ACTION
The Direct Attentiveness for Action is a great deal more complicated than that of the Cognitive operations because, as a consequence of it being completed, any evaluation will be directly interpreted by Identity.
One of the best indicators that any action is Identity-free is the presence of True Equanimity. However, this is infrequent so the correct approach must be to consider why Equanimity is not present. This is accomplished by examining the presence of experiences of emotion, mental passion or relief from the tension of confusion which reduce any potential Equanimity to ashes.
We must then consider if there has been harm or suffering caused to the body or mind of any sentient creature. This is not as simple an exercise as one can imagine, for one must consider if your speech has in any way been incorrect.
Have you said what should at that moment not be said, or ommitted what indeed should be said? Has there been gossip or disparagement?
All is not as simple as it appears, for one must examine the way in which you make your living. Is your work really without stain when you appear to be doing something quite innocent? Is it correct, for example to sell makeup which encourages vanity or a toy that induces addiction to violence? There are a thousand subtle traps.
We can sum this up by saying that one must examine the Benevolent Affect present in every action, for an act of Benevolence may not have the value of the Widow’s Mite.
Then there is an Attentiveness that is very important. It is to examine one’s GLADNESS that another is correctly GLAD. Now this is quite different than responding to the happiness of another to your action and indeed is so subtle that it will require a clear explanation in the discourse on the practices.
We have presented then the requirement of a clear examination of internal experiences of:
EQUANIMITY
BENEVOLENT AFFECT
GLADNESS
The question then arises as to whether the presence of COMPASSION should be examined. The answer is yes, but in a very special way, for the human creature really has little experience with the presence of True Compassion, having been “brainwashed” with mental and emotional ideas as to what compassion is.
What we must distinguish is the difference between EMPATHY, which is produced by cognitive error, which we must term SOCIAL CONDITIONED EMPATHY, and the NATURAL EMPATHY of the human system.
We can perhaps understand the difference if we consider in more detail the GLADNESS OF GLADNESS which is correctly experienced. You will see that the gladness of the other in experiencing a correct objective is not the same as your gladness, which is not related to their objective.
It would then best be described as DELIGHT in their GLADNESS.
Similarly, NATURAL EMPATHY in the SUFFERING of others is best described as a RESONANCE with the SUFFERING of others that does not accompany them in their SUFFERING, but is centered upon the COGNITIVE wish that their present suffering and future suffering be relieved.
We are now then in a position of being able to close Pandora’s box.
Socially conditioned EQUANIMITY and BENEVOLENT AFFECT are mentally conditioned and socially conditioned GLADNESS and EMPATHY are emotionally conditioned.
Each, of course, are then expected to be externally observable and the absence of this expression may bring social condemnation.
The correct and natural experiences of these four, which are accompanied by natural unconditioned expression, are VISCERAL EXPERIENCES, completely devoid of EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES and without MENTAL CONTROL.
Each is accompanied by the Cognitive wish that natural positive experiences should continue, that experiences of both emotional and mental Suffering should never appear, and that emotional and mental Happiness should cease, being replaced by natural AFFECT.