The practice of mettā (loving-kindness) serves as both a source of wholesome nourishment and a way to transform how we perceive the world and our existence. Working not just at the level of feeling and emotion but at the level of intention, seeds of loving-kindness and well-wishing are planted and nurtured through a variety of meditative techniques that can be practised both on the cushion and in daily life. Developing beautiful qualities of heart through mettā provides a sense of groundedness and a reservoir of nourishment that is healing in itself and helpful on the path of deepening insight.
Cultivated alongside compassion, joy, and equanimity (the three other brahmavihāras or ‘divine dwellings’), a reconditioning of the mind and heart takes place in mettā practice, gradually creating an ideal inner climate for growth, freer from pressure and judgmentalism. In this inner climate of kindness, thoughts, intentions and actions become more skilful and rooted in well-wishing. Beyond this more personal and relative level, as practice deepens beautiful states of oneness may arise, with the perception that 'all is mettā', that mettā is the fabric from which the cosmos is woven. And leading as this does to a gradual unfabricating of our usual reified senses of self, mettā nurtures conditions that lead beyond conditions, towards insight into emptiness and ultimately to the Unfabricated.
