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# 2020-10-18 - Compassionate Inaction by Blackbird | |
Compassion in a very difficult topic to discuss, write about or think | |
about: Why: because compassion is a feeling. Compassion is a felt | |
experience. It is our basic instinct. Our intuition. Our | |
uncompromised reaction. What I'm talking about this article is the | |
compassionate action of non-doing. If humanity as a culture is going | |
to survive there needs to be a big celebration of doing nothing at | |
all, a normalization of resting in a state of inactivity and | |
relaxation. | |
Compassionate inaction: Why is doing nothing a compassionate | |
response? Because from the state of inactivity and rest the true | |
condition of compassion arises without any effort. Sangay Khandro | |
said during her talk on the female protectors in the 'Voices of | |
Wisdom' symposium "Innate compassion is constantly enveloping the | |
minds of all beings." | |
Compassionate inaction: I tried this theory out. I was talking to a | |
businessman from Texas. He said his wife got him into meditation. | |
At first, he said he was resistant. That meditation was for people | |
with weak minds that needed help, considering himself to have a | |
strong will. Also, on a practical level a waste of time. He said | |
now every morning he sits 1 hour before he checks his phone or begins | |
activity. Sometimes he said his mind races thinking about how many | |
emails he must have. I said what about extending that do-nothing | |
time for a few more hours, what about slowly a few days. Or maybe | |
build up to a week--a week of doing nothing at all. He said just | |
hearing you say that makes me feel extremely anxious. | |
Compassionate inaction: In the 1990s Monsanto--the world largest | |
developer of genetically modified seeds and artificial | |
sweeteners--implemented a corporate mindfulness meditation program. | |
Research showed that meditation would reduce stress in employees and | |
more efficient work outcomes would take place. As it turned out many | |
people started quitting. Why? Because these employees realized they | |
could not harm other people anymore. Innate compassion is constantly | |
enveloping the minds of all beings. Were these employees memorizing | |
a list of what to do and what not to do? Were they reading a | |
self-help book that gave them insight into morality? No. They sat | |
in a state of nondoing and compassion arose in their minds. This | |
most important movement in life--the wish to not harm others arises. | |
Self-Compassionate inaction: Start here. Rest here. Think: if | |
compassion does not include me it is incomplete compassion. Dom | |
Chatterjee editor-in-chief of 'Rest for Resistance' and founder | |
@qtpocmentalhealth writes in their article Fighting Burnout, Rest | |
Debt, and Work as a False Path to Self-Worth writes: "Looking back, I | |
have no idea how I worked a decade without really stopping to rest. | |
Even if it's possible to work so tirelessly, and many of us prove | |
that it is, this dedication to responsibility and constantly doing | |
something "productive" comes at a high cost. I often lose touch with | |
myself. I suffer chronic back pain, which started when I was only | |
16. And what do I have to show for it? An empty bank account. Low | |
self-esteem. And debilitating anxiety... Even the most enjoyable | |
aspects of life, like eating amazing food, don't contribute to | |
healing all the time. But one activity will always support your | |
healing process: rest." | |
Compassionate inaction: 'Conscientious Objectors.' A Conscientious | |
objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to | |
perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, | |
conscience, or religion. Some conscientious objectors consider | |
themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, | |
non-aggressionist, anti-imperialist, antimilitarist or | |
philosophically stateless (not believing in the notion of state). On | |
March 8, 1995, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights | |
resolution 1995/83 stated that "persons performing military service | |
should not be excluded from the right to have conscientious | |
objections to military service." This was re-affirmed in 1998, when | |
resolution 1998/77 recognized that "persons [already] performing | |
military service may develop conscientious objections." A number of | |
organizations around the world celebrate the principle on May 15 as | |
International Conscientious Objection Day. The term has also been | |
extended to objecting to working for the military-industrial complex | |
due to a crisis of conscience. | |
'Compassionate Objectors': This is everyday life. There is violence | |
for example in community, in the workplace, and on a global level. | |
Innate reaction says: No. Stop. I cannot give people water from an | |
empty well. Inaction takes place. Rest. Restoration. This | |
self-compassion of non-action is a peaceful protest. Then, from that | |
place of nourishment and from a feeling of compassion maybe action | |
can take place. Not before then. The term itself has a lot of | |
flexibility in it. Many develop compassionate or conscious | |
objections. At any time when the relationship with others becomes | |
violent or harmful there is room to have objections. Shifting the | |
response from fighting the situation and instead relaxing into | |
nonaction or non-reaction. This is compassionate. | |
Self-Compassionate inaction: When I sat my first S. N. Goenka | |
Vipassana retreat at Dhamma Visuddhi in Minnominie, Wisconsin I was | |
motivated by self-compassion. I wanted things in my life to change | |
as I was feeling a lot of suffering and my teacher at the time said | |
if you sit one of these retreats everything in your life will change. | |
I thought: sitting and doing nothing would change everything? Eleven | |
days, no phone, no non-verbal gestures, eyes cast inwardly: a totally | |
silent retreat. In retrospective I had thoughts like, will the world | |
really function without me in it? After eleven days I will most | |
likely have so many messages and things that I will need to tend to. | |
Everything slowed down in a state of non-doing. Compassion can arise | |
in simple and simultaneously profound ways. A few days into the | |
process I felt cold in the meditation hall. It was nearing the end | |
of November and the room previously used as a livestock barn had very | |
little insulation. I thought: I wish I had a warm hat for my head | |
and I bet everyone that feels cold right now could use a warm hat. A | |
very simple thought. Ordinary. As I sat with the feeling in my body | |
as this wish arouse to give everyone hats in an imaginary way. The | |
thought passed but the feeling lingered. So overcome with | |
compassion. My heart opening and I'm crying. I stay in the feeling | |
of this experience for as long as possible and also relaxing into | |
this experience. The story is not about the hats. The story is | |
about the feeling of wanting to get out of suffering and | |
simultaneously wanting to help others get out of suffering. This | |
feeling is innate in all beings. However it comes about is not | |
important. What is important is the recognition of our true | |
compassionate nature and to experience this fully. | |
Compassionate Inaction: The less my body, speech and mind were | |
outwardly engaging the less I was needed outwardly. Exact | |
reflection. There is humility and also a sense of relief that came | |
from realizing that the world doesn't depend on me or require my | |
constant attendance in it to maintain itself. There were no emails | |
or messages. As I slowed down and relaxed so did the reflections. | |
Compassionate inaction: Too much emphasis on helping others before | |
compassion is a felt experience brings about obstacles. The healers | |
know this. Heal yourself first before healing others. Put your | |
oxygen mask on first before assisting others. This is a beautiful | |
and important lesson. Be willing to answer the question: who am I? | |
Buddha's highest teaching is: know yourself. Who am I? Know | |
yourself. Who am I? Know yourself. Who am I? Know yourself. | |
"Innate compassion is constantly enveloping the minds of all beings." | |
Constantly here meaning there is no end. Can't find the end of it. | |
Nor where it started. Constantly enveloping the minds of all beings. | |
Who am I? I am compassion expressing itself. | |
From: https://issuu.com/rfdmag/docs/rfd_183_7x10_online/s/10992503 | |
tags: article,inspiration,spirit | |
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