Compassion isn’t a feeling. Compassion is the experience of the Oneness of the universe. Compassion is experienced by the individual as a feeling only when the individual has returned from his and her own exclusivity, the prodigal son and daughter returning home after the daunting journey of separateness.
The universe, God, compassion, love, or whatever other superficial word you choose for the Oneness, it doesn’t need you to love it or feel compassion for it or to pray to it or whatever other ritual the individual has devised to “feel” Oneness. Oneness realizes you’re part of it. It is the only real thing to realize. All parts really are One. Only experientially has the individual become exclusive and fully identified with separateness.
The individual is allowed to go as far into the delusion of separateness as he and she is willing, to delve into any identity she and he please. That’s free will. The inclusive nature of the universe may be entirely forgotten in the individual’s experience. However, the prodigal son and daughter always returns, eventually.
Grace is such a spoiled word, but this is the grace in suffering. When the individual has “spent” her and his “allowance” plundering the globe for Oneness, seeking Oneness in lust, in gluttony, in power, in fame, in riches, in drugs, in pity, in therapy, in intellect, in thrill-seeking, the individual is forced to reckon with suffering, the lack of fulfillment in the exclusivity of separateness, the realization that each of these endeavors only serves an exclusive identity.
To make the whole world rich would make the word, rich, redundant and irrelevant. He may only identify as rich in contrast to her poverty. She may only identify with fame if he is unknown. Inclusivity is the only true ethic, the only true means to fulfillment.
All the rules, the morality, the societal paradigms, the norms, the facts, the walls, the customs, the rituals devised by man, they’re all formed from separateness. They’re all attempts to contrive order through separateness. From this separateness, “God” is whatever is lacking in that separateness. A starving civilization experiences God as food. A hateful civilization experiences God as love. An unruly society experiences God as law and order. A righteous society experiences God as humility. An unjust society experiences God as justice. A violent, chaotic society experiences God as everlasting peace. A sick and sad society experiences God as happiness and health.
A people whom derive no purpose from life must invent another world from which to derive purpose. A people void of compassion must invent a system by which each individual is judged, condemned, punished or rewarded from another world, whereby every individual seduced into the delusion of separateness in this world is in the midst of a lifelong trial by virtue of their behavior in this world from another world completely separate from this world. This system could only have been created within the delusion of separateness, for where could one go if one already is Oneness?
A society completely enveloped in separateness, individual identities, factions within factions, completely devoid of compassion, must create a separate God, a separate compassionate entity, a separate identity from whom to derive compassion. “If no one here feels compassion, it must originate from somewhere else, from someone else.” But this delusion is itself derived from and sustained through separateness. Creator and creation cannot be separated, for all is One.
In the rule of opposites, God remains allusive. Whatever one seeks in this very moment is lacking in one’s experience. Beyond the disparities of gender, one lacking in masculinity seeks a male counterpart, and one lacking in femininity seeks a female counterpart. One filled to the brim with trauma seeks to empty oneself. One experientially empty seeks to fill oneself. Intuition longs for intellect. Intellect longs for intuition. Chaos longs for order. Order longs for chaos. Whether subconsciously or knowingly, one who feels “out of control” seeks to control or to be controlled.
A civilization devoid of unity, devoid of Oneness, builds its own rigid structures, hierarchies, patriarchies, systems by which to “capture” the Oneness, to enforce the Oneness, but all attempts in this direction fail, because separateness cannot enforce Oneness. A part of the whole cannot force another part of the whole to realize both parts are entirely whole. Instead, they both propagate and sustain separateness. The Christian and the Muslim both say, “I know the way, the only way,” and in the exclusion of the “other,” both serve to sustain their own separateness.
The atheist takes a walk through the forest and feels Oneness in nature. For the duration of the walk, her mind is silent, free from the psychological drama, the worry and fear she and her society created from separateness. To her, God is nature. In her fast-paced, stressful, domineering world of societal rules and regulations, the only means to Oneness in her experience is through escaping it. In her world, every human is so deluded by each individual’s experience of separateness that compassion is only experienced in complete isolation from humanity.
Jesus’s realization of Oneness is far more relevant than his birth or death or whatever miracles did or didn’t happen in between. In every word he spoke, every parable, every proclamation, there is a plea to lead the individual’s awareness to one-pointed Oneness. If the individual would dissolve herself into His Oneness, she would realize Oneness within herself. In The East, this is called a devotee, an individual who realizes Oneness through devotion to a particular manifestation of Oneness.
A devotee of Neem Karoli Baba, a devotee of Christ, a devotee of Saraswati, a devotee of Muhammad - what’s the difference? They all realize Oneness through devotion. There is no difference. Only when they become religions, they become separate. Only when they identify as Christians, Muslims and Hindus do they become separate. Identifying one’s Self as anything other than Oneness is thus identifying with separateness. When religions become exclusive, the religious become devotees of separateness.
True devotion requires faith and trust - an unwavering certainty. Although I have a deep respect for those pure devotees, I’m much too inquisitive for that alone. I want to know the nature of this existence. My ride is a much more turbulent, un-qualifiable, insane ride, and one knows not when or how it ends. It’s so insane that while I cannot begin to explain it, how could I expect anyone to believe it? Let’s just say that there are, in fact, many ways of experiencing Oneness, and it manifests its Self in magnificent ways once we begin seeking it. In my case, it’s suffering alone which led the way.
Gautama the Buddha took a direct approach to Oneness, leaving out the intermediary entirely. One need not be a devotee of any being, any god, but through awareness alone may realize Oneness. This is why Buddhism is often referred to as a philosophy rather than a religion. Philosophies, too, become exclusive.
There’s so much to learn behind all the religions, underneath the manipulations and distortions, the source of inspiration behind all those ancient texts. Until we realize where the words are pointing, they’re only words. One need no words to experience Oneness, for one already is Oneness. If we can just learn to drop the anticipation that something will happen, that we must do something or become something in order to get somewhere, we may all begin to know ourselves as the same Self. If we could stop judging and condemning ourselves and each “other,” we could free up a lot of time to get to know our Self.
It really doesn’t matter what we call anything. Religions, philosophies, politics and ethics are means by which to separate ourselves from our Self. Macro Ethic is intentionally singular. Christ, Buddha and enlightenment are One. Nature is One. I Am One. All is One.
If we seek Oneness, we shall find it. When we feel compassionate, we’re simply becoming aware of our true Self, feeling the inclusive nature of existence. When we seek Oneness, we seek only to realize what we already are.