Compassion: It’s Who We Are.

   As I look around for ways compassion manifests itself in the world, I am reminded of the phrase: “The more you look, the more you see.”

   Compassion can be found in the smallest act of human interaction: a smile for a sad-looking person on the bus; or in larger actions such as community groups adopting a family for Thanksgiving.

   I recently ran across a quote that illuminates and expands on that thought:

   “We are part of the whole which we call the universe, but it is an optical delusion of our mind that we think we are separate. This separateness is like a prison for us. Our job is to widen the circle of our compassion so we feel connected with all people and situations.”

Albert Einstein

   One reason compassion is such a crucial cognition for humans at this point in our history is the concept of “connectedness”. If we feel no connection with our fellow beings on this planet, there is no reason to feel compassion, or care what happens to our neighbors, friends, or family.

   But in reality, we are all connected, even if we believe in individualism to the exclusion of all else.

   First, we are connected because we share the common experience of being human on Earth. With that comes all the commonalities that entails: being born to a mother, eating food, suffering discomfort, seeing the sky, experiencing weather, and so on.

   Second is the concept of interdependence, the concept that we rely on one another.

   “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”

Thomas Merton

   If we eat food raised by someone else, use electricity, drive a car or use public transportation, wear clothes made by someone else (from fabric woven by someone else, out of materials grown or synthesized by someone else), then we are dependent upon others for our lives.

   Living in society is, by its very definition, an interdependent activity. (And if you aren’t interdependent, then you probably aren’t using the Internet and aren’t reading this blog.)

   After recognizing our shared experiences, our interdependence, and our interconnectedness, we begin to understand that we are not so different, you and I. And it is that accepting of our sameness that helps us take the next leap: there is something beyond the physical that connects us as well; call it meta-physical or spiritual.

   “All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is: love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.”

Dalai Lama

   And that is the place that compassion touches us and brings us together.

   Call it an emotion, a virtue, a state, a trait – the words aren’t ultimately important. What is important is that “place” of feeling compassion that recognizes: “Hey, you and I aren’t that different. And when you suffer, there’s a part of me that suffers too. And because I don’t like to suffer, I want you to stop suffering.”

   So we smile at strangers, lend a helping hand to a neighbor, and be a shoulder to cry on for a friend. And care -- deeply -- because that’s part of who we are.

~*~

   For extensive thoughts on compassion, and links to many more, go to: www.CompassionSpace.com.