Just as conditionality is the other side of the coin of emptiness from a functional perspective, so from an affective perspective the brahmavihāras are the natural flourishing that emerges once a diminishing of egoism has been brought about through insight into emptiness.
…genuine insight into emptiness is far away from escapism.
… If such a tendency should manifest, then this calls for increased emphasis on embodied presence of the mind. This will ensure that the type of emptiness cultivated is a genuine one, which will manifest through the natural flourishing of the brahmavihāras.
…It is a predicament we share with all other living beings [MR: our embeddedness in the biological and physical world, our constitution in the elements from which all living things arise]. In this way a realization of emptiness and conditionality is naturally accompanied by an opening of the heart to compassion.
Anālayo 2018, pp.75 -76
Compassion sought without diminishing egoism, without awareness of our embodied embeddedness is a noble intention but requires an efforting that is not skillful or useful, especially in novel circumstances (see Varela, F. J. 1999). Awareness of emptiness without aware experience of embeddedness in our biological and physical world may result in nihilism or emptiness as void. Compassion and other heart qualities are the naturally arsing companions to emptiness realized via diminishing egoism and increases awareness of the embodied nature of mind.
Anālayo. (2018). Satipatthana meditation: A practice guide. Cambridge, UK: Windhorse Publications.
Varela, F. J. (1999). Ethical know-how: Action, wisdom, and cognition. Stanford [CA: Stanford University Press.