What is compassion?

[3dnow]

All my life I thought compassion was

"ouuuuuuuuuh my poor little friend..."

This is harmful love.

My personal answer:

Compassion is supporting people and giving them hope.
Not pretending to understand their life (respect aspect of compassion).

(ps: not preaching or something like that sharing makes a better effect to understand it)

[ROM]

True compassion can only arise from someone who has undergone the same/similar experiences; only then can one understand and empathise with the other.

[3dnow]

True compassion can only arise from someone who has undergone the same/similar experiences; only then can one understand and empathise with the other.

Hi Rom,

I don't think this is a requirement. I just accept that I cannot understand I have had not the same experiences.

cheers,

3d

[sound]

True compassion can only arise from someone who has undergone the same/similar experiences; only then can one understand and empathise with the other.


I also have a different understanding of compassion than what you state here ROM ... there are so many examples of humans 'being' compassionate, without having experienced extreme poverty, hardship, illness etc ... empathy is a natural part of a child's development, possibly due to that innate sense of connectedness we have with each other.
I agree that it is necessary to understand the 'nature of suffering' to be compassionate, however i dont believe it is necessary to suffer in the same way, for that to be 'expressed' ...

[Porcelain]

Compassion is recognising suffering in others, and taking action to help them or alleviate their suffering.

[Lightspirit]

Maybe compassion is where you give of yourself using empathy to alleviate the discomfort another person is feeling.

[rsingh]

Compassion is your ability to put yourself in other's shoes and at the same time innate urge to help other person. So your intensity of compassion depends how well you can put yourlelf in other person's shoes. If you have experienced circumstances similar to other person then you are in a better position to put yourself in his shoes but if you are not eager to help him then you are disconnecting yourself from your feeling of compassion. So your ego plays a great role. More ego you have less likely you can help other. To be more compassionate you must reduce your ego. Lesser the ego you have more you can help other persons. Some persons may look compassionate but acutualy they are not because their compassion may be based on some principles or ideology.

[Gracey]

compassion to me is not allowing anyone to see themselves as a victim. this would be enabling behavior that is not good for them. compassion is helping someone heal and to recognize the beauty in themselves.

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

Compassion, as i understand and experience it, is the awareness that i am part of a greater whole.. a greater whole that is the collective consciousnesses of all that 'is', so.. what i do to one, i do to all, including myself, and.. what i do to myself, i do to all.. in this awareness, i 'feel' the suffering of my brothers and sisters, of Life and of the planet, similarly i 'feel' the joys and the accomplishments to a greater harmony, a greater resonance.. and i am tangibly aware that abuses to myself are abuses to my interconnected Cosmic family, and that real self-respect, is respect for my Cosmic family.. Compassion, is the unsolicited 'feeling' that explains this relationship to me, clearly and undoubtedly..

Be well..

[Seawolf]

Greetings..

Compassion, as i understand and experience it, is the awareness that i am part of a greater whole.. a greater whole that is the collective consciousnesses of all that 'is', so.. what i do to one, i do to all, including myself, and.. what i do to myself, i do to all.. in this awareness, i 'feel' the suffering of my brothers and sisters, of Life and of the planet, similarly i 'feel' the joys and the accomplishments to a greater harmony, a greater resonance.. and i am tangibly aware that abuses to myself are abuses to my interconnected Cosmic family, and that real self-respect, is respect for my Cosmic family.. Compassion, is the unsolicited 'feeling' that explains this relationship to me, clearly and undoubtedly..

Be well..

Hi TzuJanli,

Well said!

I'm starting to see the connection between me and the world, and even the universe. We're all one, the pain in the world is the pain in me. I couldn't recognize someone else's pain unless it was in me also. So if I try to fix someone else, I just make them worse, unless I take responsibility for the pain. I take responsibility because we are one, which is some wild stuff! :)

[tone0728]

I believe compassion is empathy for all humanity.
Not by virtue of shared space, but by virtue of shared suffering. Essentially it's the understanding that all human beings suffer, and through that common experience we can grow to love one another without even saying hello first.

[Emmalevine]

I agree Tone, I think compassion is empathy for humanity, knowing we all come from the same source and share the same emotions. We don't necessarily have to experience the same events to recognise the pain we feel as a collective whole, as part of the human condition. In my view compassion is about realising that and supporting one another within it.

[Eudaimonist]

Compassion is a virtue based on the emotional capacities for empathy and sympathy that translates to an active desire to allieviate the suffering of others.

Compassion is more than just empathy. It is an active desire to act on empathy for others.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[Bluegreen]

Compassion is felt because suffering is an emotion we recognize.
We have all suffered at one time or other. And if the cause is one that is shared, it is easier to comfort the sufferer.

"...Now a man who has true compassion, if he finds one bowed down with sorrow, knows what has caused those tears to flow, and, knowing it, knows how to stem them. ..."

[mattie]

Compassion can go either way. Like so many English words it can have multiple meanings that often vary.

It can be the Oooooooh poor you type of (condescending) pity that you note correctly as not being useful. This is generally rooted in a thank goodness that pitiful person/situation isn’t me & feeling a little superior. Compassion’s sympathy can be pity or sorrow or the understanding of a common feeling.

A more productive type empathy fully appreciates & understands their position, realizing that if we haven’t experienced exactly what they are at one time or another in one lifetime (or aspect) we probably will. While fully appreciating this, a productive distance can be maintained. Just relating to them w/o making a negative judgment about their not handling whatever well or feeling superior in any way. Simply relating & understanding the energy that they’re experiencing. One need not have had the same experience to have genuine empathy. This empathy isn’t limited to just relating to humans as we can have compassion for animals’ plight or the planet, etc.

Compassion is a part of empathy which isn’t limited to feeling pain or loss. It can also be feeling the higher dimensional feelings such as others’ JOY & positive emotions. Empathy can be appreciating any range (positive or negative) of emotions or thoughts.

[Xan]

As I see it, any description of compassion that's based on how we act is too limited.

For me compassion is a place in the deeper heart where we act from.

In this we may find ourselves saying or doing things
that don't always fit our ideas about how we 'should' be or do
but have a surprising beneficial effect on others... and on ourselves.

True compassion doesn't come from 'me' but through me from universal presence as I open in It.


Xan

[Xan]

I recommend reading 7luminaries beautiful posts in the thread, "The problem of human suffering" .

http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17040 (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/redir.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiritualforums.co m%2Fvb%2Fredir.php%3Flink%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww .spiritualforums.com%252Fvb%252Fredir.php%253Flink %253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.spiritualforums. com%25252Fvb%25252Fredir.php%25253Flink%25253Dhttp %2525253A%2525252F%2525252Fwww.spiritualforums.com %2525252Fvb%2525252Fredir.php%2525253Flink%2525253 Dhttp%252525253A%252525252F%252525252Fwww.spiritua lforums.com%252525252Fvb%252525252Fshowthread.php% 252525253Ft%252525253D17040%2525252526amp%25252525 3Bpage%252525253D28) page 28, post #278... and the next page, #283.


Xan

[Xan]

"Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things."



~Thomas Merton