Passion and Compassion by Osho

[Guest guest]

We know what passion is; hence it is not

very difficult to understand what compassion might be.

Passion means a state of biological fever--

it is hot, you are almost possessed by biological,

unconscious energies. You are no longer your own

master, you are just a slave.

 

Compassion means you have transcended biology, you

have transcended physiology. You are no longer a slave,

you have become a master. Now you function consciously.

You are not driven, pulled and pushed by unconscious

forces; you can decide what you want to do with your

energies. You are totally free. Then the same energy

that becomes passion is transformed into compassion.

 

Passion is lust, compassion is love. Passion is desire,

compassion is desirelessness. Passion is greed, compassion

is sharing. Passion wants to use the other as a means,

compassion respects the other as an end unto himself or

herself. Passion keeps you tethered to the earth, to the

mud, and you never become a lotus. Compassion makes you a

lotus. You start rising above the muddy world of desires,

greed, anger. Compassion is a transformation of your

energies.

 

Ordinarily you are scattered, fragmentary. Some energy

is being absorbed by your anger, some energy is being

absorbed by your greed, some energy is being absorbed by

your lust, and so on and so forth. And there are so many

desires surrounding you that you are left without any

energy; you are left hollow, empty.

 

And remember what William Blake says--there is great

insight in it--he says, " Energy is delight. " But you don't

have any energy left; all your energy keeps on going

down the drain. When all these energies are no longer being

wasted they start filling your inner lake, your inner

being. You become full. A great delight arises in you.

When you start overflowing, you have become a buddha and

you have come upon an inexhaustible source.

 

And when you are a buddha, only then will you experience

what compassion is. It is cool love--not cold, mind you--

cool love. It is a sharing of your joy with the whole of

existence. You become a blessing to yourself and a blessing

to the whole existence. That is compassion. Passion is a

curse, compassion is a blessing.

 

Introduction from Osho's book:

Compassion

The Ultimate Flowering of Love