Conative Practice: Wisdom And Compassion

This practice for cultivating conative intelligence (wise discernment with regards to our aspirations, wishes, and intentions) is centered around the qualities of wisdom and compassion – around their ability to protect us from the fires of overwhelming greed, hatred, and ignorance. By fine-tuning our intentions every day, we can gradually transform our habitual behaviour and become agents of healing in this world.

Transcript

To begin this brief cognitive practice,

We bring our awareness to the body,

Noticing its sensations,

And especially noticing the contact between our body and the ground beneath us,

Noticing our breath and allowing it to move naturally,

That is,

Without being controlled by us.

And then,

In this state where we are,

Experiencing a certain level of relaxation,

Stability and clarity,

We turn our mind to a simple cognitive exercise in which we first remind ourselves about the three fires,

The strong and sometimes overwhelming energies of greed and desire,

Aversion and hatred,

And ignorance or confusion.

These mental states are like fires in that they can be very destructive,

And we can think about the effect that they have on our own life and also their expressions in our collective reality.

Our own actions under the influence of greed,

Hatred and confusion can be quite destructive,

And that is also true for our collective actions.

But then we remind ourselves,

Deep within me are the seeds of wisdom and compassion,

Clear seeing and affectionate caring.

When I act under the influence of their unity,

When I combine wisdom and compassion,

My actions can be truly healing,

Meaningful,

Constructive,

Positive.

And so in using my ability to desire,

To wish,

To plan,

To aspire,

I can make a powerful aspiration,

May my wisdom and compassion always be stronger than my greed,

Hatred and confusion.

May my wisdom and compassion,

Supported by my mindful awareness,

Always be stronger than the afflictive mental states in my thinking,

In my emotional life,

In acts of speech and in the things that I do with my body.

May my wisdom and compassion always be stronger than anything else.

And so holding that wish,

Holding that aspiration,

And allowing it to completely fill our body and our mind,

Strengthening this wish with each new exhalation,

And then for a moment,

Imagining that we are also sharing wisdom and compassion with the rest of the world,

Strengthening these qualities in the cultures that we're connected to,

Sharing these qualities with other beings,

Including other people,

And making sure that our communities act with more wisdom and compassion.

And then releasing these aspirations,

Releasing the images,

The thoughts,

And simply resting with clarity and spaciousness,

Before bringing our attention back to our body,

Noticing the sensations,

And then slowly concluding this meditation as we introduce some movement to the body and as we bring our attention to the space around us.

Reviews

So powerful.

I don’t often learn so much and get so much food for thought in so little time. I’m grateful for this, thank you.

So soothing - metta (loving kindness) meditation - wisdom and compassion (happy and healthy) to overcome greed, hatred and confusion (be at peace). Very affirming!! Thank you!

Unfortunately I don't have the power to make my physical community act with more wisdom and compassion.
But I can keep improving myself 😊
Thank you 🙏💚✨

Such simple words! I came away relaxed, peaceful, and centered.

So simple, yet powerful and inspiring. Thank you 🙏