Compassion Law # 33

Compassion is active, not passive.  It flows most easily from those who are deeply grateful…  We must know what it is to love and be loved.

Cynthia Davidson, excerpt from Compassion card

 (cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

How much do we know about Compassion? 

Is there more than one kind? 

Do you believe the world has too much or too little of it? 

Who practices Compassion, and demonstrates how best to do it?  

Can we rate how compassionate a person is? By what method?

One expert on this Law is the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dali Lama, "My message is the practice of compassion, love and kindness...These practices are very important... The first step in cultivating compassion is to develop empathy for your fellow human beings."  Read some of his writings on the topic. 

As you explore empathy and Compassion over the next ten days, bring up this subject in your conversations and mention its measurable physical benefits; scientific studies suggest that compassionate people produce 100 percent more DHEA, the hormone which counteracts the aging process, and 23 percent less cortisol, the “stress hormone.” Skeptics may be surprised to find out who stands to benefit the most from compassionate activities.  

In 2008, Karen Armstrong, a former British nun, and author of several bestselling books on religious topics, joined with others to create the Charter for Compassion http://www.charterforcompassion.org where you can find more information, from people of all backgrounds, who have vowed to be more compassionate. 

Being on both the giving and the receiving ends of Compassion seems to deepen our understanding of this Law. When Compassion remains just an idea, in our minds, nothing changes in the world around us. When we genuinely feel empathy, rather than pity or sympathy, then our hearts open and our hands move, more skillfully. Hardening ourselves against suffering in others, and ourselves, is not the ideal way to respond. 

Here are some additional words of advice from those who understand this Law.

Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.

Arthur Jersild

Failure to show compassion is a violation of the universal law of Love, and sets into motion the universal law of Karma. One has to feel compassion before one can feel the energy of love. Judgment, which excludes compassion, is without merit.

Margo Kirtikar, PhD. in her book Cosmic and Universal Laws

In the western mind, there are two notions of Compassion. One is, I'm going to be a good Samaritan and help this guy. But that is the Compassion of the weak. The Compassion of the strong is in waking people up to their blindness. For that, you need to be a Warrior.

Fernando Flores, Chilean  www.fernandoflores.cl/blog

To show compassion for an individual, without showing concern for the structures of society that make him (or her) an object of compassion, is to be sentimental rather than loving.

William Sloane Coffin Jr. (1924 - 2006), American clergyman, one time CIA agent, long-time civil rights leader and peace activist, books include Credo

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.

Pema Chodron

Having compassion does not mean feeling pity for someone. It is rather feeling someone’s pain and suffering as if it was our own. It is empathy rather than sympathy.  Compassion is the wish for another being to be free of suffering, just as love is wanting them to have happiness. It is a genuine wish for the wellbeing of others and is the most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity.

Margo Kirtikar, PhD. in her book Cosmic and Universal Laws

Self-compassion is not about losing your inner critic; it's about transforming it from a bitter; self-destructive voice to one tempered with humor and forgiveness.

Michael Burgos

Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.

Simone Weil

Compassion is a spontaneous movement of wholeness. It is not a studied decision to help the poor, to be kind to the unfortunate. Compassion has a tremendous momentum that naturally, choicelessly moves us to worthy action. It cannot be cultivated. It is simply there when the wholeness of life becomes a fact that is truly lived...Compassion requires a plunge to the depths of life where oneness is a reality and division is merely an illusion.

Vilmal Thakar as seen in www.Kosmosjournal.org

Compassion is not about sentiment but is about making justice and doing works of mercy. Compassion is not a moral commandment but a flow and overflow of the fullest human and divine energies.

Matthew Fox

Compassion is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for his or her problem. This is genuine compassion.

14^th Dalai Lama in his book, An Open Heart. The Dalai Lama is considered to be an incarnation or manifestation of Chenrezi, the divinity of Compassion, the deity or awareness-being of the heart.

Kwan Yin (also known as: Guanyin, Kannon, Kwan Um, Chenrezig, Avalokitesvara), is the bodhisattva of compassion. Kwan Yin is comforter, healer, and female exemplar.

In ten days, we'll take up the 34th Law of Cycles, until then experience your Compassion to the fullest.