This small book is the first in a series of four, consisting of reflections and practices related to the ‘sublime abiding places for the heart’ – the four brahma-vihāras, in Buddhist parlance. The vision for the series is to explore these sublime abidings via the somewhat oblique approach of looking at their opposites. In this first book we will be investigating mettā through the lens of contention and self-righteousness; the declaration: ‘I’m right, you’re wrong!’ being an archetypical expression of these caustic qualities. The other three books in the series will, similarly, explore the remaining brahma-vihāras through aspects of mind and behaviour that oppose or confuse them.