Compassion and Wisdom

“When we are motivated by compassion and wisdom, the results of our actions benefit everyone, not just our individual selves or some immediate convenience. When we are able to recognize and forgive ignorant actions of the past, we gain strength to constructively solve the problems of the present.”
~The Dalai Lama

What are Compassion and Wisdom?

As we do our inner work and become more and more dis-identified with ego functioning, the more we awaken to the realization of ourselves as being able to see deeply into the heart of the matter, which is wisdom. Wisdom does not see dualistically, but unitively. In other words, we start seeing in a more expanded way instead of a constricted, fear based way.

When we are ruled by fear we think in a very constricted dualistic way of either black or white, either/or, good/bad, right/wrong, kind of way. As we grow in awareness we start seeing the both/and of a situation and being able to consider, for instance, that not only do I have feelings and needs, but the other person does as well. Or we start realizing that we have been focused on other people’s feelings and needs as a way of trying to get our own needs met without even being aware that we had them.

Wisdom sees both sides, not superficially but deeply. Wisdom sees motive and underlying dynamics and recognizes the commonality of human experience. Wisdom can discern principles and paradigms. Wisdom sees the the vast web of interconnectedness. When we are in our usual rational egoic minds we see facts, logic, and superficial differences. We judge and we create hierarchy. We see cause and effect in a linear way but do not recognize the interconnectedness of all life.

Compassion is the not only the awareness of underlying motives of need and fear in ourselves, but is also a willingness to embrace and move into the suffering of old needs and fears without judgment. This capacity can then expand and ripple out to others as well. Compassion and wisdom work together. They cannot be separated out.

Compassion and Wisdom are circumscribed and limited experiences and capacities of Ultimate Love and Truth which is the Consciousness of the Universe. For more … Read here

“Wisdom will not enter a shifty soul, nor make her home in a body that is mortgaged to sin. This holy spirit of discipline will have nothing to do with falsehood; she cannot stay in the presence of unreason, and will throw up her case at the approach of injustice. Wisdom is a spirit devoted to man’s good.

~The Apocrypha - The Wisdom of Solomon

At Luxor in Egypt the temple has an outer temple which is where the initiates entering into the work of becoming aware were allowed. One of the sayings in the Outer Temple is “The body is the temple of God.” That is why it is said, “(Wo)Man know thyself.”“Know thyself is also written on the temple of Dephi in Greece. In the inner temple at Luxor, one of the proverbs is “Wo(Man), know thyself ... and thou shalt know the gods.” For more … Read here

What is Compassion?

Com-passion.

Com – together with

Passion – to suffer

Compassion is the choice to suffer together with self and other. It is not to feel sorry for, it is not pity or sympathy, it is not even empathy, which is more about imagining (a head exercise about how you are feeling or another might be feeling). Compassion means to fully feel with yourself or another instead of defending against feelings, and creating barriers between you and your fullest experience of life… for more click here.

It takes intense effort

to not exert effort,

But to surrender

into the sweet embrace of Love

in which we are always held

And in so doing

we can reach into the torment of our suffering soul

and hold her in that sweet embrace

Breathing in agony and shame, torment and fear

even as it twists and racks our body with pain

Breathing out the comfort that infuses our being

and so, hold, in the infinite web of love,

the very bowels of hell.

We can only know god in this way,

in our own body and flesh,

the cells of our being,

Not through learning and books and erudite theory and knowledge,

Not by listening to the wise men, gurus, experts, and priests,

Nor by shrinking from pain,

Nor striving for joy

But only through sinking into the full experience of our own knowing.

And when we fully know our pain, then we know that of others too and finally, in surrender,

We enfold the pain of the world into the vastness of our Love.

What is Love?

Rumi says, “You will be forgiven for forgetting that what you really desire is loves unending joy.”

When I was an 18 year old newly wed, I was filled with youthful idealism. My life’s goal was to be the most loving wife and mother the world had ever seen. I was dedicated to doing it differently to my parents, who I was convinced did not love me and did not love each other. In my quest of devoting my life to understanding what love is, I diligently cut out the “Love is...” Precious Moments comic strips to paste into my journal and looked for quotes about love… for more click here.

What are Truth and Wisdom

If each day falls Inside each night, There exists a well Where clarity is imprisoned. We need to sit on the rim Of the well of darkness And fish for fallen light With patience.

~Pablo Neruda

Truth, like the word Love or God, cannot be spoken, cannot be described. To do so immediately enters one into the world of either symbol and metaphor or exclusion, duality and relativity. For more … Read here

Prayer for Compassion

Let the light of your infinite Love

work within me,

transform me,

shine through me

and be translated by me into

endless acts of compassion.

May I learn to humble myself so

that I may be penetrated by your Spirit,

Conceive of the vastness of your Love

become pregnant with a deep longing and desire to

be your loving hands in dark and despairing places,

and give birth to a life of faithful and joyful service to you, my Beloved,

in the faces of all I encounter.

May I learn to see deeply into the darkness

of my own wounded heart

so that I may understand the dark deeds of

others with compassion, not judgment.

May I learn to accept and befriend my

own pain so that I can be present to the

pain of others with unashamed nakedness and humility.

May I discover the enemy of anger and hatred, bitterness and

deceit within myself and forgive myself,

for acts born of fear and shame,

So that I may learn mercy, and how to make peace

With those who are despised and spurned.

May I learn to be gentle, patient and kind with myself

So that I may be tender and caring with others,

knowing that only then, can I and they make different choices.

Help me to help myself and discover the infinite power within,

So that I can trust others to do the same for themselves.

May I learn to speak up boldly on behalf of myself

so that I can speak up for all humanity.

May I learn to be fierce in my desire to be truthful and loving

So that I may be bold in insisting on the same from others.

Let the light of your radiant Love

work within me,

transform me,

shine through me

and be translated by me into

endless acts of compassion.