Getting Compassion From a Stone
A friend tells me he thinks you cannot get Compassion from a stone. I disagree.
Most would agree feeding the starving is an act of Compassion. So when a government sends a shipment of food to a nation struggling with starvation I accept that as an act of Compassion. It may be true that the guy who actually unloads the food from the plane may not be thinking about the suffering of the people. It may be the only job he could find and he just wants to get it done and get home to Momma. That may be true for the entire crew on board the plane. In fact, I might go to each person involved in the decision to send humanitarian aid and each and every one of them may give me a reason for their contribution to the food delivery other than an empathy with the suffering of the starving people. Maybe the Minister of Foreign Affairs is acting on orders from the Prime Minister, and all the other bureaucrats have their own, personal self-interest in mind. To my mind the point is that the food is delivered and the hungry are fed and that means it is Compassion. I do not need any further certification of the act with respect to the feelings of anyone involved to know it as Compassion.
Similarly when a farmer plants his crop and harvests it and feeds his family with it, that is an act of Compassion. The hungry are fed. Suffering is relieved. Compassion. I'm not interested in what the farmer is feeling about what he is doing. I leave him to feel as he pleases so long as he feeds his family. No matter what feelings he may have about the act I see the act as Compassion.
But that farmer would not have his crop if he had not had the fertile soil. So the soil must be there for the farmer to have his crop and for him to feed his family. Therefore I must see the soil as an essential element in that act of Compassion -- no soil, no Compassion. And that soil contains stones that contribute to the fertile quality of that soil. Hence I am inevitably lead to conclude that stones may act with Compassion.
If we did not have stones where would we stand? Where would we bury our dead? On what would we build our homes? All of life grows out of the lifeless. When a chain of events, a sequence of actions, leads to a final action that relieves suffering then each event in the chain has created that Compassion. I give each event its due. If any were missing the chain would be broken and the final act of Compassion would not be. Life itself originated from the lifeless. In the beginning it was the inanimate that gave rise to the animate. I will recognize every element for its contribution.
When we enlarge the meaning of the word Compassion in this way we gain a much deeper, fuller and more complete understanding of our place in the Natural Order.
Go to addendum3:
Illusion of Self
Michael Labhard
michaelL@towardsfreedom.com
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