Lovingkindness (Metta) is sometimes shortened (even by me) to love. This is fine; it’s easier to remember, but I think to absorb the true meaning of lovingkindness you have to remember that it is so much more than “love.”
Not this Metta!
Lovingkindness is to wish good will and happiness to all sentient beings. First and foremost of these are humans…not because they deserve it, but probably because they don’t. Seriously, when is the last time a bison or a worm ticked you off? In other words, people can be much harder to express lovingkindness to, precisely because they are so complex. That darn neocortex (see triune brain)!
In any case, the lovingkindness I focus on is that for those in the human species. Like compassion or sympathetic joy, you can express it for
- Yourself
- Those you already love
- Those you don’t know
- Those you can’t stand
- Those you absolutely hate (you know there are a few, yes?)
As soon as you master these five, then maybe you can expand towards all sentient beings.
Lovingkindness is not that Eros kind of love, where the passion is returned. It is a selfless love extending out as brotherly (remember philia?) love, and then all-embracing unconditional love, possibly an agape (godly) love.
You can meditate and wish lovingkindness to your world, person by person, being by being.
It all starts with a quiet moment and contemplation…
(Feature “Hands” photo by Penny Mathews)