Like hyphenated Americans, the idea of radical compassion or unconditional love, bemuse. While many seem to abide the lores of selective compassion, which is not unlike selective-listening where one admits to some but not all of what is available, compassion is what it is, or it’s not compassion.
In the case of self exploration, one might ask the question, “do I feel the case for all involved, or are there perpetrators to my victims?” In other words, “am I capable of feeling compassion for everyone on the planet, or do I pick-and-choose according to my sense of who deserves compassion?”
Such questions are radical indeed. They ask us not to consider the ‘expansion’ of compassion, nor the ‘benefits’, but instead to MAKE VISIBLE where our compassion ends.
Perhaps this seems obvious. One is compassionate to the plight of those ‘exploited’ by life’s cruelty (and less compassionate to the champions of its torment), right? Except, how do we know that our interpretation is accurate? What information do we rely upon to make judgements about who deserves what? And why are we dividing the world into those who deserve compassion, and those who do not?
Suffice to say, if we are practicing selective compassion, we are not compassionate. And if we are not compassionate, then what are we?
In Heart Alchemy, the focus is on what we are doing, what we are thinking, what we are feeling, et cetera. There is no need to make judgments about ‘what is’, since we are all doing the best we can with what we have. Therefore, making visible our ‘not compassionate-ness’ allows us to see what we are doing-being-feeling so that we can love and accept ‘what is’.
By focusing on loving and accepting who we are – rather than chastising, changing and challenging ourselves to become something else – Heart Alchemy practices compassion. There are no “should”, no “bad habits” to correct, no “problems” to solve, and no “cycles” to break.
- By recognising what is loveable about you, the empowering version of your experience can be explored in an everyday way.
- By acknowledging ‘what is’ without judgement, you can trust who you are as well as your situation.
- By making visible the way you operate as on purpose, life stops being a series of problems to solve, and starts being a conversation with the cosmos.
These are the experiences available when you surrender to your own Living Wisdom.
