working on compassion.

[silverweb]

5. It's very hard sometimes.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]There are people in my family who I should and do love in a familial sense and for their obvious love of family (a kind of tribalism). At the same time, I very much dislike some of them for their racism, homophobia, pushy social Darwinism/Libertarianism, propensity towards violent speech, mockery of environmental concerns, etc, etc.

We don't see each other often, which is a blessing, and when we do see each other, I go out of my way to avoid "debate." My last necessary, prolonged contact was guided by the mantra "detachment." It worked pretty well, but it was still a strain at times to feel love and compassion, let alone equanimity. I have to work on ambivalence and anxiety, and prepare for weeks before each annual visit.

Anyway, I guess we just have to keep doing our own inner work and keep trying to include difficult cases in our circle of karuṇā.