How to overcome loneliness: love and compassion

Of course in traditions like Mahayana Buddhism, it is explained that we all have the same essence, the essence of buddha. But, even understanding it on a more daily, more ordinary level, we are so connected that what a person says and thinks affects many. other people, and these people affect other people. The connection that we have between all of us is enormous, and today, with the Internet it becomes even more evident. We are totally connected.

The food that nourishes me, the clothes I wear to dress, etc., connects me with people who have cultivated or produced all these goods. If I reflect, I realize that I really am connected to the rest of the world. Therefore I cannot live a life in which I only care about myself, nor a life in which I feel alone.

The great suffering of humanity is loneliness, and this loneliness is a great lie. It comes from ignorance, from feeling disconnected. Through meditation, we connect more with ourselves, at the same time as we are connected to the rest, because everything is basically the same. But if at the same time, we are practicing love and compassion, then our wisdom increases. The more our wisdom increases, the more connected we feel with the rest. Wisdom and compassion grow together within us.

Therefore, the greatest mistake of human beings is to think that we are separate, individual entities. This is what we call duality. In order to overcome this duality, which is the greatest problem and that which prevents us from becoming conscious, happy beings, we need to develop love and compassion. Love anc compassion help us momentarily forget duality.

There are people who are very fortunate to feel devotion. Devotion is another feeling which, like love and compassion, helps us overcome duality. Duality is feeling lonely. Devotion is feeling united. Compassion is feeling together. Love, compassion and devotion mean that little by little we can overcome duality, and therefore, our wisdom emerges, it dawns on us.

If we want to practice compassion and love during our daily life, I suggest we practice on the street, surrounded by people, animals, plants … It is about exercising ourselves to develop a feeling of tenderness, affection, sympathy towards everything. To develop kindness, generosity, patience, gratitude. It is about remembering our connection with all living beings.

Now I will suggest a meditation that you can practice any time. It could be, for instance, to imagine at the centre of our body, at the level of the heart, a big ball of light, which is our capacity for love. Here we can use this technique in various ways:

• You can walk on the street and imagine that as you walk you emit a big light, which is your love, and which reaches all the people who are on the street and who you cross. If you have more capacity, you can imagine that you can reach even further and touch more beings

• Another way is to do the visualisation in connection to our breathing. We imagine the ball of light in the center of our heart and when we breathe in, the ball of light lights up even more. As we exhale, all the energy that is concentrated in the ball expands, arises and reaches to all. And so on, as we complete our meditation respiratory cycles.