Compassion - A Word that at times gets Lost in the Mix
 

Hello

Compassion -

noun
1.
a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

If we could all have this we would have a World I feel that is much different than now. Too we are here to learn and grow as the human race and that is a long road it seems.

I can not share the Personal Messages I get from members but I can share how often they bring a tear to my eyes. To have a member say that the site has helped them or a member has been there for them means so much in our little on line world.

I look to what is here and take that energy every day and bless it does flow out from all of us to help with the energy that needs balanced at times.

Wondering what compassion means to others.....to me its being that person that can listen well, can see into things with intuition, and help where I can.


Lynn

For me, compassion is sort of like recognizing the suffering and struggles in another because we realize there is no "other" being. It's this innate mix of empathy, sympathy, and loving regard because the realization that we are all One Universe, One Being. We see OURSELVES in all beings and all things.

I may be picky ... but I find true compassion very rare, even among the people that think about themselves as being compassionate. I think that true compassion can't fit in a heart the knows hate. Most "compassionate" people I encountered feel hate for those who disagree with their view.

I think it is certainly possible to be compassionate and still experience feelings of anger, hate, fear, etc. The human mind is quite complex. Abuse survivors could simultaneously feel great empathy and compassion for other survivors of abuse and feel anger and hate towards their abuser or abusers in general. However, in time as they begin to heal, they may learn the deeper, more Universal meaning of forgiveness and letting go. They then not only can feel compassion for people who have suffered by the cruelty of others, but can also feel compassion for those who have hurt others as well.

Nice post Lynn, it must feel really rewarding for you to know that you make a difference in others lives :-).

Oh interesting subject topic Imzadi - feeling compassion for others that have hurt but what about the ones that have hurt you personally?

Can a person really call themselves compassionate if they cannot show compassion for those who hurt them at one time?

Yes, care, help others back on their feet, sometimes a shoulder to cry on. Sincerity.

It's such a shame that a small few in the world are hellbent on destroying (even people) while a larger few are trying to mend, set them aright.

Hmm... I wonder if that's necessarily true compassion or whether it's self-pity projected outwards. Maybe it is authentic compassion, though, it's just a thought that occurred to me.

Anyway, compassion's something I've been thinking about recently, particularly in relation to this forum, funnily enough (you might take that as a sign that I need to get out more, but bear with me :laughing11:); there have been a few threads in which there have been heated exchanges and even palpable animosity, and my instinctive response was to get judgmental and to tell people to give it a rest, quite honestly. But then I figured that that wasn't going to help, so I reread the relevant posts a few times and what I began to feel after a while was an underlying pain, and when I let myself feel that pain without resistance I couldn't help but feel compassion for the people involved :smile: So for me, compassion and an acceptance of what is go hand-in-hand; if there's any sense of, 'This shouldn't have happened' or, 'They shouldn't have done that', authentic compassion can't arise from that sort of mindset, it doesn't seem to me.

Just my take on it :)

I can relate to what your sharing here. It came up in conversation in a group. The nature of how you give to others, whether through loving them, being compassionate towards others etc will come from a place of conscious deeper awareness in feeling compassion for your own self, or from a logical awareness in feeling that it is the "right and moral thing to do" I was challenging a view that insisted it doesn't matter what you are within yourself conscious or unconscious, the more you love and give to others, the less the self needs to be concerned about self love. To me I could see that loving intent for the issue at hand will be granted regardless of something else moving around deeper that might not be loving or compassionate, the love moving for that stream is still at play. My argument was more that you as the "complete" essence, if not complete can go deeper into becoming the love yourself or the compassion where it becomes a complete source self realized and there it flows from a more authentic place deeper, rather than only for the stream of love presented for that particular issue at play. I guess it makes no difference how you love, more that if your not going deeper into yourself the more you love and give out, the balance over time if not attended too will eventually reflect back to show you the deficit of self unrealized in the way it gives as a more complete vessel. I think what they trying to say, was that the giving out of love would fill up the self and make the issues deeper null and void. Could this be true, to bring about a natural dissolving of unloved aspects of self? Could well be so..


It reminds me as an empath how I sense naturally the authentic nature of loving presence in action.. I feel others as they are, so the authenticity is felt as real for me or hiding or tarnished by other stuff. It is an off "feel" for me, even as it is doing something "good". As a child being held by a mother and father in fear but directed as love served me for a time, but I always felt everything in them. Being highly sensitive and a strong empath it was all felt by me as the action of itself in everyway. We hear people say, people only love from the space of love they know how to love from within themselves, but then as the receiver you can know more about that love than they know themselves.

That is a very interesting take on it in regards to compassion being authentic or inauthentic. I do feel that no amount of compassion is wasted regardless of it being deemed as authentic or otherwise. To have compassion simply means to "suffer with" hence "passion" is suffering and "com" means with. I think it is easier for some to recognize the suffering of others and have empathy for them because they have particularly experienced similar difficulties. For instance, a refugee would find it more natural to develop empathy and compassion for someone else who is fleeing a war torn country etc. Are they merely experiencing a reflection of self pity for themselves or are they utilizing their experience to further enhance the already present human condition of compassion that lies within? Or perhaps they may even experience these two things simultaneously? Maybe instead of thinking about compassion as being either authentic or inauthentic, we can be more open minded. We are each growing at different rates along our journey of life and just because a person has not attained the Cosmic Universal Unconditional Love/Compassion for All That Is type of consciousness does not necessarily deem their compassion to be any less meaningful, palpable, or authentic. :smile:

Compassion and lovingkindness... It's hard to go wrong with these... It's very true that a kind word on a hard day can make all the difference to a person. Likewise a cruel word on an otherwise bright day will be remembered for a long time.

I think the point that was made about tolerance and acceptance of other viewpoints being very important is a good one. It's not easy when the viewpoints others espouse say that you yourself say as a woman or perhaps as a minority etc are viewed as less worthy than they themselves are, yet nonetheless, we lose something if we curtail free expression too greatly. Many times in the past I have said well let's just agree to disagree and thank you for the courteous exchange :D.

I have to say, I have always felt here that our very British long-standing cultural mandate to be courteous and kind (and not snarky) at all times, no matter how difficult, is quite frankly a very pure and unadorned expression of love and often of forgiveness ( for all manner of vile things said to us) for the stranger or the neighbour. I realise this is common to many cultures worldwide traditionally, and I think the reasons are the same.

Very nice thread Lynn and thank you for starting it.
Peace & blessings,
7L