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This slogan is really not hard to understand even though it can be hard to follow its advice. What strikes me initially is the phrase "the limbs of your own happiness". Does happiness have a body? I can't say that I have ever thought of happiness in that way, but maybe I have experienced happiness in my body, and so happiness used my body as an expression of itself. I can't solve this puzzle here but I find it interesting. Embodiment is so important. I am more and more becoming aware of that.

This slogan is one of the central ones. The most peaceful people who wouldn't hurt a fly can express satisfaction at some "difficult" person's misfortune. "He had it coming", as they sing in "Chicago" (mostly it is a he who is really hard to like but easy to hate). All these men (and some women) who commit atrocious crimes, how could I wish them happiness? It is not easy to do Metta for these people when I'd rather do Metta for the victims but it is crucial for myself.

I sometimes think of Hitler and try to find a time in his life when he had been lovable. Maybe as a baby, looking full of trust to his mother. I don't know at what point in his life he became twisted and evil, but once upon a time he was just a baby. If he had been truly happy then, he might never have turned into the murderer he became.

I really try to curb my schadenfreude. It is not healthy and it simply perpetuates what we are trying to overcome. But schadenfreude is so tempting. It is like scratching an itch, very satisfying, and I need to ask myself: "Why am I watching this piece of news? Because it is vital that I know this or because it's about the misfortune of someone awful and makes me feel good?".

There is a scene in "Brazil", the film by Terry Gilliam. The hero is being rescued by his girlfriend and the two drive at breakneck speed through the streets, pursued by a car with security personnel. The pursuers crash and the hero cheers until he sees the policemen escaping their car, all engulfed in flames. Suddenly there is no more reason to cheer, one can only feel compassion for these policemen who are dying a terrible death. A lesser film would not have allowed for that shift.

I think we need to allow for such a shift in our lives. To feel with soldiers on both sides of a conflict who are blown to pieces and suffer equally, even though the one side is in the wrong. The suffering is the same.

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