I am a huge advocate of love, compassion, and peace. I want nothing more than that for every human, and every non-human, living in this and all worlds. AND there comes a time when far too many good, kind people use these words as excuses for disengagement, looking the other way, and unplugging from the reality of personal responsibility. Sometimes tough, fierce love comes in the form of righteous anger. Seriously, all one needs to do is to look at the force of Kali to see that the Divine Mother sometimes decides that the most loving thing to do is to slash and burn in order to create the space for renewal. Sometimes “compassion” is used as a numbing agent ~ an inebriant that is used to bypass the true pain and heartache we might otherwise feel for those who suffer ~ and in that sense, is totally devoid of any of the attributes of true compassion: suffering WITH ~ empty platitudes that are the marker of spiritual bypass. And too, many claim that nothing must shake their personal sense of “peace” ~ and they avoid any little thing that might rock the waters of that happy place. TRUE peace comes in the midst of the fires of chaos, and only the entitled have the luxury of avoiding knowledge or interaction with things that might muddy those waters.
The self-absorption of living in a happy bubble of love, compassion, and peace while so much chaos and suffering is happening all around is the very OPPOSITE of what any of the great spiritual teachers have guided us to do. And now, in this time where things are approaching critical mass, this kind of thinking is *almost* as toxic as the horrors we are witnessing. True love says: “I have a heart and two hands, how can I help?” True compassion says” “This is mine, too, and I can make a difference.” True peace says, “None of us are free unless all of us are free.” Yes, we must do our own internal work to heal and transform old wounding and stories ~ this is absolutely necessary. But it is only a small part of what is required to live in this world as a Warrior of the Light, a Bodhisattva.
