Educating the Heart

The author is Melvin McLeod.

(This article [link with title above] was not WRITTEN by the Dali Lama, but ABOUT him and his talks. I find that in this type of situation the writer sometimes does not convey the true mean or intent of the speaker. Understand the words used and their INTENT is important.)

Here are some quotes from the article that I like and then my comments:

He doesn’t deny the reality of our differences or the inevitability of conflict. What’s important is how we choose to react. (referring to the Dali Lama)

A lot of the Dali Lama article seems to be focused on how people relate to others. There is little to no discussion on how we relate to OURSELVES. Are we being compassionate with OURSELVES? Or are we beating ourselves us with our emotional reactions to what life is offering us? If we do not FIRST have compassion for ourselves then we will not be in any shape to care about and have compassion for others.

“And your empathy can be extended further, eventually towards your enemy. Your enemies may disagree with you, may be harming you, but in another aspect, they are still another human being like you. They also have the right not to suffer and to find happiness. If your empathy can extend out like that, it is unbiased, genuine compassion.”

THIS I fully agree with.

Interestingly, the next paragraph the writer (not the Dali Lama) talks about “the three poisons of passion, aggression, and ignorance.” This shows the ignorance of the writer in that he included passion as a poison. Without passion there can be no com-passion.

“This touches on the very definition of what we mean by compassion,” the Dalai Lama replied. “At the heart of compassion is our response to someone else’s suffering. The first point is their immediate suffering, and at another level is the causes or conditions of the suffering. Maybe it is wiser to develop compassion toward people who are creating the causes of their future suffering. That’s wiser, because compassion can bring preventive measures. Immediate suffering has already happened—we feel a sense of concern, but sometimes nothing can be done. Maybe our efforts should be to prevent these kinds of things in the future.”

This is what I talk about the most, Preventative Compassion, a compassion that confronts the CAUSES of injury BEFORE they happen. Sometimes bringing about crisis is the most compassionate way to wake people up to their habits that are causing the suffering. Confrontation is just bring forth the truth of what is happening so confrontation is a healthy way to wake people up to their unhealthy habits.

“The basis of compassion for others is compassion for oneself,” he said. “If you don’t have the natural wish to be freed from your own suffering, you won’t be able to empathize with others’ experience of suffering. Therefore, the basis is compassion for oneself.”

YES, absolutely. My point exactly.

I wrote about Dynamic Compassion yesterday in my blog. You can read it below and may see some differences between my perspective, which I would call a more holistic perspective, and the Buddhist’s perspective.

Dynamic Compassion

Dynamic Compassion is a compassion that goes beyond just respect, service and care. Compassion is the willingness to suffer with others. Dynamic compassion is the underlying cause of change or growth that comes from that willingness to suffer with others.

Dynamic compassion is a willingness to engage the world or a situation that is unhealthy, possibly making that situation temporarily more dynamic (dis-eased) so as to bring about a change towards a healthier situation.

I remember a situation from my childhood where my mother demonstrated Dynamic Compassion with my older sister that probably saved her life and gave me a great example of love, which was a deep and profound experience in my life. I was about five or six at the time and all three of us, my older sister, myself and my younger sister, had the measles. My younger sister and I got over the measles in the normal amount of time but my older sister did not. My mother was worried about this because she had heard that measles, if they last too long, can do permanent damage or even kill. So my mother called the doctor who told her to induce the spots on the skin to eruption. To do this he said she should draw a hot bath that was just less than scalding and put my sister in it. He said this would be very uncomfortable for my sister but that my mother would have to hold her in the water until the spots erupted. can still remember how my sister screamed and cursed my mother for doing this. My mother had tears in her eyes but also knew that if she did not do this then my sister could die. My sister, still a child, could not understand this.

The spots erupted and my sister got better. But I can see that my sister always seem to hold that experience against my mother and still does not have much of a relationship with her.

But, I can see that this act was an example of Dynamic Compassion, loving when those you are serving cannot understand how you are loving them. This is unconditional love for it was not conditional upon a return of appreciation or love.

Dynamic Compassion is much more than Ahimsa, the Buddhist and Hindu doctrine expressing belief in the sacredness of all living creatures and urging the avoidance of harm and violence. Dynamic Compassion goes beyond the equanimity of non-aggression and injury of others to the active involvement in the lives of others. Ahimsa implies an avoidance of involvement in another’s life while Dynamic Compassion implies confronting and embracing involvement in another’s life. Ahimsa is a good start but it does not go far enough. In the spectrum of consciousness Ahimsa only goes half way to equanimity while Dynamic Compassion pushes us toward the extreme positive of love.

Dynamic Compassion means confronting the ills of our society. Non injury is non involvement while confronting is engaging the causes of injury BEFORE they happen or at the root of their source. Compassion by itself may mean being a “Mother Theresa” type person who comforts the wounds of those who have been injured. Dynamic Compassion means confronting the cause of injury so as to protect against future injuries.

Often those who are being harmed are also the ones doing the harm. Many injuries people experience are self-inflicted yet they blame others for their own behavior. For instance, “verbal or emotional abuse” is harm that we have learned to cause ourselves. Dynamic Compassion confronts the source of the injury by confronting the person who is abusing themselves emotionally.

Dynamic Compassion would also motivate one to confront the BELIEF that words are the source of our suffering. For it is this belief that keeps people trapped in the cycle of abuse and violence. Confronting deeply held beliefs in society is not popular but it is loving and deeply compassionate.

Spiritual Issues in the Immigration Debate

From an article by Rabbi Marc Gellman:
What are our moral obligations to illegal immigrants_and to the laws of the U.S.?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12875442/site/newsweek/from/ET/

For me, the ‘obligations’ to obey the government is not as strong as the obligation to obey the God that lives within my heart. I see the “problem’ of immigration not as a problem of immigration but as a problem of fear and greed. WE, Americans, are afraid to share out WISDOM and knowledge with people of other countries. We are afraid to reach out to them and show them how to be free and as wealthy as we are. And, we are afraid to see that we have gone beyond wealthy here, we are outright decadent and gluttonous, we are obsessed with materiality.

If we were open to the Spirit we would not be building walls (or fences) but would be breaking them down. Truth liberates, it does not builds walls. Do we really want our own version of the Berlin Wall?

It is time to attack the problem, not hide behind walls. The problem is people feel more opportunity here than in their own countries. It is time for us to confront those countries and their beliefs that keep them financially and spiritually handicapped. AND, it is time to confront our decadent and gluttonous ways.

Jim Freedom.