Compassionate Inaction Blackbird

Compassionate Inaction

by Blackbird

Compassion in a very difficult topic to discuss, write about or think about: Why: because compassion is a feeling. Compassion is a felt experience. It is our basic instinct. Our intuition. Our uncompromised reaction. What I’m talking about this article is the compassionate action of non-doing. If humanity as a culture is going to survive there needs to be a big celebration of doing nothing at all, a normalization of resting in a state of inactivity and relaxation.

Compassionate inaction: Why is doing nothing a compassionate response? Because from the state of inactivity and rest the true condition of compassion arises without any effort. Sangay Khandro said during her talk on the female protectors in the ‘Voices of Wisdom’ symposium “Innate compassion is constantly enveloping the minds of all brings.”

Compassionate inaction: I tried this theory out. I was talking to a businessman from Texas. He said his wife got him into mediation. At first, he said he was resistant. That meditation was for people with weak minds that needed help, considering himself to have a strong will. Also, on a practical level a waste of time. He said now every morning he sits 1 hour before he checks his phone or begins activity. Sometimes he said his mind races thinking about how many emails he must have. I said what about extending that do-nothing time for a few more hours, what about slowly a few days. Or maybe build up to a week - a week of doing nothing at all. He said just hearing you say that makes me feel extremely anxious.

Compassionate inaction: In the 1990s Monsanto—the world largest developer of genetically modified seeds and artificial sweeteners—implemented a corporate mindfulness meditation program. Research showed that meditation would reduce stress in employees and more efficient work outcomes would take place. As it turned out many people started quitting. Why? Because these employees realized they could not harm other people anymore. Innate compassion is constantly enveloping the minds of all brings. Were these employees memorizing a list of what to do and what not to do? Were they reading a self-help book that gave them insight into morality? No. They sat in a state of nondoing and compassion arose in their minds. This most important movement in life – the wish to not harm others arises.

Self-Compassionate inaction: Start here. Rest here. Think: if compassion does not include me it is incomplete compassion. Dom Chatterjee editorin-chief of ‘Rest for Resistance’ and founder @ qtpocmentalhealth writes in their article Fighting Burnout, Rest Debt, and Work as a False Path to Self-Worth writes: “Looking back, I have no idea how I worked a decade without really stopping to rest. Even if it’s possible to work so tirelessly, and many of us prove that it is, this dedication to responsibility and constantly doing something “productive” comes at a high cost. I often lose touch with myself. I suffer chronic back pain, which started when I was only 16. And what do I have to show for it? An empty bank account. Low self-esteem. And debilitating anxiety… Even the most enjoyable aspects of life, like eating amazing food, don’t contribute to healing all the time. But one activity will always support your healing process: rest.”

Compassionate inaction: ‘Conscientious Objectors.’ A Conscientious objector is an “individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service” on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, non-aggressionist, anti-imperialist, antimilitarist or philosophically stateless (not believing in the notion of state). On March 8, 1995, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/83 stated that “persons performing military service should not be excluded from the right to have conscientious objections to military service” This was re-affirmed in 1998, when resolution 1998/77 recognized that “persons [already] performing military service may develop conscientious objections.” A number of organizations around the world celebrate the principle on May 15 as International Conscientious Objection Day. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience.

‘Compassionate Objectors’: This is everyday life. There is violence for example in community, in the workplace, and on a global level. Innate reaction says: No. Stop. I cannot give people water from an empty well. Inaction takes place. Rest. Restoration. This self-compassion of non-action is a peaceful protest. Then, from that place of nourishment and from a feeling of compassion maybe action can take place. Not before then. The term itself has a lot of flexibility in it. May develop compassionate or conscious objections. At any time within the relationship with others becomes violent or harmful there is room to have objections. Shifting the response from fighting the situation and instead relaxing into nonaction or non-reaction. This is compassionate.

Self-Compassionate inaction: When I sat my first S. N. Goenka Vipassana retreat at Dhamma Visuddhi in Minnominie, Wisconsin I was motivated by self-compassion. I wanted things in my life to change as I was feeling a lot of suffering and my teacher at the time said if you sit one of these retreats everything in your life will change. I thought: sitting and doing nothing would change everything? Eleven days, no phone, no non-verbal gestures, eyes cast inwardly: a totally silent retreat. In retrospective I had thoughts like, will the world really function without me in it? After eleven days I will most likely have so many messages and things that I will need to tend to. Everything slowed down in a state of non-doing. Compassion can arise in simple and simultaneously profound ways. A few days into the process I felt cold in the meditation hall. It was nearing the end of November and the room previously used as a livestock barn had very little insulation. I thought: I wish I had a warm hat for my head and I bet everyone that feels cold right now could use a warm hat. A very simple thought. Ordinary. As I sat with the feeling in my body as this wish arouse to give everyone hats in an imaginary way. The thought passed but the feeling lingered. So overcome with compassion. My heart opening and I’m crying. I stay in the feeling of this experience for as long as possible and also relaxing into this experience. The story is not about the hats. The story is about the feeling of wanting to get out of suffering and simultaneously wanting to help others get out of suffering. This feeling is innate in all beings. However it comes about is not important. What is important is the recognition of our true compassionate nature and to experience this fully.

Compassionate Inaction: The less my body, speech and mind were outwardly engaging the less I was needed outwardly. Exact reflection. There is humility and also a sense of relief that came from realizing that the world doesn’t depend on me or require my constant attendance in it to maintain itself. There were no emails or messages. As I slowed down and relaxed so did the reflections.

Compassionate inaction: Too much emphasis on helping others before compassion is a felt experience brings about obstacles. The healers know this. Heal yourself first before healing others. Put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others. This is a beautiful and important lesson. Be willing to answer the question: who am I? Buddha’s highest teaching is: know yourself. Who am I? Know yourself. Who am I? Know yourself. Who and I? Know yourself. “Innate compassion is constantly enveloping the minds of all brings.” Constantly here meaning there is no end. Can’t find the end of it. Nor where it started. Constantly enveloping the minds of all beings. Who am I? I am compassion expressing itself.