The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 7

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

The Error of Unfair Punishment and Unconscious Societal Shadow

Denial and projection can arise when we don’t explore our own shadows.  We then project these hidden shadows upon “the other.” 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-second-commandment-love-everything_14.html

Not only do we as individuals have our own shadows, but societies have collective shadows.  Therefore, we can witness the laws that are passed which reflect the shadows of society. 

This often results in unfair punishment.  Sometimes, the laws are passed to punish for crimes that have no real victim, except for the self, such as drug use and prostitution. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/addictions.html

We can witness holocausts marked by the mass killing of people as the result of society’s shadows and labeling of “The Other.”  There are smaller holocausts where an elementary school boy is suspended for kissing a girl, and labeling this sexual harassment, or expelled for chewing his sandwich into a gun shape.   

Sometimes we don’t punish for crimes.  Sometimes we punish economically.  We punish those who we feel do not “work hard enough.” 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed

We allow to suffer those parts of our society that we label as “the other,” those “who are not in our family.”  We allow to exist garbage dumps, pollution, and crime in areas where the poor have no political power. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-landpart-2.html

Remember, the higher we are on the evolutionary scale, the greater percentage of persons we consider to be “family.”  Family is defined as those we are willing to care for emotionally, and economically if needed. 

We care for them not with Idiot Compassion, but with Wise Compassion.  We take care of the poor, but we don’t enable sloth and laziness.  Yet, as a society we might err on the side of compassion and generosity. 

We teach people how to care for themselves.  Creating methods and institutions to help people to grow and evolve from the earliest of ages.  We teach people “how to fish.”  We offer them the practices that can help them grow. 

Is this “pie-in-the-sky” idealism?  Not necessarily.  We can do this wisely.  We don’t spend the money that we don't have.  Yet, we invest in the future to the 7^th generation.  We don’t go for the short-term profit.  We can serve the world by engaging in “Fair Trade.”

Yes, we have a long way to go as a society.   Nonetheless, if we individually commit to our own growth, we elevate all of society. 

It is painful to see people suffer. 

Therefore, we must walk the razors edge of wisdom and compassion.  Realizing what might be too soon for our current society.  Looking carefully at the next Right Action. 

In closing, wishing you each the growth and unfolding of your own wisdom and compassion. 

 

Accepting you each just as the perfect beings that you are today, and the perfect beings you will continue to evolve to become. 

After a meditation retreat break at Spirit Rock we will return after mid-July with the most fun commandment…

The Third Commandment:           Enjoy Yourself!

The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 6

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

The Error of Idiot Compassion

This term was originally coined by Trungpa Rinpoche, later expanded upon by Ken Wilber. 

http://enlightenmentward.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/manifestations-of-idiot-compassion/

Part of idiot compassion arises from post-modernist thinking where you hold that everything is absolutely equal, and then you operate from that perspective.  Sometimes you try to be “nice” without regard to consequences. 

This can lead to rescuing, enabling, and co-dependence.  For example, you don’t give an alcoholic another drink to be kind to them.  You don’t lend money to a compulsive gambler.  You don’t stay with someone who is abusive.  Tough love is often what is needed. 

Idiot compassion arises from a lack of appreciation for hierarchy, confusing levels, depth, and span. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

http://analytikainc.com/blog/2011/03/22/holons-depth-and-span/

http://www.imprint.co.uk/Wilber.htm

We are always already Source, but to see clearly we must operate within dropping the small narcissistic “self.”  We can worship every part of Source.  Everyone and everything is sacred. 

However, there is a hierarchy, things are not all on the same level.  Not that anything is “better” than anything else.  Things that are more complex, are higher on the evolutionary scale.  These more complex “holons,” such as a carrot compared to a rock, have greater depth, because they have more levels. 

A rock has atoms and molecules.  A carrot has atoms, molecules, and cells.   An animal, additionally, has organs, and therefore, has another level of depth of complexity.   Humans and a few other animals have awareness of self-existence, which is a further layer of complexity, showing increased depth. 

Simpler holons have a greater span, in that they are more numerous, this goes along with less depth.  Rocks have a greater span than carrots or cows, there are more rocks than plants or animals. 

For those of you in the Green Meme…

http://rationalspirituality.com/articles/Ken_Wilber_Spiral_Dynamics.htm

Who do not believe in hierarchies…

Please read Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

A rock has a primitive consciousness.  A carrot has a more complex, but still a fairly primitive, consciousness.  A cow has a clearly more complex consciousness. 

Respect for this hierarchy of complexity allows us to break the rock to build our house, and allows us to eat the carrot.  But, we can honor the rock for giving itself for our needs.  We can honor the carrot for giving its life so that we can live. 

If we eat higher forms of life, such as the cow, we can honor this life that they gave so we can live.  But also realize that different culture hold different values, if you lived in India you would never think of eating the sacred cow. 

Additionally, we can honor the person who prepared the rock, grew the carrot, raised the cow.  We can honor all the people connected to serving the flow of matter and energy.  You can honor yourself for earning the money to buy and contribute to this flow of Source. 

We can appreciate and honor both depth and span.  That is wise compassion.  We want to honor the greatest depth for the greatest span. 

But, all of us draw some line on a level of complexity, on the evolutionary scale, where we will no longer kill and use a creature for clothing or food.  Some cultures eat horses and dogs.  That would be highly uncommon in the US. 

Almost everyone, except perhaps the insane, would draw the line at eating a human.  But, there is a reason that the term “Long Pig” exists. 

Within idiot compassion we fail to draw the lines properly, we fail to appreciate natural hierarchy, depth, and span.  We also fail to respect that others may draw different lines than our own. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting others to see our perspective.  The trick is radical acceptance of people who have different beliefs than our own.  There are many unknowns as to actual levels of consciousness for non-human primates, elephants, and whales.  We should consider very carefully our treatment of higher animals. 

Yet, there are natural lines that must be drawn.  In general, we don’t accept those who kill people.  Consider rehabilitation or lifelong imprisonment, before capital punishment.  Killing other humans makes us a more primitive species on the evolutionary scale.  If we go to war, we often pay a steep price when we kill or witness killing. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/why-we-can-no-longer-go-to-war.html

We should increasingly respect creatures of greater depth.  Perhaps then we would eat lower on the evolutionary scale.  But, that does not mean we will kill a person because they eat animals.  When someone kills an adult person to save a fetus or an animal, they are practicing a form of idiot compassion.  On the other hand, we must work on prevention so that abortions are very rare. 

Wise compassion uses your understanding of what is universally important in the world.  Wise compassion also understands that people can hold differing ideas of what is “right action.”

Sometimes drawing that line is not so easy, or straightforward.  Therefore, we say, “first of all, do no harm!” 

That will lead us to the next topic of unfair punishment.

So, remember to love everything with wise compassion, not idiot compassion. 

The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 5

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

The Error of Ignorance of the Self Shadow

If you feel a strong flooding emotion, it is probably coming from your unconscious shadow.  Often, you are rejecting an unacknowledged part of yourself that you have hidden away within John Bly’s “long black bag” you are dragging behind you. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/taming-monsters-and-dragons.html

In the past I had a strong aversion to overweight people.  I later realized this strong emotion came from my own rejection of my hidden self that wanted to over consume.  My Hungry Ghost.  This Ghost is described in Buddhism as beings with pinhole mouths that can never get enough to eat. 

 

My hungry ghost manifests itself by buying too many things for my hobbies, and some overeating as well.   Often, I can see myself overeating and overbuying when I am stressed.  These acts likely raise my serotonin and endogenous opioid levels. 

Exercise is a healthier way of raising these levels. 

When I acknowledged the existence of my Ghost and asked, “how has this tendency helped me in the past?”  I could thank my Hungry Ghost for being there when I needed to self soothe myself during times of stress. 

I can then incorporate my Ghost into my conscious awareness.  I can let it sleep within me, and realize it is there if I need it in the future. 

I no longer have this strong aversion to those who are overweight, and no longer project my Hungry Ghost upon them. 

I have compassion for them, because, I have compassion for my own Hungry Ghost. 

 

If you feel a strong emotion to someone or something, turn around and dig into that long black bag you are dragging behind you. 

Find that hidden unconscious shadow.  Bring it forth into the light. 

Acknowledge what it has done for you in the past, and let it go back to sleep. 

Then watch how you walk through life a bit more lightly. 

The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 4

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

The Error of Self Harm

The Error of Narcissism is mistaking your comfortable overcoat of ego, as all of Source.  This is confusing the little self with the big Self. 

The Error of Self Harm is a failure to see this little self as a deeply important manifestation of Source.  Here we get lost in the small view, that this little self is all that exists, and we don’t really even like this small self.  That small view leads to suffering, and a lack of respect for our connection to all of Source.   

Often, it is hard to see our own suffering. 

Some of us have been taught to put everyone else first, before tending to ourselves.

Common problems are related to failures of “filling you own cup, before letting it overflow to others.”

These revolve around giving too much of your time and energy to family, friends, or work.  Many of us grow up within expectations that you give to others first, without regard for yourself. 

You are labeled as “selfish,” if you give to yourself first. 

I see the older generations labeling the younger generations as selfish, because they are not willing to sacrifice their lives for what others deem as important. 

I applaud the younger generations who want to decide for themselves what is important.  And, therefore, they want to be able to decide where to expend their energies. 

Perhaps there is need to see more clearly what we define as “selfish.” 

In general, I do not have a problem with filling my own cup first.  I exercise regularly, using aerobic exercise usually outdoors cycling, and indoors, elliptical training, yoga stretching, light-weights, and core exercises.  I eat fairly healthily.  I take time to restore psychologically, often through reading as well as exercising.  I sit in meditation within several methods, and go on 7-10 day silent retreats every few years. 

Do I do this perfectly?  No. 

Do I berate myself for my imperfections and weight gain?  Often! 

Then I go sit on my cushion, maybe practice some Metta or Tonglen, turn my gaze inward, and connect to Source.  Compassion arises.  Forgiveness arises for this small self, and no further second arrows are shot. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/gentler-meditation.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-second-arrow-is-optional.html

On the other hand, sometimes, we dwell in our suffering, learning to “enjoy” this pain as the only way to feel anything. 

Peter Levine in his 2010 book “In an Unspoken Voice” argues that central to this suffering is our loss of deeply feeling our existence within this body.  Losing our natural embodiment. 

We substitute the “idea of the self” for the actuality of living and feeling exactly what is happening in each moment.  Peter Levine’s book, and life’s work, is about healing trauma.  Yet, his observations are relevant for all of us in our day-to-day lives, even without any history of clear trauma. 

Levine discusses our disembodiment.  Often, for women, the idea of the “perfect body,” airbrushed by the media, leads to anorexia and bulimia.  Also, leading to breast implants that decrease actual sexual sensation, and other plastic surgery, many times resulting in an ugly, artificial looking, body and face. 

Men can get lost in the addiction to pornography.  Often, they masturbate so hard and so fast, that they lose the ability to sense the pleasure of being inside the softness of another human, and therefore, lose the ability to perform within the beauty of sex with another. 

Peter Levine lists addictions to “overwork, sex, drugs, drinking or compulsive eating,” as manifestations of our disembodiment (p. 285).  I’ll add shopping, surfing the internet, and online gaming. 

At the end of his Chapter 12 “The Embodied Self,” Levine has some worthwhile exercises to practice being embodied.  I recommend his book for everyone, even for those of use who feel we have never had significant trauma, mainly because we have all been traumatized in some ways, simply by being alive. 

For further recommendations on being embodied, see my prior blogs: 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/happiness-prescription.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html

If Self Harm is one of your errors within the Second Commandment to Love Everything, start small and slow on your path to deeper embodiment and connection to Source. 

It can be painful at times.  But, it is also a beautiful path to healing. 

Remember to listen to others, but follow your own path. 

Your body’s felt sense of what is correct, is your intuition and guide. 

May you be safe.

May you be healthy.

May you be happy.

May you live with ease.

Namaste.