Index 
Compassion Joie de Vivre Senses
Sorrow for Kim: I almost always drive with the windows down, especially when it’s above 45° or 50°F, but sometimes for short periods even at 20° below. No radio or other electronic sounds, only the engine (very faint). And the gush of the rushing always changing speed (oops, velocity) of the wind overwhelmed by my smashing through it and of course the screaming of the tires on the road. I love to drive (see Greeman email) I’m sorry, well not really, couldn’t hook up for a ride this year. Condition as they “are” (actually “were”). Your health, I assume, made you decline my invitation. I can futilely (vainly, ala Ecclesiastes) wish per: “sorry they weren’t as I wished them”, but that seems silly. Or I could wish his health were better now, another vain silly selfish wish that the present be as it is not. So if my wishes of sorrow can have no effect on the conditions that cause them, wherefore then my sorrow? Perhaps for an effect on the future. Perhaps my expression of compassionate pain will make Kim feel better, my pain for his. Perhaps his knowing my sorrow will enlighten his spirit a bit, and maybe even because of the spirit improvement,t improve his physical health as well. What is the loss that balances that gain? Let’s argue to the absurd and suppose I was not sorry or at least didn’t convey it, elsewise it can have no effect (else, on me). Would Kim suffer more? Perhaps, especially if he expected my expression of sorrow for his condition. He has sorrow for it and by the golden rule, hopes others do too. Then my inaction would cause pain and suffering. So if I apologize to the gods, I might cause spiritual and even physical uplift; if I don’t their degradation. How much? How likely? Perhaps my sorrow has other more selfish motives; perhaps as well, perhaps alone. It makes me “feel good”. Perhaps it is but a ploy to say, “Like me. See how compassionate I am for your suffering! Like me!!” Or perhaps just its statement. The risk of you “not liking” me for my compassion is nearly zero, so odds are heavy that I gain, almost non-existent that I lose. I think all that and more is in my sorrow that Kim will not ride with me this year. Plus of course, I think I would enjoy traveling with someone who can read a geologic map. |