Love is the Falling

August 1, 2022 Empathy - Compassion, Love & Relationship No Comments

Yes, as between a man and a woman, for instance. On the other hand, Love is also a universal quality.

In this text, I write Love with a capital because of the involvement of subconceptual mental processing, for the same reason as my capitalization of ‘Compassion.’

Difference between Love and Compassion

Please read Compassion, Basically.

Compassion is rational at the same time as humanly deep, each part without diminishing the other. It is the being of an enlightened being ― for example, some Buddha right before entering nirvana. Is this even approachable to normal mortals?

Rationality is not a necessary characteristic of Love. That makes Love ethically not more or less worthy than Compassion. It is different. Love can feel more unconditional. One should not disdain this.

Compassion being a ‘kind of Love’

I think this is the best way to place them. In the best scenario, Compassion is nothing less. The intrinsic combination is more difficult to attain.

This way, Compassion can be a striving, while Love is rather a happening. One doesn’t fall in Compassion. There is always deliberate ‘work’ involved ― for instance, in the guise of many years of meditation in combination with striving for insight through reading, attending teachings, etc.

Love is the falling.

Stuff may happen out of Love that may not happen out of Compassion. This Love-related stuff is not always the most rational. Falling in Love may even lead one to things that are rather foolish in others’ view.

Love is a profoundly approachable human quality, even though it may lead to falling or failing. It may be sufficient to encounter the right person ― not much work is involved.

‘Not much work’ means ‘taking some direction more easily.’

This makes Love more dangerous.

One can fall in Love with the wrong person, one way or another. Or one can, out of Love, do the right things that personally have a dangerous effect. One may sacrifice oneself out of Love without much thinking. Again, this should not be disdained, but it is qualitatively different from Compassion.

Or one can, out of Love, do wrong to others without knowing, without much rationally conceptual thinking about it, or in some combination that turns out badly. This is foreseeable given ego’s many ways. An example is jealousy.

Love is great, but it’s not all you need ― not always.

Pointing to this in person-to-person communication is potentially challenging. Love-people can be loving without much discerning while they feel the immense power of Love in their veins.

This can quickly get from bliss into a burning desire to defend this bliss no matter what ― surprising anyone. Love, like empathy, can be manipulated rather easily.

A combination of Love and Compassion

This may be what the universe needs most ― talking globally, indeed.

Universal Love towards a universe of Love.

Even so, Compassion has a rightful place. Humanity adds to this through our incumbent, very amateur start in the realm of conceptual thinking. Of course, there may be or appear other Compassionate entities in the vast universe. Even so, humankind is what it is ― interesting, to say the least.

It would be a pity to see it getting lost.