To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/12/20 19:32
Subject: Re: [K-list] no suffering, no sweat
From: Jenell

CKRESSATnospamaol.com wrote:
>
> Loulou wrote:
>
> << I have heard that first there is liberation, and than there is love. Love
> is beyond liberation. Love is a move from the head to the heart. Maybe
> liberation needs to come first so we have the awareness and wisdom to offer
> unconditional love, which asks for nothing in return. >>
>
(J) What seems in my own experience is that the two, love and
liberation, came in a sort of symbionic connection, both really
supporting and contributing to the evolvemnt of one another. It would be
difficult to say which came first, sort of the chicken or the egg kind
of thing.

> Empathy is unconditional in the sense that one cannot screen it and say, "If
> you'll be grateful and nice to me, I'll feel compassion for you." If you're
> capable of empathy, it's pretty much indiscriminate. Empathy actually has a
> selfish component, though. Since I can feel the pain of others, it hurts me
> to do nothing about it. I'm not talking about guilt or mentally feeling bad
> -- I mean it literally. I feel emotional and sometimes even corresponding
> physical distress from the suffering of others, and if I can do something to
> make them feel better, I feel better too.
>
> There are degrees of empathy and open-heartedness. My heart never seems to
> entirely close down, but it varies in degree of receptivity and sensitivity.
> When it's more open, I cry easily and often, both for the suffering of others
> (including other living beings) and when witnessing any acts of love. (Maybe
> that's why I'm always so thirsty, LOL!)
>
> El
 (J) Emathy, now if there was a spiritual gift I might considered
returing for a refund, this one might be it! I mean psychic level
empathy, as I think El does here, too. Empathy DEMANDS compassionate
responses, and learning to take greater care in every way in how we
relate to and with others. It may have at the first been borne out of
compasion, but once there, it dmeands comassion to a degree I never
thought possible, could not even comprehend, before it. For that I FEEL
now, literally, other people's feelings, I can no longer act as
unthinkingly as I did in the past, without care for how others were
affected. Even the best 'excuse' in the world for me saying or doing
something to another that will cause them hurt isn't worth the 'payback'
I get if I do it. I did not realize before just how much hurt I caused
without even knowing it, by carelessness, thoughtlessness, self
justified anger, etc.
Jenell

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