Loving Awareness

Slavery in our lives – Martin Luther King Jr day

Posted by matthew on January 21, 2008  |  7316 Commentshttp://www.loving-awareness.org/2008/01/21/slavery-in-our-lives-martin-luther-king-jr-day/Slavery+in+our+lives+-+Martin+Luther+King+Jr+day2008-01-22+04%3A03%3A43matthew

In the United States today is Martin Luther King day. This man, through the work of millions of other people, has come to symbolize human rights and a desire to end slavery’s legacy in all forms. He understood, as do others, that slavery still exists in different forms even now. It exists as institutions, it exists in economic forms, and exists in the minds of people. This last part is rarely mentioned.

So what is slavery?

To expand the idea of what slavery is to include both the world and internal states, I would redefine it as the following:

Slavery is the state of living with no perceivable choices.

The essence of compassion part 2

Posted by matthew on January 2, 2008  |  6621 Commentshttp://www.loving-awareness.org/2008/01/02/the-essence-of-compassion-part-2/The+essence+of+compassion+part+22008-01-03+02%3A13%3A40matthew

The topic of compassion is of course very close to the purpose of this site – it is an aspect of Love. However, this was instigated recently by the “Spread the Love Now!” project of Wade of The Middle Way, Kenton of Zen-Inspired Self Development, and Albert of Urban Monk.Net. This site, as the “About” page shows, has two writers, and we thought we’d each contribute something to this. So there are two articles about compassion, one for each of us. This topic is, after all, central to the purpose of this site – why else would we call it Loving Awareness?

If you haven’t read the previous entry on compassion by Karen, please do so. I’m (Matthew) going to add to it, starting with the first comment as a basis question – on the subject of child abuse. It’s a very good question, and representative on most people’s initial response to thinking of compassion in terms of awareness and acceptance, rather than having a duty to do something to solve a problem. I realize this is a touchy subject, and that what is written here may be controversial because of the massive cultural pain that exists. However, bringing compassion to such a painful area brings a huge amount of clarity to how it is applied in the world.

The essence of compassion (channeled)

Posted by matthew on December 29, 2007  |  6528 Commentshttp://www.loving-awareness.org/2007/12/29/the-essence-of-compassion-channeled/The+essence+of+compassion++%28channeled%292007-12-29+20%3A19%3A37matthew

The following is channeled material on compassion:

Let us speak to you today on the topic of compassion. Understand that when we use this term, we would like to refer to it as “an expression of Love”. Compassion is, in our perception, a melding of one’s energy with another’s. A combining to create something new that didn’t exist before. This new creation of energy as a combination of yours and another’s unites you, creates a bond between you. Over time, this act of creation between two people takes on a life of its own in some ways. But regardless of the length of time of the melding of energies, there does exist to varying degrees an understanding, awareness, acknowledgment, and acceptance of the state the other is in at that present moment. This acceptance for the state of another, whatever state that may be, is what we see as compassion.