Tuesday, November 8, 2011

February, 1932: Compassion

"Compassion is the only key I ever found that fits everyone," Anais Nin tells Henry Miller during a discussion about his wife, June. "Passion and violence never opened a human being," Anais says. In this entry of her Diary, she also speaks of how only love seeks to know and understand a person. Henry seems to be filled with anger, but as for Anais: "I love, I love, I love."

The story of the Prodigal Son comes to mind here. The younger son leaves after first asking his father for his share of the estate; he returns years later with nothing, after having squandered everything. A celebratory feast takes place upon his return. The older son is angry, jealous, resentful; he had toiled away all the years the younger son was away, and no fatted calf was ever killed in his honor. The father is filled with compassion and love and forgiveness and is focused only on the fact that the younger son had been lost, and now he is found.

What develops our perspective to see and feel things so differently? Perhaps her upbringing, with an absent father she longed to come home, developed Anais Nin's sensitive side and her compassionate nature. Did she ever feel anger over her father's departure, or only sorrow? Other people, with a similar upbringing such as parents who divorce, can become angry, bitter adults. It is interesting how people process the events of their lives so differently.

No comments:

Post a Comment