Living Compassion
Meeting Robert Gonzales and his work on Living Compassion changed my life path and my spirituality. I began my spiritual path with dualistic practices that would often emphasize a split withing the being: ego and mind are bad, heart and soul are good. Living Compassion invited me into a spirituality that embraces my whole being without any sense of wanting to transcend any part of me. I had my first experiences of connecting to my wholeness.
For me, Living Compassion means living non-duality. It is a way of embracing life in its totality. It is an understanding that every aspect of my inner world, from my highest inspirations to my deepest wounds, has meaning and purpose. Nothing within me is ever out of place. The mind, the ego, the shadows of my psyche are all essential and serve or have served me in important ways. When I meet every part of me with this trust, I can begin to integrate parts that seem fragmented, lost or denied.
The core condition for integrating my lost parts is compassion itself. That I, in relation to my own life energy, am a compassionate, loving presence. I stay present to embrace, welcome and accept all of my own aliveness unconditionally. No matter how painful, rageful, fearful or shameful, I stay present to the intensity and say yes I am here to feel this. I trust in this energy because it’s mine, and it is life energy that always has meaning.
What I find most beautiful in this process is that I become that loving essence of my being so that I can reconnect with my lost parts and bring them back home to that very same essence. By entering into this work, I am anchored in the very home my lost children yearn to return to.