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Near Enemies

THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES: Love, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity

The four immeasurables, also known as the Brahma Viharas (Skt.) are found in one brief and beautiful prayer:

May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes, May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes, May all sentient beings never be separated from bliss without suffering, May all sentient beings be in equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger.

   

The above along with other paragraphs, was posted by my group in Miami today, but there was just one part which I zeroed in on today... the idea of a 'near enemy'. Here is some of the center's paragraph on Compassion for instance:

   

COMPASSION

The definition is: wanting others to be free from suffering. This compassion happens when one feels sorry with someone, and one feels an urge to help. The near enemy is pity. (snip)

The opposite is wanting others to suffer, or cruelty.A result which one needs to avoid is sentimentality. Compassion thus refers to an unselfish, de-tached emotion which gives one a sense of urgency in wanting to help others. From a Buddhist perspective, helping others to reduce their physical or mental suffering is very good, but the ultimate goal is to extinguish all suffering by stopping the process of rebirth and the suffering that automatically comes with living (enlightenment).

Me:

A 'detached' emotion sounds a little like something out of a horror movie to me the way it is phrased. :) So what about a 'freed' or 'liberated'? And is emotion the word... What about force... energy for good? Oh No... back to paramitas again. haha :)

Compassion as natural force as expressed unhindered by 'old tricks'... Compassion as natural expression. I would recommend Stim's 3/1/2006 audio on 'wisdom-based' caring.

So zerioing on "near enemies"...

Maybe we can all them counterfeits, and counterfeits are sometimes known precisely because they are *too* clean or shiny... or they are lacking layers and dimension... there is a flatness. 

Mostly, obstructions which occur, occur because 'i' react as though it is occuring, rather than Seeing through...