No matter what spiritual path or belief you follow, one of the major vitues in the practice is Human Compassion. Perhaps it is because we witness so much suffering around us, maybe there is an innate need to reach out. But the most important thing of all is to primarily UNDERSTAND the meaning of Compassion, and then once understood putting it into practice is another challenge all together! In my personal examination on this subject, I have come to find that interpretations are many, and explanations are almost none. So in my rants this week, let us attempt to place a dent in the subject.
Let us start by breaking down the etymology (origin) of the word COMPASSION. COM = Latin root Cum (meaning WITH) PASSION= Related to the English noun for Patient and the Greek Paskhein (meaning ONE WHO SUFFERS). Therefore, the word 'Compassion' literally means TO SUFFER WITH. More than that, compassion is the act of going out of your way to help relieve the spiritual, physical, or emotional pain of another. It is more than just Empathy, even though these emotions do go hand-in-hand. Instead, compassion incites a 'passion' like a fire that kindles brightly and is an automatic response to bearing witness to another's suffering.
Often times now in modern life we have become so jaded, and so encapsulated in our own bubbles that we walk about ignorant to the plights of others. Sometimes, even avoiding ourselves from encountering any of "those" situations for lack of "convenience. We change the channel, or roll up the window when we see a homeless man walking up to our car with a change cup asking for money. We look away and pretend we don't see it. Maybe we rationalize that if we ignore it, then it is not there. How passe! Yet the truth of the matter is, that when most people are faced with an imminent emergency, in the face of witnessing human suffering, it has been my experience, that something 'clicks' in people, and they experience compassion. As a matter of fact, I have stared into the face of EVIL, had a gun to my head, and through the act of human compassion (and providence I am sure) I connected with that individual. Needless to say I am here to tell the tale. So what exactly is human compassion? Why is it so special? and Why do some covet it so much?
Philosophers Descartes and Spinoza have said the following:
Descartes: "Pity is a sadness mixed kind of love or goodwill to those we see suffering some evil that we feel unworthy" ( Passions of the Soul , Article 185).
Spinoza: "The pity is sorrow with the accompanying idea of evil happened to another we imagine like us ..." ( Ethics , XXII proposal and defining conditions, XVIII).
The common denominator here is that we feel somehow that in witness of a tragedy or an evil we feel is unnecessary, it is instinctive to react with the want to make things better to alleviate this suffering. Mother Teresa explained this when she was asked by a reporter about the purpose of her work. About why she decided to go work in the slums of India, among the 'undesirables' and the 'untouchables' and the dying. What did she hope to accomplish? and how did she plan to make a difference in such a vast pool of necessity that seemed never ending. To this loaded question she simply answered that she was not there to heal the sick, or make nurse anyone to health; that would be naive since she had not medical training of the body. However, she did feel like she knew something about the treatment of the spirit's health. She said to a reporter once "I am here simply to bear witness. To offer a human touch, and warm embrace to those whom would otherwise die alone and scared. To offer a blanket or water to the terminally ill, and give them dignity in their end. I am here to give compassion. Healing of the Spirit." Those words choke me up! What a lion of a lady and exemplary human being.
Of course there are extents to what each individual is capable of. In our learning as life scholars we learn bit-by-bit, as toddlers do to walk, how to become better spiritual beings. One does not have to be religious to be a spiritual person. The Dalai Lama is supposed to be an aspect of the Buddha's compassion, and an embodiment of the virtue itself. Mother Teresa certainly did not allude to sainthood in life. She admitted she was imperfect, and often in the face of so much death and human suffering she experienced darkness in her soul, and often questioned the resolve of her faith. She always felt she could do more. Gandhi led the liberation of India through compassionate means. Martin Luther King faced his adversaries and offered them love and understanding, after having gone to visit Gandhi by the way. So why not take a page from the Bible even, and in the words of Jesus of Nazareth "Turn the other cheek."
One thing is for sure, in a world where the media has exploited our heart strings, and in rotation display of the simultaneous suffering of the world being broadcast to us 24/7 on a screen, on social media, on blogs, through streaming, etc... we have become COMFORTABLY NUMB, like the Pink Floyd song. It is time to wake up as a human "race" and unite and connect to strengthen and reinforce our collective capacity for compassion. We cannot fix the world in one day, and we cannot help everyone all at once alone. Together however, if we cannot help the many, then help the one. Start somewhere. So something. Make a change.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of my favorite poets and thinkers encompasses it all, he writes: