Let me start with: "What goes around comes around" otherwise known as Karma.
Or if you will "As ye sow so shall ye Reap".
So, it's in your enlightened self interest even logically to be kind to others and yourself so you and others can be kind to you.
The alternative is a life of suicidal actions which might become suicidal homicidal actions.
For example, the thing I'm most proud of in this lifetime is that I didn't have to kill anybody in this lifetime. Why?
Because no matter whether it is a war or not living with the ghosts of those you have to kill is a truly awful thing and the cause of a lot of PTSD all over the world.
So, if you can live a life where you don't have to kill anyone to survive it's much better because it is more likely that you can literally "Stay sane" during your life here on earth.
As a child I really didn't fully understand all of this. I watched things like Maverick and Jim Bowie and "The Rifleman" and "Have Gun Will Travel" regularly. Then I was given a rifle at age 8 with bullets to store in my own bedroom to protect the family from varmints and if necessary, People.
This was the tradition of children 4 to 10 years old (if they could actually be trusted with a weapon and bullets) for around 400 years just here in the U.S. let alone in Europe or wherever before that.
So, given all this I still am proudest that "At least in this lifetime I wasn't forced by circumstance (usually war) to ever kill anyone".
So, the point is if you can develop compassion for yourself and all other beings in the universe you can have the best lifetime possible where you actually might be happy.
It's true I cannot say I was happy all my life but I was happy from 32 to 37 in Mt. Shasta with my family. And I have been incredibly happy since 1998 when I was 50 and I'm now 78 years old with my present wife and my kids are all over the world now as they are travelers like me and my forebears were too.
However, I attribute my relatively happy life now to one thing: "Learning compassion for myself and all other beings in the universe."
How did I get to this place in consciousness:
There is a Buddhist prayer that I find the most helpful for me personally and if it works for you that's good too.
"May all Beings attain Bliss and the Cause of Bliss" This is the form I learned. However, now it is more common to say something like:
May all beings have happiness and the true causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering and the true causes of suffering.
May all beings never be parted from the happiness that is without suffering, great nirvana liberation.
May all beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment, aversion and free from ignorance.
I sometimes wake up in the morning saying this prayer over and over. It gives me great peace to have this running through my consciousness sometimes 24 hours a day. It goes deep into your subconscious mind and heals your mind and body. It radiates out as you generate compassion to all beings in greater and greater diameters each day.
You become a generator of Compassion that helps all life on earth.
By God's Grace
Note: I was raised a mystical Christian but now consider myself to be a Mystical Christian Tibetan Buddhist too.
However, Christians don't see Buddhism as a religion. Instead they see it as a philosophy sort of like Hatha Yoga would be viewed by Christians who also do Hatha Yoga for health.
If you think of the prayer above as a yoga for Mental Health and physical health ongoing this is a good way to look at this because if the 2 year old in your subconscious believes that all beings will attain bliss and the cause of bliss or all happiness and the cause of Happiness it will give you great peace to be in this state.
This can take a person to states of Enlightenment very easily.
By God's Grace
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