Messengers of Hope

Gifted Compassionates are a group of individuals who have consciously chosen to look inward to truly see if they possess compassion for the self. They are messengers of hope by virtue of identification, intent, and their desires to raise consciousness. Examining the belief systems below demonstrate why self-love remains one of the most confusing stages of human development.

When asked the greatest commandment Jesus said love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. He later portrays this extreme form of love as divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, voluntary, and thoughtful dying on the cross. The second greatest commandment is to love one another as we already love ourselves. *First we are to love supernaturally. Second, we are narcissistic by design and thus have no need for self-love- just love others.

Love and compassion are closely related in Buddhism. Compassion is not merely limited to giving material things, but acting with a pure motive, without greed, false views or pride. It has nothing to do with achievement but is spacious and generous. *When a person develops real compassion, he is uncertain whether he is being generous to others or to himself. This is because compassion is without direction and without me and them. Compassion is the cleansing and purifying of one’s mind to be able to love another.

Through the study of Kabbalah we learn that by correcting our use of egoism, or our intentions, we can actually transcend our own nature, self-love, and begin to love others the way we love ourselves. *Again, we are inherently narcissistic at birth. Through a process called ‘correction’ we reach a place where everyone can love to their fullest. This is done by changing the aim of our egoism. Instead of aiming its expression at ourselves, we can aim it at a common goal, attaining love for one another.

In the Torah, self-love is a prerequisite for loving others. *It teaches that a self-hater is not capable of feeling true love for others. In this context, when we speak of self-love, what we really mean is having a positive self-image or self-esteem.

Most of us, if not all, are demonstrating compassion in our lives by being empathetic or sympathetic to others through self-sacrifice. The end result is a form of martyrdom that leaves little love for ourselves. Behaving as if we are immortal, only a few of us are resurrecting from this experience. Real self-love is humble (not narcissistic) but few of us have a sense of how it is supposed to feel. Those who do feel proud are confused about how much pride they are allowed to feel ‘before’ it’s too much.

Ernie Vecchio, author, psychologist, and spiritual teacher reveals groundbreaking insights that shed important light on a ‘healthy’ and spiritual definition of compassion, insights that have changed the lives of thousands of individuals. His hope is to inspire participants to examine their inner life for this uniquely human internal ethic and bring it into awareness. If they possess the gift, the focus is to envision an alternative to the predominant tendency to project it outward, often before the individual who has it can benefit from its effect. If the ethic is lacking, participants can embark on a journey of valid spiritual recovery. Either way, the result in the world: the same love that heals also transforms. Compassion no longer needs to represent martyrdom and sacrifice for others. Its true meaning: to first suffer with ourselves corrects a cultural distortion that has become epidemic.