Compassion Law # 33

Compassion is active, not passive.  It flows most easily from those who are deeply grateful…  We must know what it is to love and be loved.

Cynthia Davidson, excerpt from Compassion card

 (cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

How much do we know about Compassion? 

Is there more than one kind? 

Do you believe the world has too much or too little of it? 

Who practices Compassion, and demonstrates how best to do it?  

Can we rate how compassionate a person is? By what method?

One expert on this Law is the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dali Lama, "My message is the practice of compassion, love and kindness...These practices are very important... The first step in cultivating compassion is to develop empathy for your fellow human beings."  Read some of his writings on the topic. 

As you explore empathy and Compassion over the next ten days, bring up this subject in your conversations and mention its measurable physical benefits; scientific studies suggest that compassionate people produce 100 percent more DHEA, the hormone which counteracts the aging process, and 23 percent less cortisol, the “stress hormone.” Skeptics may be surprised to find out who stands to benefit the most from compassionate activities.  

In 2008, Karen Armstrong, a former British nun, and author of several bestselling books on religious topics, joined with others to create the Charter for Compassion http://www.charterforcompassion.org where you can find more information, from people of all backgrounds, who have vowed to be more compassionate. 

Being on both the giving and the receiving ends of Compassion seems to deepen our understanding of this Law. When Compassion remains just an idea, in our minds, nothing changes in the world around us. When we genuinely feel empathy, rather than pity or sympathy, then our hearts open and our hands move, more skillfully. Hardening ourselves against suffering in others, and ourselves, is not the ideal way to respond. 

Here are some additional words of advice from those who understand this Law.

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.

Arthur Jersild

Failure to show compassion is a violation of the universal law of Love, and sets into motion the universal law of Karma. One has to feel compassion before one can feel the energy of love. Judgment, which excludes compassion, is without merit.

Margo Kirtikar, PhD. in her book Cosmic and Universal Laws

In the western mind, there are two notions of Compassion. One is, I'm going to be a good Samaritan and help this guy. But that is the Compassion of the weak. The Compassion of the strong is in waking people up to their blindness. For that, you need to be a Warrior.

Fernando Flores, Chilean  www.fernandoflores.cl/blog

To show compassion for an individual, without showing concern for the structures of society that make him (or her) an object of compassion, is to be sentimental rather than loving.

William Sloane Coffin Jr. (1924 - 2006), American clergyman, one time CIA agent, long-time civil rights leader and peace activist, books include Credo

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.

Pema Chodron

Having compassion does not mean feeling pity for someone. It is rather feeling someone’s pain and suffering as if it was our own. It is empathy rather than sympathy.  Compassion is the wish for another being to be free of suffering, just as love is wanting them to have happiness. It is a genuine wish for the wellbeing of others and is the most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity.

Margo Kirtikar, PhD. in her book Cosmic and Universal Laws

Self-compassion is not about losing your inner critic; it's about transforming it from a bitter; self-destructive voice to one tempered with humor and forgiveness.

Michael Burgos

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.

Simone Weil

Compassion is a spontaneous movement of wholeness. It is not a studied decision to help the poor, to be kind to the unfortunate. Compassion has a tremendous momentum that naturally, choicelessly moves us to worthy action. It cannot be cultivated. It is simply there when the wholeness of life becomes a fact that is truly lived...Compassion requires a plunge to the depths of life where oneness is a reality and division is merely an illusion.

Vilmal Thakar as seen in www.Kosmosjournal.org

Compassion is not about sentiment but is about 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.

Matthew Fox

Compassion is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for his or her problem. This is genuine compassion.

14^th Dalai Lama in his book, An Open Heart. The Dalai Lama is considered to be an incarnation or manifestation of Chenrezi, the divinity of Compassion, the deity or awareness-being of the heart.

Kwan Yin (also known as: Guanyin, Kannon, Kwan Um, Chenrezig, Avalokitesvara), is the bodhisattva of compassion. Kwan Yin is comforter, healer, and female exemplar.

In ten days, we'll take up the 34th Law of Cycles, until then experience your Compassion to the fullest.

Power Law # 32

Who is the most powerful…? True Power is not man-made, it comes from Spirit. Who here is filled with Spirit? Alignment with Divine Energy is what empowers us.

Cynthia Davidson, excerpt from Power card

 (cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

How many kinds of Power are there in the world? As you discuss this Law with others for the next ten days, you are going to have some interesting conversations! Most of the Power around us everyday is generated by the Elements; solar Power, wind Power, wave Power, but people tend to think immediately of human Power when this subject is brought up. And yet, how puny our Power is, up against the Elements! 

As I write this, the human controlled Power has gone out, because of a blizzard here in New England. And yet in the absence of electricity, I am feeling strangely empowered. My (forced) cooperation with the Elements has altered all priorities. Hauling wood for the stove, heating my food and water on it, reading by candlelight - my 'world' has been completely altered, but I am able to function, to take care of my basic needs. Perhaps this is why it's so enjoyable. By hooking up the generator for a little while, I can send this post out into the world, and then return to the quiet.

If you had to live off the grid - how would you react? Are you prepared for it?   

As you contemplate the human Powers of mind, heart, body and spirit for the next ten days, ask yourself, which of those Powers is most appealing to you. Why? 

Our relationships with who and what we think wields Power (especially over us) are often so ingrained we are not be aware of how it needs to change. Powerlessness is difficult to deal with but so is the 'drug' of Power that comes with money, position or privilege. 

Pure Potential was the last Law we looked at, and once you've realized what your Higher Purpose and Pure Potential are, the logical next step is to take Right Action. Power is about the embodiment of Pure Potential. 

Ultimately, if we learn to use Power wisely, what will actual happen is that spiritual Power will able to work through us. 

Here are some more lessons learned about Power from those who've accepted it.

Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26^th American President

 The headlong plunge into the mental and intellectual – into technology and heartless problem-solving…The power of the mind becomes authoritarian and punishing when we lose the Balance with the female side, of Nature…  The ego-driven, vertical power structure has brought us to the brink of extinction. But real power isn’t vertical, it’s horizontal…unless you’ve forgotten the power within… We have to reestablish our connection to the original JOY... We have to look in the right place. We all know this on some deeper level but don’t pay attention to it. The state we’re in now: sex is death, food is poison, the water’s no good, the air is ruined. We must all do something or continue to suffer the consequences.         

Janine Pommy Vega (1942- ) American poet, books include Tracking the Serpent

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.

Alice Walker American author, books include The Color Purple

To have great faith is to have great power, because your intent, your will is undivided. When your word isn't dissipated by doubt, the power of your word becomes even stronger.

Don Miguel Ruiz

As a person’s real power grows and knowledge widens, ever the way s/he can follow grows narrower, until at last s/he choose nothing, but does only and wholly what s/he must do.

Ursula LeGuin American author in her book Earthsea Quartet

You cannot know the meaning of your life until you feel connected to the power that created you. You must feel the existence of the spirit. Freedom is when you really get your own powers. They are within you, in your central nervous system and in your conscious mind.

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923 - ) Indian founder of www.sahajayoga.org, raised in ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, books include Meta Modern Era

I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured, it was the power from the Outer World, the visions and the ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.

Black Elk, Frank Fools Crow’s uncle, describing to him how spiritual power works

Power is the ability to transform any energy. When we are whole, and in our power, our possibilities are endless. Power is the effective use of energy. We work with the energy of the universe… We never use the energy we were born with.

Holger Kalweit, Shamans, Healers & Medicine Men

You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God, you shall not have both.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American author and philosopher, from a 1842 Journal entry

Without the addition of spiritual power, man tends to use his natural power for himself. And while he accomplishes outstanding things on the earthly plane, this tendency causes him to subordinate and misuse the rest of creation, until he sees he has created a monster that will devour him. The Higher Powers teach the person with appended spiritual power not to do this. If they abuse it, the Higher Powers refuse to work through them.

Frank Fools Crow (1890-1989), Native American Lakota Sioux spiritual leader, holy man and Sun Dance Chief, see Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power by Thomas E. Mails

Power arises from meaning. It has to do with motive and principle. Power is always associated with that which supports the significance of life itself. It appeals to that part of human nature we call noble – in contrast to force, which appeals to the part we call crass. Power appeals to what uplifts, dignifies and ennobles. Force must always be justified, but power needs no justification. Force is associated with the partial, power with the whole….Power is total and complete…it is still, it makes no demands, it has no needs…it energizes, gives forth, supplies and supports, whereas force always moves against something… has an insatiable appetite and is constantly consuming.

David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD from his book Power vs. Force 

In ten days we will take up the Law of Compassion. Until then enjoy playing with Power.

Pure Potential Law # 31

Chaos is… all possibilities existing simultaneously. Are you ready to let go, and descend into chaos, and ’not knowing’ long enough for new possibilities to emerge?

Cynthia Davidson, excerpt from Ultimate Reality card

 (cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

After the reality check of the last Law of Ultimate Reality, you can see where this is going. Pure Potential has everything to do with how much of that Reality you are living in. What prevents us from reaching our Pure Potential? The same things which hinder our access to Ultimate Reality: perception limitations, personality flaws, ego, fears, all those aspects of spirits being in human form.  

As most of us realize, our senses are constantly distracting us, and we are barely using 10% of our brainpower, but our spiritual natures transcend all that. Pure Potential is pure spirit. No agendas, no ethnicity, no defensiveness, no attachments... Imagine living in that state! As Jacquelyn Small says, ‘We are not human beings trying to be spiritual. We are spiritual beings trying to be human.'

For the next ten days, instead of asking your mind for decisions, or even your emotional heart center, ask what does spirit want. See what kind of responses come. When we are spirit led, rather than self propelled, no mission is impossible. But then, the missions also become completely different. They aren't about competition, domination, winning or taking someone else out. They're about gestures, goals and Choices that are often at odds with ego and society's expectations. 

When you bring this concept up in conversation this week, notice who shakes their heads as if you're losing touch with reality, and who 'gets it'. Pure is the operative word. Potential becomes possible when the intentions are purified.

Self interest, personal gain, manipulation - all that must fall away - for Pure Potential to reveal itself. It's more like asking to be used, by the Universe, than trying to use it.

If this still isn't making sense to you, here's some more wisdom about it from others. 

This law is based on the fact that we are, in our essential state, pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity. Pure consciousness is our spiritual essence. Being infinite and unbounded, it is also pure joy. Other attributes of consciousness are pure knowledge, infinite silence, perfect balance, invincibility, simplicity, and bliss…Our essential nature is pure potentiality.

Deepak Chopra

In this infinite sea of potentials that exist around us, how come we keep creating the same realities? 
Dr. Joseph Dispenza

All we are given is possibilities -- to make ourselves one thing or another.

Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher

What is the greatest potential wanting to unfold? How do you go beyond your personal wants and desires to tap into a bigger picture-a picture of 'what wants to happen,' a picture of your greatest potential and the greatest potential of a moment, situation, project, or vision?

Alan Seale in The Manifestation Wheel

The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement. Yet, almost no one gets the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential. If everyone received the encouragement they need to grow, the genius in most everyone would blossom and the world would produce abundance beyond the wildest dreams. We would have more than one Einstein, Edison, Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, Dr. Salk and other great minds in a century.

Sidney Madwed

 I don’t think any of our dreams begin to come close to the dreams Spirit has waiting with our names on them.  I also believe we will only find out once we start investing our emotions in authentic expression and not in specific outcomes.

Sarah B. Breathnach, Simple Abundance

When we feel passion for something, it is because we are remembering what it was that we came here to do. The more passion we feel, the more in alignment with Source we are, allowing this energy to pour through us with no hesitation. This is the way it was meant to be.

Karen Bishop

We are light going through a prism. The light is always there, but only we can act as its’ prism, concentrating and filtering it. We make of the light of the cosmos, a rainbow, with a mouth and arms.

Jarrett Smith

Idle hours are those in which we are most pregnant with our own potential…  True North…the soulcraft of devoutly caring for our authentic selves…

Anonymous

Be bold in your decisions and creative and imaginative in your thoughts. Think and live with the soul of a mystic, seeing the world as a field of grace in which you walk as a channel of light. Live these truths. Become these truths. This is your true highest potential.

Caroline Myss

As old as humanity itself is the divine gift of human potential: to connect, tap into and realize the perfect harmony within mind, body and spirit. This holistic philosophy is “the space between the notes,” that bridges the gaps between tangible facts, ethical analysis, and intuitive wisdom of the laws of life. It also forms a continuum between here and now and the hereafter.

From the American Institute of Holistic Theology, www.aiht.edu

In ten days we'll take up the Law of Power, until then, enjoy being under the spell of Pure Potential.