Passionate neutrality

(c) 2009 Joan M. Newcomb

The other day I was having dinner with my 22 year old son. We were talking about a recent celebrity death and I made the comment about that it was an interesting way for someone to choose to die.

"What are you talking about?" He said. "Nobody chooses to die."

It surprised me that he didn't get it. I forget that others in my life may still not remember that they're Infinite Beings. As a Infinite Being, we choose everything, from how we're born to how we leave the body. And we're infinitely creative about how we do both of those things!

Someone got offended by my last Ezine, accusing me of not being compassionate. Which was interesting since I think I concluded that when you're identifying yourself as your Expanded Self, you love everyone and everything in your hologram. It was the lens they were viewing my words through. I didn't mention that most if not all of the examples I used were taken from my own life, so it certainly wasn't like I was being invalidating of someone else!

The meaning of the word compassion is: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. One of the definitions of sympathy is: the fact or power of sharing the feelings of another, esp. in sorrow or trouble; fellow feeling, compassion, or commiseration.

As an empath, one of my challenges is to *not* feel other people's feelings, especially if they're deeply suffering. You can't help someone out of a pit of despair by jumping into the pit yourself! You can only lend a hand when you're feet are firmly planted on the edge.

Everyone is an Infinite Being, creating a life story on this planet. The more capable and creative one is, the more exciting and dramatic the story will be. The best actors choose the juiciest roles.

I can understand that some people may not find this a compassionate point of view. However, when you view people and their lives this way, it empowers them. You're trusting that they have the ability to get themselves out of whatever situation they're in. We've all heard miraculous and heroic stories of what individuals have overcome.

You can detach with love from those who are in a nose dive due to their own actions or behavior. You can have passionate neutrality when assisting someone with misfortunes that seem to come from circumstances outside they're control. With passionate neutrality you can know to assist when it's not enabling, because you can tell the difference!

It takes some practice learning to detach, if you're used to jumping into the kiddy pool with everyone acting like they're drowning. You'll find, however, that your own life becomes much more manageable, and your own thinking becomes much more sane, when you do!