Compassion through social strife

[Glow]

1. What compassion can we offer.

Perhaps just being willing to witness the suffering. Not look away. Feel what is felt, even your own(my own) anger and feel compassion for it all. I understand why those with a portion of privilege and power hold on to it so tight, I understand their fear of losing it but it’s still not a good enough reason for so many to suffer disproportionately. Compassion for all, but not equal compassion, for suffering has not been an equal burden in my view.

2. My own emotional reaction. I have been moved in beautiful and perhaps ugly ways. I won’t get into my impression of all the reasons this needed to happen. i think most of us are on the same page.

My own experience has been of profound sorrow of a universal mother watching all her children and not being able to comfort or protect or change the world to help. I feel the portion within me that wants to ease all their sorrow and grieves with all humanities struggle with being wounded and abused, helpless while others prosper at their expense.

I also experience a portion that is so angry it wants to burn it down with one breath.
Edited to say. Not hurt 3D itself just paradigm we are stuck in to which people cannot peacefully bring change that allows for the happiness and care of all people.

I know that is a non accepting response but it’s a true one and be it from my shadow or divine anger I neither know or care. I accept the part is there and it is driven by love and compassion itself.
Unity encompasses all angles and experiences but a different unity just wants no otherselves to suffer, struggle, be hurt, abused ect. Be that incomplete unity, well it’s where I am at and I accept that compassionately too.

Mostly currently I hurt watching the peaceful protestors be treated to further uninstigated violence and I also am triggered by so many’s willingness to still not see there is a real problem. Too look away, or just distract themselves. Rationalize that it’s some how deserved or being blow out of proportion, or just not their problem.

I rationally know I do not have moral high ground. We all see and experience things different and how we should at each moment but I am finding in my circle few are of willing to witness or give the problem of others suffering even a portion of their consciousness awareness. I let it go, try not to bring it up if they are in avoid mode but it’s been hard to connect with them because I cannot avoid it taking a large portion of my current consciousness awareness.

Compassionately I should accept they cannot, just as I compassionately am unable to let it go from my awareness but a part of me is unfairly for them disappointed they will not walk/run willingly towards a huge paradigm shift. No one is cooked yet including me. We all are doing our best I am sure.

Anyways not sure how useful that is but I do think accepting even our darker reactions compassionately is important we are all dealing with what we are ready to and react as we react.

[Sacred Fool]

@ peregrine: I think you and agua were actually saying the same thing.

Putting together Agua's two posts, what I see is a process of putting compassion for self ahead of compassion for others.  In a practical way that makes sense.  In another sense, doing one without the other limits the synergy one can experience when they are combined--when other is to some degree recognized as other-self.  Not saying that the second way is any better than the first for any given individual, just trying to pry open the conversation a bit further.  Perhaps more light will find its way in that way?
 
 

[flofrog]

As a side note, may I offer that we are living perhaps the beginning of a really, at last, perhaps different small era ? Indeed with organic compassion showing.

[Agua]

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[Diana]

@ peregrine: I think you and agua were actually saying the same thing.

Putting together Agua's two posts, what I see is a process of putting compassion for self ahead of compassion for others.  In a practical way that makes sense.  In another sense, doing one without the other limits the synergy one can experience when they are combined--when other is to some degree recognized as other-self.  Not saying that the second way is any better than the first for any given individual, just trying to pry open the conversation a bit further.  Perhaps more light will find its way in that way?
 
 

I take your point. And I'll do a little more prying. The way I see it is that one HAS to be accountable to one's own evolution in order to effectively help others. Otherwise we get into the realm of martyrdom. Martyrdom is separation, because it denies the self, or puts others above self. I'm not saying martyrdom is bad, just that it is unbalanced.

Ideally one can balance work on self with service to others. But if you try to serve another in areas that you are blocked in, I think it can cause problems and even result in an effort to control (albeit unconsciously). For example: a counselor who is trying to counsel a person who is depressed, and the counselor her(him)self is depressed, each having different a history of trauma which has triggered the depression. The counselor's triggers cannot help but influence the patient's care.

In addition, an STO-oriented individual will radiate. This radiation in itself is service to others. What I am, I am at this moment. I radiate what I radiate because of where I am at and who I am. I embody a certain amount or quality of compassion. I can't force that. But I AM radiating that. So my most efficacious activity (the matrix of the mind) would be to reach for the infinite pool of evolutionary possibilities (the potentiator of the mind), and increase my ability to radiate, along with a maturation in consciousness which increases discernment and comprehension of this existence and the way it works.

My above conjecture does not negate the idea that I physically help those within my reach to help in balance with my own situation.

[Sacred Fool]

1) Discuss how compassion might be offered during times of high emotion and social strife, like now, especially when engaging in discussion with those we disagree with.

Swerving back towards the OP just a bit--hoping to keep Austin happy and engaged--and to respond to Diana's last post: because responding under stress to emotion is like playing music under stress or is similar to performing various sorts of duties under stress, a person tends to fall back on their training and their habits.  In other words, under stress, I am compassionate towards myself and others in exactly the patterns I am (or am not) normally so; however, under stress I may have to lean in on them a little more.

I have a family member who has drifted over to the far right over the course of a couple of decades, and speaking with this person about politics is a trying experience.  There is some agreement between us here and there, but one thing that makes it all difficult is that whenever we disagree it's usually in a completely polarized manner with no shades of grey. 

I find I sometimes face the same problem in my interior work.  For instance, when dealing with items involving long term intense fear, there's often fierce reflexive resistance to opening up to seeing another side of the phenomenon. 

In both cases, my "training" tells me to allow generous space, to be gentle and to respect that the intelligence I'm dealing with is where it's at for it's own reasons.  Under stress, I more or less do the same, but more deliberately.


I'm thinking now, when dealing with internal strife, I am softly offering it a better place to be, an experience of reduced stress.  Usually the internal stuff is amenable to the idea, but sometimes only gradually.  With the family member, I've not seen an inclination in that direction.  More's the pity.
  
  

[flofrog]

I think it is awfully difficult when it is a family member, lol

Breathing deep is a good thing and deciding on unconditional love afore discussion is a good help,


Please Austin, come back, this is a very interesting thread you started.

[Asolsutsesvyl]

Another aspect is, that compassion is not always an appropriate response.
A starving man will starve despite being offered compassion.
A man beaten to death would need action in his defense and not compassion.

When I look at the situation at hand, I in a way doubt that compassion is what is needed.
I wonder if striving for compassion is not more of a way to avoid really looking what the situation shows us and avoiding what it actually triggers in ourselves.

According to the refined tastes of some Christian mystics, compassion is a cheaper and cruder substitute for love. Like a close derivative of love, which remains more narrow and distorted in its focus. By contrast, the love aimed for in positive development is connected to a fuller consciousness at the emotional level: the positive being there through a fuller "knowing", instead of a narrow attitude.

(In relation to this, while compassion is in part described as positive, it is also described as one of the most subtle forms in which temptation can appear as a spiritual "testing".)

[Agua]

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[Asolsutsesvyl]

@Asolsutsesvyl

I am sorry, but I didnt understand that
Would you mind rephrasing it for a german guy?

At the risk of the following being a bit further away from the descriptions found in Boris Mouravieff's Gnosis books...

Love is more like a type of consciousness. Compassion is more like an attitude. Compassion, while a type of positive emotionality, is smaller than love, is more limited. Love is tied to transformation, it changes everything.

Love is a difficult goal. Compassion is often confused for love. If people try to develop towards real and full love, but end up stuck in a compassionate attitude instead, then compassion has turned into a temptation which they have fallen prey to.

Temptation is catalyst. Not only negative things can tempt people, but also things which seem and feel very spiritually positive. Anything which would lead people to stop before reaching a fuller consciousness is a temptation.

Conscience is consciousness of the heart. Morality is merely cultural programming. Conscience is of the spirit. Morality is only worldly influence. Morality requires a sleeping heart. Love and conscience ultimately requires the destruction of morality, in order to fully develop.

[flofrog]

Funny, I have always felt true compassion being a consequence of love, not to be confused with pity.

I could be so wrong

[Sacred Fool]

I think there's a bit of confusion over nomenclature. When, say, the Buddhists use the term compassion, they mean it as something above personal attraction or cultural programming. Yet, someone else may use that term to refer to a state of caring, but where there is a hard division separating self from other-self.

Because it's just a simple, innocent little word not trying to hurt anybody, one may need to simply apply some introspective effort to define one's intended meaning.

[Agua]

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[Asolsutsesvyl]

Likewise thanks for clarifying, to everyone.

I'm not interested in debating which definitions are generally best, but clarification about what's actually meant when words are used can be useful. (In a discussion like this, otherwise more and less subtle disagreements could go on without people knowing what they are about.)

For me, compassion is [...] when I am connected with someone who experiences intense emotions and my heart is open, I literally feel what he/she feels.

This is what compassion means to me, its a bit like understanding but on a more holistic level that includes emotions and the whole energy someone is in.

This does not seem limiting. I was reminded of the ideas I posted about when I read your earlier post, where you described compassion as not always the appropriate response, it somehow being in the way and happening instead of practical action which can help. That's a description of compassion as somehow limiting.

If compassion simply is consciousness expanding in the direction of the other, then how would that be in the way of helping the other, practically? Seems like it would help, instead, because it would make clearer what's appropriate action and what isn't.

Bein caught in an abstraction cuts one off from the actual experience and makes for a action or reaction that is rather based on "should" as opposed to a true reaction that emerges from ones depth.

I can understand that through a personal "before" and "after". Until my spirituality changed over the last 5 years, it was connected to deeply rooted hopes and fears, with the old personal discipline I had built up connected to a range of sophisticated concepts.

Then, as described in another discussion, all of that gradually broke down. I experienced too much, inwardly, for the hopes, fears, and belief connected to the old discipline. So it all began to dissolve, replaced by ambiguity and later, faith in the midst of it.

But I still have a large inner world where big areas are more rooted in the old than the new. It will take a lot of time to more completely re-explore and re-establish understanding on the new foundation gradually forming, especially because I crammed as much learning into the earlier years as I could.

[unity100]

   When the demonic Antifa thugs had burned down so many buildings

Being anti fascist being demonic would mean that fascism is angelic/godsent and therefore it is 'good' and 'positive'.

Since Ra labeled the Western establishment as 'controlled fascism' and described the current society as a negative one, that would also make Ra demonic since they labeled fascism as 'negative/evil'.

and said that they were getting bored with trashing city centers

That statement was made from international Antifa headquarters, by Antifa leaders wearing their Antifa hats and Antifa socks, while they engorged themselves on Antifa cookies, i presume...

[unity100]

As a side note, may I offer that we are living perhaps the beginning of a really, at last, perhaps different small era ? Indeed with organic compassion showing.

That is true in many ways. Foremost, green vibration is now doing its effect of exposing the true nature of all things.

Not only people are facing themselves for the first time, and many having problems (psychological disorders and so on) due to not being prepared to face themselves, but also the society and its nature is being exposed in full.

An example of this can be seen in how the establishment in US has dropped any pretense of democracy and freedom etc. They bump up the stock market by using public funds, they expect the people to go back to work in the middle of the pandemic and boost the stock market by working in low paid minimum wage jobs even if they cant fully feed their families.

On top of that, for the first time, in public sight, the establishment just started repressing its people for protesting. When the peaceful protesters did not go away and kept enjoying the right they were told they have, the establishment just set the police at them, 'ordered them' to 'disperse', and when they didnt, they just started beating them down. When the people persisted, they started to use the Army. All pretense of freedom was dropped, those who were protesting were labeled as terrorists by labeling them as 'antifa' after labeling antifa as 'terrorism', some places like NYC even went as far to suspend habeas corpus.

The most incredible thing is how green vibration exposes some things: NY police is asking those who they arrest whether they have antifascist sentiments.

The proper answer is, of course, not having them.

The police is not aware, or possibly does not even care about the fact that not being an anti fascist means that someone is ok with fascism.

What is expected of people, is to be ok with fascism. Which means, the police is protecting fascism.

This is a case of green vibration is literally making people and organizations literally speak out their true nature. A case of 'freudian slip', if you will.

...

Indeed, this is a time of change.

[Asolsutsesvyl]

Being anti fascist being demonic would mean that fascism is angelic/godsent and therefore it is 'good' and 'positive'.

That's how Franco in Spain set things up. In a very old-school Catholic way, reviving the inquisition mentality that the torture and killing of those presumed guilty was good for their souls, a way of "cleansing" or "atoning" or getting rid of the darkness. The church embraced Franco as the salvation of themselves and their country. The opponents, the anti-religious and communistic, were demonized.

Since Ra labeled the Western establishment as 'controlled fascism' and described the current society as a negative one, that would also make Ra demonic since they labeled fascism as 'negative/evil'.

"Left" and "right" are relative to whatever the establishment happens to be. In relation to the Anglo-American deep state, Ra is the pinnacle of and ultimate type of sinister representative for something we can call, cosmic hippie anti-fascist democratic communism. To be a bit more precise, that label may be good (except a bit long, perhaps) for what the Confederation seems to promote.

As a side note, may I offer that we are living perhaps the beginning of a really, at last, perhaps different small era ? Indeed with organic compassion showing.

That is true in many ways. Foremost, green vibration is now doing its effect of exposing the true nature of all things.

Not only people are facing themselves for the first time, and many having problems (psychological disorders and so on) due to not being prepared to face themselves, but also the society and its nature is being exposed in full.

An example of this can be seen in how the establishment in US has dropped any pretense of democracy and freedom etc. [...] On top of that, for the first time, in public sight, the establishment just started repressing its people for protesting. [...] The most incredible thing is how green vibration exposes some things: NY police is asking those who they arrest whether they have antifascist sentiments. [...] What is expected of people, is to be ok with fascism. Which means, the police is protecting fascism.

This is a case of green vibration is literally making people and organizations literally speak out their true nature. A case of 'freudian slip', if you will.

In part it may all seem new, but there's historical patterns mirroring all those things. That's the usual problem when discussing whether a truly "new age" has finally arrived or not. The basic patterns in authority, violence against protesters, etc., are actually really old.

But one "new" thing is a type of greater "transparency" to what's there and unfolding in the world - very relatively, I should add, mainly compared to the past, I mean it's still far from ideal.

There's the idea of the "Freudian slip", but I came up with a new term for what I saw a few years ago, the "Jungian slip". While, when people reveal personal stuff through a quirk of language use, that's the plain old Freudian slip, the stuff I saw (and also read others describe) has more to do with patterns in collective consciousness and unconsciousness.

Some Jungian authors focus on large patterns and fields which "inform" and "shape" the unfolding of events, which means the nature of what goes on tends to distribute itself in symbolic form. One interesting book when considering darker things is Dispelling Wetiko, by Paul Levy, which describes "evil" in the form of a virus-like pseudo-entity which inverts minds in which it takes hold. Symbolic patterns then tend to be shaped so that, synchronically, people across space and time who represent the archetypal shadow and anchor it in this world support one another in hiding the darkness they are all serving. It warps the collective "field" like a black hole hiding itself from plain visibility. Yet symbolic clues are also sprinkled around which point to what's there, to the collective madness which all those people have ended up serving (most of them unconscious of it).

I think when the formerly more hidden nature of things becomes more visible, this amplifies the choice people have and the significance of how they choose. The more is revealed, the more what is stood for counts. And that may be the door to the changes ahead...

[Asolsutsesvyl]

For me, compassion is [...] when I am connected with someone who experiences intense emotions and my heart is open, I literally feel what he/she feels.

This is what compassion means to me, its a bit like understanding but on a more holistic level that includes emotions and the whole energy someone is in.

This does not seem limiting. I was reminded of the ideas I posted about when I read your earlier post, where you described compassion as not always the appropriate response, it somehow being in the way and happening instead of practical action which can help. That's a description of compassion as somehow limiting.

If compassion simply is consciousness expanding in the direction of the other, then how would that be in the way of helping the other, practically? Seems like it would help, instead, because it would make clearer what's appropriate action and what isn't.

I figured out how compassion can get in the way. Or, really, how emotionally-connected consciousness can get in the way.

When you feel really deeply, then the usual solutions may begin to seem meaningless, or insignificant, in relation to what you are aware of. That's because the usual patterns of problems with solutions, the solutions debated and considered by most people, are all within the sinkhole of indifference. Feel beyond that, and the entire paradigm is blown away... How to help then, beyond simply sharing information?

That's old for me, really. It's why I haven't been able to "believe in" most causes, long-term. But my emotionally-rooted awareness used to be very bitter, so it took a while to see how it can relate to the question of compassion.

For example...
- School. Good to add resources to? Dramatizing this only a little, school is like a slaughterhouse for the soul, or a place where children go to have holes drilled into their energy bodies and control/feeding tubes connected, integrating them into the Matrix. It works the same in every country.
- Medicine. All donations into the big charities fund the paradigm inseparable from the big players of the industry.
- Sustainable food paradigms. Did you know that for each calorie of food energy produced, ten in the form of fossil fuel are used to produce the food? Make it vegan, and both that problem and that of depleting the top soil of the planet remains. Ecocide remains on the largest scale.

Without listing everything I've grown aware of from earlier years, sometimes I had such a bitter awareness of it that it felt like the destruction of it all would be a beautiful thing. Comets grinding this global civilization to dust and burning it to ashes. Nature restarting in the absence of humanity.

[Sacred Fool]

Without listing everything I've grown aware of from earlier years, sometimes I had such a bitter awareness of it that it felt like the destruction of it all would be a beautiful thing. Comets grinding this global civilization to dust and burning it to ashes. Nature restarting in the absence of humanity.

Well, I guess mass destruction could be viewed as a compassionate response on some level, but I kinda doubt that it would look that way on the level of the heart.

An alternative compassionate view might be that humanity is going through a big learning process due to the deviations and mistakes that were made since the Copper Age.  But I think that if you sit back a little and view it on the scale of millennia, there is much to be optimistic about.

Sometimes it can be hard to differentiate one's misgivings about self from one's feelings about others or the larger fabric of evolution in general.
  
  

[Minyatur]

It might help to remind yourself that everything that occurs in this world is love and light. The confused self sees darkness, all the while all of it is a complex play of light.

To align yourself with this I would suggest revisiting what is said to be the only truth, or rather law, in the material and read anew its eloquent description in the very first session. As there is no multiplicity to the Law of One, there is neither any multiplicity to truth. All is truly well at all times and this is true in the most fundamental possible way.

For me, it's always about doing the circle of my emotions and touching unity anew. There is no way I know of to simply always be in the constant awareness of unity, yet it forever remains there to do the journey toward it with different portions of yourself. When you do so, it always feels like a great moment in time, one where you release control, expectation and instead see truly that all is well and as it should be. It is not your duty to wish others to be otherwise than what they are and this is why the path is one of acceptance. All things are truly acceptable in the proper time for each entity and it may be helpful to acknowledge this. This is key for compassion.

This is very well put, thank you. I believe it in my heart and mind. Sometimes, though, when resting in this understanding, a small voice will pop up. It will raise concern that this perspective, while valid, may also be a tool for bypassing an essential part of the experience we're hoping to have here on Earth. We have volunteered to experience and witness pain - what do we do with that pain, then?

I have two conflicting ideas of the process.

One is, by "doing the circle" of emotions and "touching unity anew," we are bringing the sacred light of unity and the Creator to that pain. To find unity amidst the difficulty is a powerful act and transforms not just ourselves, but the world.

The other idea is that, by witnessing pain and then defaulting back to unity, we are "averting the gaze," in a sense. Perhaps the pain has more to tell us that we are no hearing by intentionally diverting our attention from it?

I suspect that it's not the same for everyone in every situation. In this situation we're currently in, for my part, I'm feeling as though I would be missing something essential if I simply allowed myself to rest in the broader perspective of harmonious unity without engaging more in the collective pain being experienced.

I don't think you can so much rest in the perspective of unity, at least not in 3D. That is why I likened it to a journey, because for each thing it will start with your initial response to catalyst and something not of a very high vibration. Then, you can't either just dismiss it and turn to unity in one go. From the initial response, there will be many phases of transformation as you learn to balance your response and work with your own blockages. This will allow you to elevate the way you can feel until there is no emotional charge and only love remains. Or at least, that is the principle behind reaching a balanced state, which the material says can be easily confused with indifference while it is not indifference. The hardship when looking at everyone, is that we all resonate more with certain catalysts and less with others, so not every catalyst is meant to teach everyone something in the same fashion. Unity is nothing about a fully harmonious experience, unity is about separation and everything. There is no unity without pain, for unity teaches to accept the entire spectrum of experience and pain is its own rightful part of it. As such, pain is its own lesson, as an infinite principle, of unity.

To me it is clear that in the world there is a whole lot of pain every single day. In this entire situation, all parties involved directly in it have clear behaviors that are rooted in pain. Your country is also a whole lot archaic in many ways and some of these ways underlie these issues. It is in the top countries in the world with the biggest social gaps between rich and poor. You are one of, if not the only, civilized country with a strong custom of mutilating your male newborns, while most of the other countries that do so have an elitist/negative religious background to this custom. Living somewhere where this is not a custom, I can tell you that the very few people I know of that had such a procedure have a lifelong struggle with charged feelings of separation from their other-selves, deep negative emotions and anger issues. The idea of applying this to a whole country tells me that it is very likely to have strong turmoil and things like racism will be much harder to fall away. Literally everyday, thousands of american newborns will be inflicted a deep trauma when they are at their most vulnerable and this will affect them for the rest of their life. If I want to find reasons to be heartbroken about things relating to your country, I could easily trap myself into disallowing joy to be part of my life without even looking at the rest of the world. I believe your country will have many storms, because there are just quite many things that will need to fall away to open up to a new vibration and from there I have the choice to either get swept up in the maelstrom or process things in a way I can center myself in the vibration I want radiate into this world. I do not condemn anger, worry, heart-brokenness and so on, as they each are beautiful emotions to have of themselves and fruits of this experience we are having. I simply want to remind that they are steps and that in seeking a higher vibration we can attain higher positive emotions in regard to catalysts. Maybe it was not clear, but what I was trying to get at when writing about the Logos's plan, is that a vivid, varied and intense experience is a gift to us and this includes all the events that are going on.

Life an Earth has a strong thematic of struggle, even up to a newborn's very first breath. This is an intended thematic, as through the weight of these struggles each entity's inner light, which is their identity as an astral body of this Universe, is allowed to be refined ever stronger and nobler. Creation and destruction are extremely basic principles within the cosmos and that are ever on-going. Although this is a tough ride, it is we, the One Infinite Creator, that gets to be satisfied with having gone through it. When things are easy and simple and without difficulties, there are less rewards, but when you push yourself through your limits and get to see the power of your inner light and will, it is you who will be satisfied with the journey. These difficult times are an opportunity for many to shine their light within Creation, so not everything is purely sorrowful.

I believe true compassion takes no party, because when it does you are retreating on likeliness to yourself and it is not so much of an open heart then. This is exactly what is happening in your country, certain people only know to have compassion for those who are alike themselves and direct their negatively charged energy toward those are are not. Likeliness is also in no way limited to race, it can be applied to every single dimension that can make up one's sense of identity. So if you are stuck having compassion only for a certain side, you are a part of the maelstrom and you are further enabling the wheel of karma to turn. The only thing that has the power to stop the wheel is forgiveness. While this may sound awfully hard to achieve, it seems like a student of the Law of One, who has learnt to recognize itself within each and every of its other-self, may more easily do this work. If you recognize your other-self as also you, you may be open to process this other-self as part of yourself and see that none is above above them nor could do better where they stand, because they are the perfect reflection of them all standing exactly in its shoes.

So for your question "what do we do with that pain, then?", the answer is simply 'what do you do with your own pain?'. That is how you, as a self, ought to process the pain of others also.

[flofrog]

I think so too, Minyature, that the answer is " what do you do with your pain ?" if only, from a buddhist point of way, this is a primary respect.

What is expected of people, is to be ok with fascism. Which means, the police is protecting fascism.

Unity100, I am not at all digressing with you, but I think right now, because I still think each individual's awareness matters, I think that most probably now, each policeman is seriously, at some point, whether when they go to sleep or drive to their precinct, or whenever, have some thinking about what is going on right now. I think some must really feel while these events are going through them, a passage of catalyst that they are not ignoring. The simple view that some of them may kneel along with protesters, this simple fact will change something inside.

I could be so wrong of course.

On edit : it is still this thing where we name a group, there is a collective thinking inside that group, and we characterize this group , but still inside this group, each entity is also unique. Really interesting.

[Sacred Fool]

This is very well put, thank you. I believe it in my heart and mind. Sometimes, though, when resting in this understanding, a small voice will pop up. It will raise concern that this perspective, while valid, may also be a tool for bypassing an essential part of the experience we're hoping to have here on Earth. We have volunteered to experience and witness pain - what do we do with that pain, then?

I have two conflicting ideas of the process.

One is, by "doing the circle" of emotions and "touching unity anew," we are bringing the sacred light of unity and the Creator to that pain. To find unity amidst the difficulty is a powerful act and transforms not just ourselves, but the world.

The other idea is that, by witnessing pain and then defaulting back to unity, we are "averting the gaze," in a sense. Perhaps the pain has more to tell us that we are no hearing by intentionally diverting our attention from it?

I suspect that it's not the same for everyone in every situation. In this situation we're currently in, for my part, I'm feeling as though I would be missing something essential if I simply allowed myself to rest in the broader perspective of harmonious unity without engaging more in the collective pain being experienced.

I don't think you can so much rest in the perspective of unity, at least not in 3D. That is why I likened it to a journey, because for each thing it will start with your initial response to catalyst and something not of a very high vibration. Then, you can't either just dismiss it and turn to unity in one go. From the initial response, there will be many phases of transformation as you learn to balance your response and work with your own blockages. This will allow you to elevate the way you can feel until there is no emotional charge and only love remains. Or at least, that is the principle behind reaching a balanced state, which the material says can be easily confused with indifference while it is not indifference. The hardship when looking at everyone, is that we all resonate more with certain catalysts and less with others, so not every catalyst is meant to teach everyone something in the same fashion. Unity is nothing about a fully harmonious experience, unity is about separation and everything. There is no unity without pain, for unity teaches to accept the entire spectrum of experience and pain is its own rightful part of it. As such, pain is its own lesson, as an infinite principle, of unity.

I'm having a tough time understanding this discussion.  Am I reading this correctly?  For Austin, unity is a state of mind brought on by balancing emotions, while for Minyatur this is theoretically possible, but not a stable state--for most of us in real life?

So, the premise is that unity is an emotional place where one can share love without pain because one is not set off by catalyst?  Is that it?  And then Minyatur further says that unity is about separation along with everything else, therefore one cannot actually rest in it?

Then the experience of being one with Creation, being one with the Creator, is a modified version of normal consciousness reached in a linear fashion through emotional processing?  And because it includes separation, it cannot be stable?  Geez, that would be interesting.

Are you sure it's not a transformational non-linear leap to an higher level of "cosmic" awareness, and not something that the well known comfortably self rests in, but something one finds that one is?

Or maybe we're talking about two different things?  Maybe one is about a peaceable journey through refining emotional response to catalyst and the other is about recognition of self as consciousness on a variety of different levels simultaneously?  In the latter case, I see no meaningful conflict between being conscious of pain while also being conscious of unity.

I hope someone can follow this.  It's a bit psychedelic, I'm afraid.
  
  

[Minyatur]

I'm having a tough time understanding this discussion.  Am I reading this correctly?  For Austin, unity is a state of mind brought on by balancing emotions, while for Minyatur this is theoretically possible, but not a stable state--for most of us in real life?

So, the premise is that unity is an emotional place where one can share love without pain because one is not set off by catalyst?  Is that it?  And then Minyatur further says that unity is about separation along with everything else, therefore one cannot actually rest in it?

Well to me, to be in the perspective of unity enables one to find insanely beautiful each and every aspect of Creation. What I meant about separation is more in the idea of the prism that shows the colors that steam from sunlight, there is unity without certain colors even if from your vantage point you have a strong distaste for them. So separation in the sense that every being, emotion and event gets its own limelight within time and space and that this is well. Everything is happening. We are infinity, we are love/light light/love, we are unity.

I did not mean that you can't rest in it either, just that I do not know how. Maybe I just don't meditate enough.

Then the experience of being one with Creation, being one with the Creator, is a modified version of normal consciousness reached in a linear fashion through emotional processing?  And because it includes separation, it cannot be stable?  Geez, that would be interesting.

Are you sure it's not a transformational non-linear leap to an higher level of "cosmic" awareness, and not something that the well known comfortably self rests in, but something one finds that one is?

Or maybe we're talking about two different things?  Maybe one is about a peaceable journey through refining emotional response to catalyst and the other is about recognition of self as consciousness on a variety of different levels simultaneously?  In the latter case, I see no meaningful conflict between being conscious of pain while also being conscious of unity.

I hope someone can follow this.  It's a bit psychedelic, I'm afraid.

I guess it is a bit both. The linear emotional processing allows one to be open to a degree of experience that may be seen more of a timeless nature and as a realization of what you contain at all times.

Also, I did not mean to not engage with or be conscious of pain. Just that you know, unity is there to turn toward if you are feeling at loss with it all, or at least that has worked for me multiple times. It is in no way necessary either.

[David_1]

One woman’s opinion.
https://twitter.com/BeachMilk/status/126...1191701504

[AnthroHeart]

I live in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the areas where recent protesting turned destructive the past couple of nights. Emotions are particularly high here in Louisville because a woman was recently murdered by police officers who were executing a no-knock raid on the wrong residence. So far, no one has been held accountable for her death. It is a heartbreaking situation.

In grappling with my own catalyst and emotions in the situation, I find awareness centering on the same theme of catalyst that has been ever-present in my mind these past few years: the social discourse. Of course, I am absolutely heartbroken by the violent deaths that seeded these protests. But it seems especially challenging to me that not everyone is heartbroken, that not everyone tries to understand the anger and pain of the black community, that everyone is not on the same page. It feels so obvious to me.

But that is my own reality, and I also realize it is not realistic to expect everyone to experience the same reality as us. One thing that really hurts me is that there is such a lack of an attempt to understand among the social discourse. Witnessing arguments and discussions that play out over social media, it seems to me that most everyone already has an opinion and is simply engaged in a battle to allow their opinion to reign victorious, rather than a conversation. Typical internet discussion feels like it is devoid of compassion.

What I’d like to do with this thread is offer a space for a couple purposes:
1) Discuss how compassion might be offered during times of high emotion and social strife, like now, especially when engaging in discussion with those we disagree with.
2) Share our feelings about the current strife, whether it’s specific to the ongoing protests or just the general social strife in our culture that seems to be ongoing. I encourage a focus on claiming ownership of our feelings and discussing our internal world with an angle of desiring to use this as catalyst to increase our capacity to love.

I would like to request, with all of my heart, that the energies of debate and argument be set aside for this thread. I would like to focus on the compassion element – if you feel the desire to prove a point, to refute a claim, to engage in debate, I ask that you instead ask yourself, “How can I compassionately engage in an attempt to understand?”

(I’m not saying that debate, argument, and disagreement have no purpose. I am asking that this thread not be the space for that.)

I share this with love for you all, and with prayers for healing all divisions present in our society.

Thank you Austin. I think the best way we can show compassion in our own lives is from the words of Jesus: to bless those who have hurt you.
The more we can forgive, the greater the world will experience forgiveness.

This does not mean we don't stand up for ourselves. I always say not to take anyone's crap.

[Infinite]

I was watching videos not only from the US, but from other countries. People are tearing down statues of personalities who were slave traders. I always read that in the New Age of Aquarius the old structures built in the Age of Pisces would collapse. Although Ra has not touched on this issue explicitly, it seems to me that these movements can lead us to a scenario of greater integration of groups that today are somehow marginalized.

I believe that this revolt and destruction are manifestations of old racist, sexist and homophobic structures being overthrown in favor of a new world, in which no one will be diminished or segregated for being or thinking differently. I suppose this has a lot to do with the influence of the green ray vibration of the full acceptance of the other selfs. I hope that all of this leads to concrete social changes around the world, although I am aware that this cycle is likely to end with several catastrophes.

[AnthroHeart]

Infinite,

Could this be the Phoenix rising from the ashes?

[Sacred Fool]

I was watching videos not only from the US, but from other countries. People are tearing down statues of personalities who were slave traders. I always read that in the New Age of Aquarius the old structures built in the Age of Pisces would collapse. Although Ra has not touched on this issue explicitly, it seems to me that these movements can lead us to a scenario of greater integration of groups that today are somehow marginalized.

I believe that this revolt and destruction are manifestations of old racist, sexist and homophobic structures being overthrown in favor of a new world, in which no one will be diminished or segregated for being or thinking differently. I suppose this has a lot to do with the influence of the green ray vibration of the full acceptance of the other selfs. I hope that all of this leads to concrete social changes around the world, although I am aware that this cycle is likely to end with several catastrophes.

I cannot help but note here that in Iraq the tore down statues as well, but that conduced to uninterrupted suffering and strife.

Good public policy (moving away from policies which are dehumanizing and brutal towards those which are caring and supportive) is a miserably difficult process, one which protesting has nothing to do with.  It has to do with reconciliation and collaboration.   I think a united "phoenix-journey" will be a very slow one with some many forces sprawling in so many directions.  Over the next few centuries we should begin to iron out the wrinkles.
  
  

[Sacred Fool]

I guess it is a bit both. The linear emotional processing allows one to be open to a degree of experience that may be seen more of a timeless nature and as a realization of what you contain at all times.

And what of transformation of consciousness?  Does that figure in to your schema someplace?

Just curious.
 
  

[AnthroHeart]

I was watching videos not only from the US, but from other countries. People are tearing down statues of personalities who were slave traders. I always read that in the New Age of Aquarius the old structures built in the Age of Pisces would collapse. Although Ra has not touched on this issue explicitly, it seems to me that these movements can lead us to a scenario of greater integration of groups that today are somehow marginalized.

I believe that this revolt and destruction are manifestations of old racist, sexist and homophobic structures being overthrown in favor of a new world, in which no one will be diminished or segregated for being or thinking differently. I suppose this has a lot to do with the influence of the green ray vibration of the full acceptance of the other selfs. I hope that all of this leads to concrete social changes around the world, although I am aware that this cycle is likely to end with several catastrophes.

I cannot help but note here that in Iraq the tore down statues as well, but that conduced to uninterrupted suffering and strife.

Good public policy (moving away from policies which are dehumanizing and brutal towards those which are caring and supportive) is a miserably difficult process, one which protesting has nothing to do with.  It has to do with reconciliation and collaboration.   I think a united "phoenix-journey" will be a very slow one with some many forces sprawling in so many directions.  Over the next few centuries we should begin to iron out the wrinkles.
  
  

I don't know. 4D is here, and time is speeding up.