Metta Vs Sublime

2137 Words9 Pages
The world we live in today consists of so much evil, suffering and anger. I’ve always wondered what the world would look like if instead of promoting negativity and toxic emotions people decided to be kind and happy. Since there is over seven billion people on this planet I don’t suppose there will be a cure for nonpositive actions anytime soon. However, if a handful of people start acting kind and compassionate it will make a difference. I believe that positivity is contagious so if you are nice to someone they will in return be nice to other people they encounter. Moreover, these ideas are similar to the buddhist concept of the four sublime states. According to http://www.accesstoinsight.org the states have been taught by the Buddha and are…show more content…
According to https://thebuddhistcentre.com metta translates to love (unromantic) and friendliness and that it “is an emotion, something you feel in your heart”. Metta doesn’t translate into the english language. Therefore, according to http://www.wildmind.org it is very easy for us to confuse it with other emotions and misinterpret what the true definition of it means. Metta is an act that you complete with love and without expecting anything in return, http://www.accesstoinsight.org compares the act to a mother who gives “her own life to protect her child”. This meaning that metta gives and does not want anything in return for it. Metta is a patient, happy, considerate, empathetic and boundless attitude. As reported by www.wildmind.org metta is “the most fulfilling emotional state that we can know”. According to a couple of the sources listed above there is a way to practice metta in five different stages. First you feel metta for yourself, second for a close friend you feel your relationship, third for someone you don’t like or dislike, fourth for someone you do not like and lastly picture all of the people together linked and picture everything else in the world linked with…show more content…
I usually try to stay away from expressing judgement but I am constantly annoyed with people around me. To practice “unconditional friendliness” I pretended like everyone around me were my grandparents. As strange as that sounds it made the most sense to me because I have a tremendous amount of respect my grandparents and I could never talk back to them or express any form judgement. For the most part I can’t pass judgement on to my grandparents because they are older and way wiser than I am. It was pretty awkward picturing the Starbucks barista who made my drink completely wrong as my grandma. Although It wouldn’t have been wrong of me to ask her to remake the drink, I needed to leave or I would have been late for my midterm. Instead of being frustrated and upset with her I realized how busy Starbucks was and how she is only a human who makes mistakes. I also pictured myself in her shoes, I used to work at Jamba Juice in high school and when we would have a rush and a line out the door I would be frantically making smoothies and I can see how easy it is to make a mistake. And if the barista making me a chai latte instead of and white mocha iced coffee is the worst thing to happen to me that day then I am in good shape. Another example of when I used this tactic is when my roommate’s friend ate my food. My roommate and I aren’t very close we meet each other on move in day and we just

    More about Metta Vs Sublime

      Open Document