“When Whitman says “The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,” he’s talking about compassion. Compassion is in a sense seeing the Divine in another and simultaneously within oneself. And it holds me here — this earth, this realm, whatever you want to call it — because I love. I deeply, deeply love human beings — all beings, but humans suffer — not only suffer but cause suffering in a way that animals don’t, plants don’t. It’s the mind. It’s our ability to conceptualize. Of course, whose ability to conceptualize, right?
Compassion is self-serving. It’s very clear. But it’s self-serving for the sake of others. It’s not the same as selfishness. When we say “self-serving,” that usually means egotism, selfishness, and so on. But there’s an element of compassion that’s a force. That’s not what it actually is, but it manifests as a force. That’s part of its manifestation. It’s a force that holds self together, actually. But it does so for the sake of others, and only for the sake of others.
But paradoxically, when it’s done for the sake of others, it — I almost want to say it makes self impenetrable — like it’s fortified with Wisdom, Truth. Because it’s completely and utterly not for itself. So if ego is an attachment to self, and that goes away, that disappears (in awakening), then what happens is Truth takes over.”
-James Wood, from the talk Importance of Body
Svaha 