[jbgt]

Nice to see you name them as a pair. Very often, people seem to focus on Metta only, maybe due to the focus on this Sutta.

To my understanding, Compassion / Lovingkindness are linked and often arise together, and it's a bit odd to wish to separate them too strongly: When contemplating other's and out own Dukkha, Compassion may arise, wishing for it to cease. Lovingkindness may then arise, wishing for there to be happiness and peace instead. They both work together.

By contemplating Dukkha we better understand this Characteristic of existence, and develop Compassion/Lovingkindess. To avoid getting too "down" by too much Dukkha meditation, Sympathetic Joy with one's and other's good qualities or good actions we can brighten the mind. and Equanimity helps us from falling into grief/anger on one side, and euphoria and avoiding the truth of existence on the other.

So the Brahma Viharas work together and aren't too artificially / forcefully separated.

[krzat]

I have hard time discerning between 4 immesurables, it seems like they are all love in different forms / levels of difficulty.