by Gabe

Created on: February 16, 2010

Compassion is the driving force of humanity. It goes beyond the self-conscious consideration of individual desire in order to serve another. Compassion is more than a word or an action. It is a feeling of love. Because you whole-heartedly love someone, you act in a compassionate manner towards them.

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

I completely agree with Mr.Einstein on this one. Compassion must be our mission here on this planet. Compassion is more important than our success in business. Compassion is more important than any knowledge we accrue. Compassion is more fundamental to the human existence than the advancement of society. In fact, compassion is fundamental to the advancement of society.

Imagine a world completely devoid of compassion. It is a desolate wasteland. It is cold and empty. A world without compassion is just as impossible as a world without air. Without compassion, how could human beings work together? Without compassion, how could mothers raise their children? Without compassion, why would people struggle to create better futures for generations yet to come?

Compassion goes hand in hand with empathy. Empathy is the ability to feel the pain of others. You can imagine the sufferings of other beings as if it were your own suffering. Empathy is fuel for a compassionate nature. It is at the heart of altruism.

A man must first dive into the depths of his own pain, which is the shared pain of all living beings and inherent to life. Then, he must see this deep suffering mirrored in the beings all around him. Then based on the depth of his feeling, he will be moved to alleviate that suffering in any way he can, thereby liberating himself from his own suffering. This is the path of compassion and a state which all beings have the capacity for and should desire to express.

"In order to relieve another person of suffering one must identify with that person and share their suffering. This very identification is the means of practicing compassion, and the act of relieving others of suffering and giving them happiness is the path of self-perfection."-Daisaku Ikeda

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