I spent some time this weekend reading about enantiodromia, and also reflecting on compassion, and the OSA aims of experiencing joy, happiness, and peace rather than fear, sadness, and anger. A few questions arose.
1. Enantiodromia implies a switching between opposites. If I am compassionate, then I am choosing to not be cruel. If I try to be compassionate all the time, on the basis of being unconditionally loving, then am I repressing the infinite hatred that leads to cruelty? Wouldn't that which is repressed swing back into my actions due to enantiodromia?
2. I was in a great mood over the weekend, and caught myself thinking that I am feeling joyful in that moment. Therefore, due to the law of enantiodromia, I will eventually, in hours or days, feel the opposite (fear or sorrow). Therefore, in moments of joy, does it make more sense to temper that feeling in favor of calmness to avoid the enantiodromia? But then, that would imply that I am repressing joy.
3. Is this sense of being caught in the thrall of joy or sorrow one of the things Levi means by not getting caught in the currents? As in, these are the biases we are meant to watch out for?
4. We try to feel to joy, peace, and happiness rather than anger, fear, and unhappiness. Yet compassion implies feeling these things on the behalf of others. That is made more apparent if I realize that everyone and everything else is a reflection of the Divine, as am I, so this being's pain is my own pain. Yet I am trying to maintain a sense of peacefulness, which would be contrary to feeling of compassion. How does one reconcile this?
5. Is it theoretically possible (I can't think of a practical example) of finding balance between two poles and then finding that this point of balance is actually a point of imbalance on another continuum?
6. My last question is practical: I work with the DMH, and the Wheel of the Year. I am also meditating on the Tree of Life. I don't believe there are any issues with studying the Tree of Life, it is only when using the Tree in practical magic that there are conflicts due to the differences in systems, is that right?
Happy New Year's to you and the commentariat here!
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branchandroot
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Date: 2023-01-02 09:32 am (UTC)I spent some time this weekend reading about enantiodromia, and also reflecting on compassion, and the OSA aims of experiencing joy, happiness, and peace rather than fear, sadness, and anger. A few questions arose.
1. Enantiodromia implies a switching between opposites. If I am compassionate, then I am choosing to not be cruel. If I try to be compassionate all the time, on the basis of being unconditionally loving, then am I repressing the infinite hatred that leads to cruelty? Wouldn't that which is repressed swing back into my actions due to enantiodromia?
2. I was in a great mood over the weekend, and caught myself thinking that I am feeling joyful in that moment. Therefore, due to the law of enantiodromia, I will eventually, in hours or days, feel the opposite (fear or sorrow). Therefore, in moments of joy, does it make more sense to temper that feeling in favor of calmness to avoid the enantiodromia? But then, that would imply that I am repressing joy.
3. Is this sense of being caught in the thrall of joy or sorrow one of the things Levi means by not getting caught in the currents? As in, these are the biases we are meant to watch out for?
4. We try to feel to joy, peace, and happiness rather than anger, fear, and unhappiness. Yet compassion implies feeling these things on the behalf of others. That is made more apparent if I realize that everyone and everything else is a reflection of the Divine, as am I, so this being's pain is my own pain. Yet I am trying to maintain a sense of peacefulness, which would be contrary to feeling of compassion. How does one reconcile this?
5. Is it theoretically possible (I can't think of a practical example) of finding balance between two poles and then finding that this point of balance is actually a point of imbalance on another continuum?
6. My last question is practical: I work with the DMH, and the Wheel of the Year. I am also meditating on the Tree of Life. I don't believe there are any issues with studying the Tree of Life, it is only when using the Tree in practical magic that there are conflicts due to the differences in systems, is that right?
Happy New Year's to you and the commentariat here!
And thank you!