In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle gives a new spin to my understanding of what compassion is all about, and I wanted to share it with you. According to Eckhart, compassion is the awareness we have of the deep bond between all living things and ourselves. But there are two sides to this bond. On the one hand, through our physical bodies, we share vulnerability and mortality with every other living physical form. We are both born into this world, and we will both end up as rotting corpses, before turning to dust, and then nothing.
Then, the time will come when all mind-forms or thoughts will die. Yet, we are still there as a divine presence, radiant and fully awake. “Nothing that was real ever died,” Eckhart says, “Only names, forms, and illusions.” Our realization of this deathless dimension, our true natures, is the other side of this divine coin. On a deep level, we recognize not only our own immortality, but that of all other living things.
On the level of physical form, we share mortality and the precariousness of existence. On the level of Being, we share eternal, radiant life. These are the two aspects of compassion. As these seemingly opposite feelings of sadness and joy merge into one “they become transmuted into a deep inner peace.” This is the peace of God.
IN CELEBRATION OF COMPASSION
In celebration of compassion, a friend of mine named John DeYoung wrote a wonderful song for his ex-wife, Dana, for her non-profit organization http://www.africainc.us, which aids schools in South Africa. The song is called “A little compassion goes a long way to making this world a better place,” and it can be found by pressing this link here: A Little Compassion
For more information on John DeYoung and his wonderful music, please visit: http://www.johndeyoung.net/.
