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Being
[cite] Allandnone:[/cite]... it's apparent lack of compassion.
Sometimes I feel like a bully who's going around busting balloons, like now when I'm going to question the nature of compassion. Anyway...
Nature is [chref=5]ruthless[/chref] and is without compassion, like you say. It seems to me that nature has no compassion because it has no ego. Ego and compassion are two sides of the same coin. They produce each other. However, they manifest themselves with a wide range of characteristics and so they would not always (or even often?) fit the narrower popular sense of what ego or compassion are. Eliminate one and you eliminate the other. Conversely, you can't have one without the other which is often the ideal, i.e.,... down with ego, up with compassion. I suppose balance would be the way to go ? if only we could wave our magic free will / free choice wand.
... And here's a happy face right back at you 
Comments
Some cautionary expressions come to mind: 'actions speak louder than words' and 'words are cheap'. Although, perhaps most telling: 'it's easier said than done'. Yoga, Tai Chi, and Blowing Zen (Shakuhachi) are three ancient paths of action (disciplines) that give you a lifelong opportunity to practice what you preach. This, in turn, can gradually help you actually practice what you preach... with more consistency and awareness than you would otherwise.
The most profound benefit of any of these disciplines kick in once they become your long term private practice. In this solitude, and absent any immediate reward, you have no one to 'fool' but yourself. Your self honesty deepens as you gradually realize how extensively you fool yourself. Armed with deeper integrity helps [chref=28]you return to being the uncarved block[/chref]. Being supplants the idealized self you've lugged around all those years.
Oh,... and there is a fairly sizable bonus - better health, especially as the years creep up on you.
I wonder how much this applies to other ?disciplines?? Other martial arts, dance, painting, etc. It seems like the Japanese have done this a lot with things like the tea ceremony, archery, etc.
With a suggestion from Carl, I?ve taken up Tai Chi again, after not doing it for many years. I do have that deep sense of there?s no one here to fool but myself. I don?t have the ?discipline? to force myself to keep doing something. It needs to come from the inside, what I know in my soul is true. Which is mainly that I don?t know anything. Tai Chi?s a constant reminder of that. It?s such a good way to practice mindfulness. And there?s so much to work on with that. It?s definitely for the long-term, because my mind is constantly filled with the myriad thoughts, which I need to let go of.
I feel it as a 'falling' through the moment. The fall through this emptiness prods the brain's mind into action. This hinders the joy of the free fall. By watching the moment I can feel [chref=45]great fullness[/chref], which helps quiet the restless mind. As for "having a goal"... have no more than the next step in view is best, I find. Then step by step it all unfolds just right.
Beware of all ideals. They push us ahead of our time. Of course, here I am prattling on and painting yet another ideal... Oh, the irony!