by Awais Choudhry

Created on: March 18, 2009   Last Updated: November 23, 2009

Albert Einstein once said something about compassion which really moves me. He said that our task in this world must be to free ourselves from the delusion of viewing ourselves as separate from the rest of the world. Einstein correctly argues that ultimately this delusion of ours becomes a type of prison in which we become captives of our own personal desires and emotions that we forget about the feelings of even the closest person to us. This is indeed a very dangerous thing because such a delusion can spread very rapidly among society if left uncontrolled. Eventually, all that is left is shallowness and superficiality. Our spiritual growth and development becomes unimportant. Material gain becomes our sole purpose in life. It is indeed sad and tragic to find out that such a harsh and bitter reality is gradually becoming clearer nowadays.

History teaches us that things seldom change overnight. It takes years and years of gradual development and persistence to achieve the required goals. After all, what are we but imperfect beings with perfect dreams. However, this imperfection should never allow us to give up. One of the most beautiful characteristic of mankind is the human spirit. Time and time again, we have heard stories of men and women who have made grave sacrifices for some greater cause. All of them had the enduring spirit of which I am speaking about. So when we talk about compassion and making it a way of life for ourselves and our future generations, we must first learn to change ourselves.

Change is very easy to attain if you have the will and desire. It is difficult to obtain when you are hesitant or resistant to transform yourself. Think of the will or desire as a key to the door of change. If you have this key, only then can you open the door which will lead to endless possibilities. This is the door of change. Thus, you should first of all motivate yourself to bring about this change. When you make up your mind to start on this journey, you are then ready to actually experience it.

Now, the second step is quite difficult but if you take it step by step, it will quickly become a natural way of your life. Remember, the objective here is to develop feelings of compassion within your own self.

Have you ever felt the urge to help someone in pain or need? Do you feel that your life is empty? Was there ever a moment in your life when you felt great joy when you alleviated someone's suffering?

All of these questions are related to that profound human emotion

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>