Monday, June 10, 2019
on understanding: a note to me
there are words in English i find bare of true feeling,
unemotional, puritan or at least poor.
These are for example often words i read in buddhist articles...
kindness....this word does not exist in German, we have "Freundlichkeit " meaning to be nice and pleasant and a bit more to another,. There is "Höflichkeit "which is politeness and doesn't mean much
but socially compatible behavior, both are often behaviours used for an aim or to fill an expectation.
and we have words like "Güte" (originating from to be 'good' maybe) and more Herzensgüte and "Warmherzigkeit "which means to feel and act out of pure heart towards another, flowing and giving
one self, attention, presence.
It means to care without even one thought of self. one could call it grace of heart.
"Warmherzigkeit" means to embrace another with the warmth of ones heart, to not just accept but welcome the other always first presuming the best in the other.
This stress on acceptance, another word out of buddhist practice articles, tells me nothing i need, it is not a matter of the heart, rather a philosophy
for navigating between the unavoidable and the possible. It is ok but not enough.
It also means to leave the other freedom to be, but it is a cold word.
We use it in German too, after all the Romans were everywhere.
We can also say :"Sein lassen" which means to let be.
This can also mean to let be alone.
Acceptance without grace, warmth, forgiveness may be a necessary tool but it has no such value as
one often attributes to it. true forgiveness again comes from the heart.
To 'just' accept one needs more awareness, control and first of all reflection than heart , courage, open vulnerability as in embrace. but it is often necessary work and in the end may lead to other qualities.
because: for accepting one has to see ones own shortcomings and imperfection.
compassion is a composite word and means suffering with another, by root of the word.
i cannot see this as a religious or moral requirement. each on suffers..
to truly see and feel another's suffering and to open ones heart belongs to "Herzensgüte" and asks us to help, to act. The co-suffering alone, the feeling itself, appears to me irrelevant and may even be a trap. Christians like suffering too much, it makes them feel special and Jesus-like, no?
In translation we have 'Mitlieid" which is more associated with pity, pity is at its best useless and can be an insult.
mercy is when you don't kill your enemy.
grace and embrace is coming from inside or untrue.
English is often an emotionally poor language though i love its simplicity.
i prefer it in many ways to my own language which is often so bureaucratic, makes violently one word out of three or four in a row, complicates all in headstrong way.
So i am all for simple words-
just, a lot of English words need loads of context and very often only gain proper meaning
in intonation, presence and acts.
this all is not an accusation of languages, buddhism, just shows how complex and difficult communication can be. very often it is really ...an illusion.
unemotional, puritan or at least poor.
These are for example often words i read in buddhist articles...
kindness....this word does not exist in German, we have "Freundlichkeit " meaning to be nice and pleasant and a bit more to another,. There is "Höflichkeit "which is politeness and doesn't mean much
but socially compatible behavior, both are often behaviours used for an aim or to fill an expectation.
and we have words like "Güte" (originating from to be 'good' maybe) and more Herzensgüte and "Warmherzigkeit "which means to feel and act out of pure heart towards another, flowing and giving
one self, attention, presence.
It means to care without even one thought of self. one could call it grace of heart.
"Warmherzigkeit" means to embrace another with the warmth of ones heart, to not just accept but welcome the other always first presuming the best in the other.
This stress on acceptance, another word out of buddhist practice articles, tells me nothing i need, it is not a matter of the heart, rather a philosophy
for navigating between the unavoidable and the possible. It is ok but not enough.
It also means to leave the other freedom to be, but it is a cold word.
We use it in German too, after all the Romans were everywhere.
We can also say :"Sein lassen" which means to let be.
This can also mean to let be alone.
Acceptance without grace, warmth, forgiveness may be a necessary tool but it has no such value as
one often attributes to it. true forgiveness again comes from the heart.
To 'just' accept one needs more awareness, control and first of all reflection than heart , courage, open vulnerability as in embrace. but it is often necessary work and in the end may lead to other qualities.
because: for accepting one has to see ones own shortcomings and imperfection.
compassion is a composite word and means suffering with another, by root of the word.
i cannot see this as a religious or moral requirement. each on suffers..
to truly see and feel another's suffering and to open ones heart belongs to "Herzensgüte" and asks us to help, to act. The co-suffering alone, the feeling itself, appears to me irrelevant and may even be a trap. Christians like suffering too much, it makes them feel special and Jesus-like, no?
In translation we have 'Mitlieid" which is more associated with pity, pity is at its best useless and can be an insult.
mercy is when you don't kill your enemy.
grace and embrace is coming from inside or untrue.
English is often an emotionally poor language though i love its simplicity.
i prefer it in many ways to my own language which is often so bureaucratic, makes violently one word out of three or four in a row, complicates all in headstrong way.
So i am all for simple words-
just, a lot of English words need loads of context and very often only gain proper meaning
in intonation, presence and acts.
this all is not an accusation of languages, buddhism, just shows how complex and difficult communication can be. very often it is really ...an illusion.
though all is one: not all is the same
oneness and uniqueness,
in one breath,
i have terrible problems to communicate
with a human who has been important to me
and is.
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