Discovering the Inner Compassion
by Daniel Mitel
“What is not love is always fear, and nothing else.” —A Course in Miracles
We have a tendency to think that inner compassion is just giving food, money, clothes or anything that makes people happy and comfortable in their daily lives. Subsequently, very often we are giving some money for different organizations or projects. But inside us we feel in our hearts that something is missing; we know intuitively that this is not compassion.
In 1962, some of Bertrand Russell’s books were banned in India by the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Bertrand Russell had reacted to India’s invasion of Goa and Jawaharlal Nehru was obviously upset about it. Russell said, “Where is your compassion now? Your compassion was just political. You are all Ghandians, aren’t you? Your nonviolence was just political. You are talking about nonviolence but when the moment comes you become violent!”
It is a shame that Bertrand Russell was banned because he was right. He said to Nehru, “When others are fighting, you stand on your high altar and you condemn the whole world as violent. Where is your nonviolence now?”
So, what is inner compassion? Really, what does it mean to be compassionate?
The Tibetan Masters tell us that when we become aware that we are not just a body, we then cannot continue this life as it is, and a different universe arises in us: the universe of compassion, of goodness and of unconditional love. Once we realize we are not a body, our whole world, our daily activities cease to exist.
We realize that the more we are inside of our daily activities, the more sensitive we become. The more sensitive we become, the more we feel inner compassion for all around us. Is it possible to be open to this world and not to suffer? Is it possible to be undisturbed and detached from all the ugly things that happen in each moment on this planet? How can we transform our frustration when we see all the injustice that happens around us?
There is a fascinating Tibetan method that helps us to use our frustration as a vehicle to move towards the center of our energy. The method is simple: whenever we feel frustration and sadness we move to our inner center; to the point where the frustration was coming from. When we feel the sadness or the frustration coming out, we move all our intention and attention to the center from which the frustration is coming, and not to the person who produced it.
Then one day, a profound transformation will happen inside of us. We are going to master the technique so well that whenever we feel the frustration coming out of us, we will be able to move to our center and the only thing we would find there will be inner compassion. From there, we are going to make a profound discovery: hate and love, anger and happiness are coming from inside of us, from the same source! We became aware of ourselves. We became compassion. When we are aware, any anger we have inside transforms into compassion. The anger that was our enemy suddenly becomes our friend. That’s what Shiva asked us to do: to be authentic, to be aware of our “false personas”, of our masks.
We have people all over the world talking about inner compassion, nonviolence, love. But if we take a closer look at their lives, some of them are violent and they are not even aware that they are violent. Is it possible to be violent in nonviolence? Yet, if we are trying to force others to be nonviolent that is violence; that is a lack of compassion.
Inner compassion is when we help somebody to grow and to transform. Buddha never called it love, he called it compassion. There is a famous story about the man who told Buddha, “I want to serve humanity. I feel deep compassion for it. Tell me how I can serve.” Buddha looked at him and said, “Where are you? Who will serve humanity? You are not you, yet. When you are, you don’t even need to ask me. Your acts will be compassion, in a natural way.”
So, the first thing is to be present. The first thing is to be aware, not to be a mechanical thing, a robot. And then we don’t show inner compassion; we are compassion.
Beyond duality, beyond logic and reason, we became one with the Infinite Spirit. Buddha calls this state “being compassion,” and Jesus calls it unconditional love.
About the Author
Daniel Mitel is a world-class master of meditation, helping people understand the intimate connection to their inner selves. Interviewed and published around the world, Daniel’s books are highly regarded as some of the best meditation and spiritual guidebooks. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter, and discover more at: www.danielmitel.com, and http://www.motivate-yourself.org
