Passion and Compassion
You don't have to choose one or the other. A way of looking at this is:
Passion ∞ Compassion
The opposites are complementary and they work together. I often use this symbol ∞ to refer to the opposites dynamically playing with each other.
I got this picture of the figure-8, the infinity sign, by watching meditators as they talk about their experiences. When people come for instruction, I like to ask them what they have been experiencing and then listen as they talk about their lives. One of the symbols I see people make with their hands as they describe their lives and what they are integrating is this lazy-8. While talking, they just spontaneously make the symbol as they talk with their hands. Back in 1968, I read The Silent Language, by Edward Hall, and I started noticing the hand gestures, the sign language that goes with everyday speech. Later Ed became a teacher of mine and helped me develop my thinking about meditation as a process of becoming more finely adapted to your own culture, and to your soul's culture.
In Instinctive Meditation, the approach is to savor whatever passions arise in your being during meditation. Whatever love, longing, adoration, anger, desire, lust, sorrow you feel. The passions tend to fluctuate: they come on in a wave, surge through you, then pass, leaving you spent or tingling with energy.
The techniques you develop in Instinctive Meditation allow you to create your own Yoga of Passions, in which you combine the fire of your passions with the balance of awareness and serenity.
Syzygy = The Yoga of Harmonizing Opposites
We often use the word syzygy, which means, "to join together, to bring the opposites into alignment." It also means marriage (in the sense of the union of opposites).
All the y's in sygygy (link to the American Heritage Dictionary) take some getting used to. I think it took me weeks to let my tongue wrap itself around the word. The y's and the yg in syzygy are from the same root as give us the word yoga. Syzygy is a good word to know and gets lots of points in Scrabble.
Householders – meaning anyone who is not a monk or nun – need all the passion they can, and need to be centered in their passion, which is the fire that illumines from within.
People usually think that their passions need to be dialed down, but this is rarely the case. What is needed is to add meditation, and then you don't need to exercise constraint. The meditation adds the needed serenity-in-motion, so you can go for it after meditation with awareness, skill, and liveliness. It's much easier to add relaxation than to try to manipulate the passions directly.
Your Ruling Passions, Emotions
The basic emotions are often listed as:
- fear
- anger
- joy
- sadness
- disgust
- interest
There are huge, raging debates about what to include. Love is considered to be a much more complex state than a simple emotion.
Here is quite a list:
- abasement
- acceptance
- adoration
- adventurous
- affection
- agreeable
- aggression
- agony
- alarm
- amazement
- ambivalence
- amusement
- anger
- anguish
- animosity
- annoyance
- antagonism
- anticipation
- antipathy
- anxiety
- apathy
- appalled
- appetite
- apprehension
- approbation
- approval
- ardor
- arousal
- assertive
- astonishment
- attentive
- avarice
- averse
- avid
- awe
- balky
- bashful
- bewildered
- bitter
- bliss
- boastful
- bold
- boredom
- broad-mindedness
- calm
- capricious
- captious
- careless
- caring
- caution
- censorious
- cheerful
- cockiness
- compassion
- complacency
- conceit
- concern
- confusion
- consternation
- contempt
- content
- contrary
- cooperative
- cranky
- critical
- curiosity
- cynical
- daring
- daunted
- decisive
- defiance
- dejection
- delectation
- delight
- depression
- desire
- despair
- desperation
- despise
- despondent
- determination
- detestation
- devotion
- diffidence
- disagreeable
- disappointment
- discomposure
- disconcerted
- discontent
- discouragement
- disdain
- disgust
- disheartened
- disinclination
- disinterest
- dismay
- disobedience
- displeasure
- disquieted
- dissatisfaction
- distaste
- distress
- distrust
- doubt
- dread
- eager
- ecstasy
- effrontery
- egocentrism
- egoism
- elation
- embarrassment
- empty
- enjoyment
- enmity
- enthusiasm
- envy
- euphoria
- exasperation
- expectancy
- fault-finding
- fear
- fervor
- foolhardy
- frenzied
- fretful
- forward
- froward
- frustration
- fury
- gaiety
- gall
- generosity
- glad
- glee
- gloom
- greed
- grief
- grouchy
- guilt
- happiness
- hatred
- haughty
- helplessness
- hesitancy
- homesickness
- honor
- hope
- hopelessness
- horror
- hostility
- humiliation
- humility
- impassiveness
- impatience
- impudence
- impulsive
- indecision
- indifference
- indignation
- inhospitable
- insecurity
- insolence
- interest
- intolerance
- irresolution
- irritability
- irritation
- jealousy
- jocular
- jovial
- joy
- lasciviousness
- lethargy
- liberality
- lighthearted
- loathing
- lonely
- love
- lust
- malice
- malignity
- meek
- melancholy
- merry
- mirthful
- misanthropy
- miserable
- modesty
- mortification
- mysoginic
- mysoginism
- narcissism
- nervous
- nosiness
- nostalgia
- obedience
- obstinate
- offense
- optimism
- outrage
- pain
- panic
- paranoia
- partiality
- passion
- passivity
- patience
- peaceful
- peevish
- penitent
- pensive
- perplexity
- perturbed
- perverse
- pessimism
- petulance
- pique
- placidity
- playful
- pleasure
- possessive
- precocious
- prejudice
- pride
- puzzled
- querulous
- quiet pleasure
- radical
- rage
- rancor
- rapture
- rash
- rebellious
- receptive
- reckless
- refractory
- regret
- rejection
- reluctance
- remorse
- repentant
- repugnance
- resentment
- reserved
- resignation
- resolute
- restive
- restlessness
- reverence
- revulsion
- sadness
- sarcasm
- satisfaction
- savage
- scorn
- self-conscious
- self-control
- self-deprecation
- self-destructive
- self-reproach
- sensitivity
- serenity
- shaky
- shame
- shock
- shy
- skepticism
- sociable
- solicitude
- sorrow
- spite
- spontaneity
- startled
- stoic
- stubborn
- submissive
- suicidal
- sunny
- surprise
- surrender
- suspicion
- sympathy
- tension
- terror
- thoughtful
- timid
- tolerance
- tranquility
- trepidation
- triumph
- troubled
- trust
- umbrage
- unassertive
- uncertainty
- uneasiness
- unfriendly
- unhappy
- upset
- vanity
- vehemence
- vengeful
- venturesome
- vexation
- vigilance
- violation
- wariness
- warmhearted
- watchful
- wayward
- woeful
- wonder
- worry
- worship
- worthlessness
- wretched
- zeal