I became quite emotional when reading this because I resonated with it quite strongly. I’ve been in some longer retreats practicing the teachings in Seeing That Frees and I’ve noticed the connections between EA and Rob Burbea’s way of seeing things but I haven’t been able to express it well.
I think that there’s a very beauitful deepening of a seeing of non-self when acting impartialy. One of the things that I really like about applying this to EA is that you often don’t see the outcomes of your actions. This is often seen as a bad thing but from a vipassyana perspective this also somehow gets rid of the near enemy of loving kindness in purpose of getting something back. So it is almost like loving kindness based on EA principles is somehow less clinging than existing loving kindness practices?
I love the focus on the cultiavation of positive mental states as a foundation for doing effective work as well. Beautifully put, maybe one of my favourite forum posts of all time, thank you for writing this.
“Another thing about the abolitionist movement is that, if you look at the history of it, it actually took sixty or seventy or eighty years to actually make an effect. And some of the people who started it didn’t live to see the fruits of it. So there’s something about this giving myself to benefit others. I will never see them, I will never meet them, I will never get anything from them, whether that’s people or parts of the earth. And having this long view. And somehow it cannot be, in that case, about the limited self. It cannot be, because the limited self is not getting anything out of it. [...] But how might we have this sense of urgency without despair? Meeting the enormity of the suffering in the world with a sense of urgency in the heart, engagement in the heart, but without despair. How can we have, as human beings, a love that keeps going no matter what? And we call that ‘equanimity.’ It’s an aspect of equanimity, that it stays steady no matter what. The love, the compassion stays steady. [...] If we’re, in the practice, cultivating this sense of keeping the mind up and bright, and it’s still open, and it’s still sensitive, and the heart is open and receptive, but the consciousness is buoyant, that means it won’t sink when it meets the suffering in the world. The compassion will be buoyant.”
Very very well put.
I became quite emotional when reading this because I resonated with it quite strongly. I’ve been in some longer retreats practicing the teachings in Seeing That Frees and I’ve noticed the connections between EA and Rob Burbea’s way of seeing things but I haven’t been able to express it well.
I think that there’s a very beauitful deepening of a seeing of non-self when acting impartialy. One of the things that I really like about applying this to EA is that you often don’t see the outcomes of your actions. This is often seen as a bad thing but from a vipassyana perspective this also somehow gets rid of the near enemy of loving kindness in purpose of getting something back. So it is almost like loving kindness based on EA principles is somehow less clinging than existing loving kindness practices?
I love the focus on the cultiavation of positive mental states as a foundation for doing effective work as well. Beautifully put, maybe one of my favourite forum posts of all time, thank you for writing this.
Thank you for the kind words Jonas!
Your comment reminded me of another passage from one of my favorite Rob talks, Selflessness and a Life of Love: