Companionship

 

c. from Latin com "with, together" (see com-) + panis "bread," from PIE root *pa- "to feed."

 

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous,

it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own

interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood

over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but

rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails.

first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

 

Maitri (loving kindness); Karuna (compassion), Mudita (spontaneous joy), Upeksha (Equanmity),

Sutra 1.33

 

To be with each other in companionship is a great achievement of the spiritual journey.  This is the companionship of a generous and patient love.  The companionship of breaking bread together, the bread that nourishes our bodies and the bread that nourishes our souls.  The companionship of equality, on the same footing, not above or below, without judgement, envy, or the need for approval. When we come together in these ways, not to carry each other’s burden’s but to walk beside each other in empathic recognition of the burdens we all carry, we find an intimacy with a great generosity and spaciousness. 

 

Without spiritual understanding and practices, our relationships can become like other things we accumulate and use to shield us from loneliness, fear, grief, or shame.  We seek others to help to prop ourselves up, feel accomplished, beloved, belonging.  This is an immature loving that we all pass through as we develop and grow.  It can give us great healing to feel belovedness and beautiful from another’s attention.  But this conditional love has a thin veneer.  The shine begins to fade when we get to know each other better and the actual person pierces through our projections of how we need them to be.

 

To move into a deeper intimacy, we need to tap into the wellspring of love that comes from within.  With this grace, we will not be as dependent on others for being a certain way so that we might feel whole.  We feel wholeness in and as ourselves and can allow others to be themselves as well. With unconditional companioning, we have the chance to let this divine love flow freely and abundantly through us towards others not limiting its flow depending on how well others are performing to meet our needs.  It is a work in progress but one worth the effort.  To break bread with others in a more generous easy way with less envy, jealousy and need for applause.