Fleeting sense of (unconditional) compassion

[taoteching99]

I wrote somewhere else in the forum,

 

"there are times in my life when the experience of ' an open heart',an unconditional compassion happened.Its a very 'emotional' and quite powerful experience(doest recollect exactly what the triggers are,it could be just from some biochemical/bodily response).it happened a few times .

And can be (as far as my memory serve me right) unconditional towards no object ,just the feeling itself.There s a sense of compassion(again ,if feeling-memory serve me correctly,it is different from love) without needing any beings .

 

But , the experience is very short, at most lasted no more than 20 minutes.Just forget about it afterwards(wonder is there something spiritual abt this?why some teachings emphasized on this?there doesnt seem to be any predictable way/trigger to bring this about.Even if others have the way,what benefits it bring apart from some powerful feelings? "

 

Edit - there is identifiable triggers

 

 

As mentioned above,i had experiences of compassion.This came uninvited,triggered by circumstances( and my reaction to it).In my case,there is this ' taste' of compassion.But problem is, i dont see the need to further develop it.Theres no motivation.Any thoughts?

[Jeff]

Sounds like you have had periods of touching (or opening) your heart.  Such opening is critical to higher levels of spiritual development.  As the TTC states in the beginning of verse 28...

 

Know the strength of man, 

But keep a woman's care! 
Be the stream of the universe! 
Being the stream of the universe, 
Ever true and unswerving, 
Become as a little child once more.

...

 

One can neither know the strength of a man, or a woman's care, without the opening of the heart and the natural compassion that comes with it.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Jeff

[Teddy]

Taoteching99 just curious, what do you mean by the word 'spiritual'?

[taoteching99]

Sounds like you have had periods of touching (or opening) your heart.  Such opening is critical to higher levels of spiritual development.  As the TTC states in the beginning of verse 28...

 

Know the strength of man, 

But keep a woman's care! Be the stream of the universe! Being the stream of the universe, Ever true and unswerving, Become as a little child once more.

...

 

One can neither know the strength of a man, or a woman's care, without the opening of the heart and the natural compassion that comes with it.

Hi,

 

I haven't gone into ttc studies...

But care to explain further?

 

:-)

[Jeff]

Hi,

 

I haven't gone into ttc studies...

But care to explain further?

 

:-)

 

 

Happy to explain more.  Did you mean about the heart specifically?  Or more the higher stage progression stuff in the TTC verse 28?

[taoteching99]

Taoteching99 just curious, what do you mean by the word 'spiritual'?

Honestly I don't know what to say, just the sense if there is some 'virtuous' qualities to this experience.

 

But whats ur way of seeing it, all this is just some random, insignificant experience?

Edited March 16, 2017 by taoteching99

[qicat]

Taoteching99 just curious, what do you mean by the word 'spiritual'?

[taoteching99]

Happy to explain more. Did you mean about the heart specifically? Or more the higher stage progression stuff in the TTC verse 28?

On a second thought,Going into ttc seems to involve a lot of reading , contemplation,explanation (from u)and mental work ; so for now

 

It may be more fruitful for me to just understand why such opening of heart (my particular experience) " is critical to higher levels of spiritual development " ?

 

And I don't know if calling it 'open heart'(as I did initially)is even correctly describing it. the experience does 'heart- felt' ,but that's it.

 

Since I forget and did not think much abt it afterwards (busy with life distractions etc..),let alone trying to repeat the experience, it didnt leave much impression now,just some "feelingless" memory.

Edited March 16, 2017 by taoteching99

[Jeff]

On a second thought,Going into ttc seems to involve a lot of reading , contemplation,explanation (from u)and mental work ; so for now

 

It may be more fruitful for me to just understand why such opening of heart (my particular experience) " is critical to higher levels of spiritual development " ?

 

And I don't know if calling it 'open heart'(as I did initially)is even correctly describing it. the experience does 'heart- felt' ,but that's it.

 

Since I forget and did not think much abt it afterwards (busy with life distractions etc..),let alone trying to repeat the experience, it didnt leave much impression now,just some "feelingless" memory.

 

 

Interesting, with your forum name I would have thought you would have been familiar with the TTC.

 

In general, maybe think of the opening of the heart as when one first starts to move beyond personal/individual desires.  The compassion that you described becomes like a basis for being able to drop things like fear and anger.  It is the beginning of shifting the focus from "me" to "others", and with that shift the body-mind starts to become less ego based.

 

In spiritual terms, it is kind of like you start with only room for yourself in your heart (self interest).  Then with it opening a little you have room for family members and children.  Then the people more broadly around you.  At the higher levels there is so much room, it is like the entire universe can be found inside it.  That point is what some traditions may call universal compassion/love. Energetic expansion and refinement matches that growth.

[C T]

compassion is like a net that some mango farmers place under the mango trees. Its nature is to catch any fruit that falls - they could be ripe, unripe, small, big, rotten, sweet, sour, bug-infested, half eaten by fruit bats - indiscriminately it adheres to its nature unfailingly.