Ep. 649 – The Alchemy of Compassion & Equanimity with Joseph Goldstein & Noah Markus

**Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give at:** BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser Joseph Goldstein, along with Noah & Raghu Markus, discuss how to maintain a balance of compassion and equanimity for a more peaceful life.  **This time on Mindrolling, Joseph, Noah, and Raghu explore:**  - Buddhist philosophy on relative truth vs. ultimate truth - Feeling the body as an energy field of changing sensations rather than something solid - How one can tend the heart in troubled times - The manifestations of reactivity that make the heart retract - Seeing our reality as a blip in cosmic time - Inspiring awe through nature as a way to open and soften the heart - The book Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper - Balancing the qualities of compassion and equanimity - Investigating the phenomena of thinking rather than the content of a thought - Lessons on direct experience from the Bāhiya Sutta **About Joseph Goldstein:** Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and loving-kindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization’s guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. ***“At those times, you’re stronger on the compassion side and less strong on the equanimity side. When you see that, that can be a good reminder: ‘Oh yeah, this is what’s happening; I need to go out and look at the stars’. We need both. Either one by itself can tend to states that may not be that helpful.” –Joseph Goldstein*** **About Noah Markus:** Noah Markus is a content curator & archivist for Love Serve Remember Foundation. He spends his time curating Ram Dass content for podcasts, courses, and much more.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.