[Tactical Panda]

Love is not compassion;
Love is not building relationships;
Compassion is not building relationships.

Although they can work together.
Or although they should work together.

What do each of these concepts mean?
Do they need to work constantly in a simultaeous manner - or do they have distinct roles that would be better employed at the correct time?
Are they manageable things in life? Or are they rubbish and merely weakness?

Disagree? Agree?

Discuss.

[RBM]

LOVE is about the
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love is about the EGO.

For context about a different meaning of EGO:

Ego is perhaps used here a little differently than what you are used to. Ego is generated when the spirit/consciousness having the apparently physical human experience is ignorant of its true identity and purpose, and is of lower quality (has much to learn, understand and needs to evolve) -- it thus expresses fear, needs, wants, demands, expectations, desire, greed, in its attachment to, and manipulation of, the virtual physical reality. Ego is the sense of I manipulating the virtual physical reality to assuage its fear, and to secure and maintain its wants, needs, and desires -- it gives the physical more importance and exclusivity than it is due. Ego drives the action, when fear is the motivator. Ego and fear are the antithesis of compassion and love. Ego is the consciousness lost in a virtual physical reality manipulating the 10,000 things in a way to make itself feel better (less fearful).

Also note that English in the modern era has very few definitions for
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, compared to other specific languages, past and present.

[good cat]

I like Nietzsche's saying, "whatever is done from love always occurs beyond good and evil".

I think compassion is a part of what love is and true love is found in impartialness. This is also consistent with the teachings from the ancient Daoist Classics, especially the Dao De Jing, which promotes ziran(naturalness) through wu wei(effortless action/natural action).

Ironically, religions that promote the dichotomy of good and evil promote a breakdown of love. This split encourages a person to institute a world in which they want to destroy. Impartialness allows us to accept our world in full. I think a good place to start is to understand evolutionary biology, especially from the social level. We exist in a world of limited resources, which we all compete for to survive and thrive. Acceptance of nature should be found internally first though. This means accepting not just our strengths and positive qualities but becoming acquainted with and accepting our undesirable side, be it weaknesses or darker. In line with Carl Jung’s work, we could call this undesirable part of ourself the “Shadow”. To take Jung’s thoughts even further, he believed that to reach our true self we had a harder archetype to face after the shadow – the anima/animus, which is the opposite gender part of us. Not only through this holistic acceptance does it help us accept our external world, but by bringing to conscious our weaknesses we have a great opportunity for improvement.

So on one level, I may think a person is a piece of shit do to a historical understanding, but I also understand that what they do isn't personal to me on a deeper level. In fact Nietzsche saw the positive in resistance and our ability to overcome it. We shouldn’t want to remove resistance from life but improve our ability to survive and thrive.

As for the discussion of ego and fear, ego is just our conscious self. Yes fear can lead to ineffective decisions when it is not audited by a cognitive process. Saying that, fear is one of the most important emotions we have. In line with Steven Pinker’s work, our emotions are an approach/avoid system with a negative bias for survival. Fear is natural and important for avoiding danger.

A final note – love and compassion derived from it is not a weakness but a strength, which will only improve your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual being.

[Chameleon]

In honesty my right sided brain blurs the lines; but I try on in foolish attempt:

Love is beyond the word that definds it.

[TheStranger]

As are many human emotions. I wish my mind was filled with wonderment at the concept. I pray one day that I'll drown in that illusion like quicksand and regain my faith. Until then, well, an unpleasant limbo awaits.

[Sworddancer]

Love is an action as interpreted by the receiver & giver. If we are married and I bring you your coffee every morning, that may be my way of showing love. However, if you do not perceive this as love..I'm just a live in waitress!

Compassion is an internal feeling that cannot be shared. The person feeling the compassion can display behaviors to his object of compassion in an attempt to share his feelings but he is the only one that can truly experience the feeling compassion. Compassion in itself cannot build a relationship, only the actions brought on by the feeling can build relationships.

---------- Post added 07-10-2011 at 12:08 PM ----------

It's all emotion based...blah!

[mirepoix]

	Originally Posted by Chameleon To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	In honesty my right sided brain blurs the lines; but I try on in foolish attempt: Love is beyond the word that definds it.

I suppose that is what the quote RBM posted addresses: "and is of lower quality"

[9tailz]

love as i view it involves;
- never wanting to displease or annoy intentionally
- always wishing and doing good to the object
- seeking the pleasure and acknowledgement of the object

[Kisai]

Love is a general, amorphous thing. It is not a refined definition.