Because our very nature is presence, it is presence that completes the part of us that is suffering or seperate. It is presence that relieves us of suffering, and it is presence that helps us to relieve the suffering of others. It is through presence that we give rise to compassion.
Compassion cannot happen without presence, without the opening up of oneself, of ones true nature, and the offering of it to the world, and most especially to places where there is suffering. Instead of calling compassion a practice, we can look at it as a continual arriving, a continual coming home to love through presence. We can come to the recognition that this love is only ever available to us today, here and now – that it cannot be sought in another moment, in another tomorrow. Peace must inevitably be born in a continual, unbroken presence to each moment.
We don’t have to “meditate” to get here. We can be aware of this as we walk down stairs, feel the porcelain of the tea cup or water running down our hands, or the words of our friends as we listen deeply. We don’’t have to lock ourselves away to sing a mantra for two hours, do yoga every day and be perfect humans to live in presence. Presence is who we are, and that recognition is enough for the falling away of all that is not true, all that is a lie to dissipate. As we become present to our own suffering and the suffering of others we will be willed by our very nature into the act of compassion. There will not be anger, resistance or resentment in the face of a ruthless love like presence.
Nothing is wanted or needed here, besides the very love that is born of presence. So, my call to you today is to ask “Where am I suffering? Where are my loved ones suffering? Where is the planet suffering?” Let your presence be brought into this suffering. This is the ultimate act of truth, the ultimate revolution, the final coming home. To live in presence is to fulfill the calling of everything that is, has been and ever will be sought. It is the most honorable act one can perform for mankind. It is in today’s times more than ever that compassion born of presence will change the world.
