Silence and Wild Beauty
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama
Part III of IV- The Wisdom of the Heart
While on a Vision Quest in the Mojave desert, the words “Fierce Compassion” came to me. At the time I did not understand what that meant, so I began to look for the deeper meaning of being fiercely compassionate.
Ferocity feels like such a savage, intense word. While compassion feels so graceful and nurturing. It is the paradox of one of those “yes, and” things where fierce and compassion actually work well together.
It is about being mindful and recognizing when something needs to be done to make the world better, and our ferocity comes from heart rather than anger.
Like most things in life, in order to have an impact, we begin with ourselves. I know that there have been times where I was not very compassionate with myself. I’ve doubted, criticized, judged, and belittled my own thoughts and actions. My false ego has told me that I am not smart enough, good enough, creative enough…the list goes on.
Fierce compassion is the liberator of our Radiant Nature.
Like a Samurai with a sword, our ferocity cuts through the stories, negative thoughts, false ego, and attachments to what is keeping us in our cage. Because we are lovingly fierce, not angry, our ferocity actually slices through anger, resentments, jealously, and fear with joy.
It’s not always easy to see, and be the one to cut through our own crap. So, fortunately, we are sent reminders on a regular basis to hold up the mirror so that we can see our stories. Those reminders can come in the form of other people and situations that cause us pain or bring up feelings of inequality or injustice.
That’s when the courage of the Samurai comes out and slices through the delusions of our mind, opening our heart and letting us see what is true and real…our radiance. We can’t help but be compassionate when there is no illusion of ego involved.
The compassion that we feel for ourselves will easily spread to others. Now, this does not mean that it is our job to go around being the Samurai for everyone else, telling them what crap they need to cut through, and judging them. Actually, it is the opposite. We do the work on ourselves and share our experiences. This may inspire others, give them hope, or do nothing at all for them. It’s none of our business, we just get to go on being fiercely compassionate.
This gives us the freedom to be radically bold and wild while holding the energy of loving kindness for ourselves and others. It is both intensely masculine and feminine at the same time, paradox, duality, balance.
Eventually, we can have so much compassion and joy coming from our heart that delusions don’t dare show up. Oh, until we find the next layer 🙂
What stories in your head do you need to fiercely cut through?
How will you practice fierce compassion today?
Coming soon:
Part IV “Fearless Freedom”- The Wisdom of the Spirit
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