "I have sinned" That is just an excuse after being caught. Now if he had said before being caught: "I am sinning" and confessed to what he was doing, that would have meant something.

Until we can admit the human condition within ourselves, no real change other than in style is possible. But how many are willing to "Know Thyself" and admit it without trying to profit by it in a worldly manner?

Hi Nick,

Failure is not necessarily sin, though it can be.

 

[Nick_A]

Hi Nick,

Failure is not necessarily sin, though it can be.

Sin just means to miss your aim. Sin does not have an independent existence but is defined in the context of a goal.

I may be wrong but I think that you'r placing a negative connotation on "failure." If I am practicing scales on a piano I am failing all the time in relation to my goal of perfection. Is this bad? No it is just part of life.

Jesus didn't tell Peter representing the Devil to "go to hell but rather said "get thee behind me Satan." The relationship of Jesus to Peter was necessary for both. A pain in the ass can either propell one forward or bring one down depending upon how we understand it. Failure if taken rightly is a motivating force, a necessary learning experience if we aim to be more than the "wretched man."

As absurd as it seems, the Christian goal of re-birth would be impossible without sin.