The Karuna Project
Exploring our capacity for compassion
In today's divisive world, the capacity for empathy and understanding is a wonderful, refreshing thing. We spend a lifetime succumbing to an 'Us vs. Them' thinking and everything- television, internet and social media, all propagate fear culture. Insecurity and fear deter healing and tend to take us away from our true selves. We habitually and reflexively put up barriers to understanding others, and thereby lose our connection. Our journey toward independence leaves no room for interdependence. This makes us islands, and that is not a joyful state of being.
We make our excuses about the shortage of time to really do the work, but really this is a shortage of sight. It almost seems, as if we talk ourselves out of this process of reaching forward a helping hand—so much so, that we tuck them deeply back into our pockets, avert our eyes and walk away. We presume our hearts are just not big enough, or that what we might do couldn’t possibly have a much greater impact. Our ego denies one of the most fundamental truths about consciousness. That our innermost field of consciousness is shared with all living beings. Non-duality means that all consciousness is collective consciousness. The ego is naturally designed to be isolated. isolation is safe, certain. To feel deeply is uncertain and therefore unsafe. Fear means you are closed off, even to yourself.
Karuna, meaning compassion, is one of the four noble truths of Buddhism. We all have the capacity, space and time for karuna, but we have been led to believe otherwise. The definition of compassion is the ability to understand the emotional state of another person to the point of having a desire to alleviate or reduce their suffering. It is imagining yourself in their place and feeling what they feel.
A state of Karuna involves more than putting yourself in their place and genuinely wanting to understand or even help them. It involves having a totally different perspective when it comes to how you perceive others. We assume the worst in others. Learning karuna involves making the radical shift to assume the best in others. To understand all is to forgive all. This is the process that opens the heart and mind.
According to the latest science, true happiness comes from practicing compassion. It is when we give expecting nothing in return, when we are kind just to be kind, and when we see people as 'other-selves' instead of 'others' that life takes on meaning and purpose. Brain imaging studies show that giving of your money, services or time freely lights up our brain's "pleasure centers". We also find that acts of kindness, generosity, and cooperation spread, and start a ripple effect in observers.
In my work, I have found that taking even a small step to feel for someone outside your immediate world, and to give back mindfully, has a profound effect on your inner journey. holding a little bit of compassion can open you up further to your inner journey. It can teach you things you wouldn't have access to otherwise, and you learn that nothing comes more naturally. It enables you to reach a state of openness without threat. In terms of the energy body, it helps open up your Anahata (heart) chakra, which is the conduit to accessing your higher chakras, and therefore complete self mastery.
To deepen your practice of journeying inwards, I invite you to explore your Karuna and give back. Donate a session, or a portion of it to someone that needs my services, and i will match your donation. You may even suggest a nominee for any of my services you're paying towards. Or else, donate your time and help us out during group sessions and workshops. I will match your donation.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” ― Kahlil Gibran