Ahimsa ~ The Compassionate Challenge
I come across many vegans who have a clear understanding of the "mechanics" of being vegan and only a vague understanding of the "spiritual" promptings that have led them to their goal of compassionate living.
By the "mechanics" I mean those aspects of life that can be defined and refined as physical attributes of life - the food we eat, the clothes we choose to wear and the products, derived from the physical world, we choose to exclude - cosmetics and detergents tested on animals, leather or wool or silk or beeswax.
We have probably met Health-Vegans, whose primary objective is to gain, regain or maintain physical health. This aspiration is, in itself, admirable and certainly benefits our non-human earth dwellers. Some of these health-vegans learn of the altruistic reasons for turning away from the use of products derived from animal beings and may begin the often-long journey of spiritual self-discovery that leads to compassionate living.
How would one describe Compassionate Living? Is it attainable in a world that appears to be driven by greed, the love of money, the Love of Self and the carelessness of others' suffering?
One may describe the Compassionate Path as a journey in which we are able to gradually perceive the more and more difficult choices of loving those who have not inspired love in us. At some point, we may realise that Compassion is the act of loving in the face of hate, hostility and cruelty.
It is common to see the outward signs of frustration in dealing with this issue of Compassion. They are commonly displayed as anger, hatred, self-loathing, depression and sadness.
Can we hate the act of cruelty and yet love the one who commits the act?
Can we find in ourselves the reasons to love even more because of the unloving actions we see around us?
Is this the true test of Compassion - loving because we have a powerful spiritual desire to see more loving in our human companions, friends and Humanity?
Can we accept the challenge of Compassionate Living - to love other humans as much as we "love" non-humans, without judgement or discrimination?
