Compassion literally means “to suffer together”. It is the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. All spiritual practices contain this directive; to feel compassion for others.
But compassion and judgement are linked. If you are judging someone or something, you cannot feel compassion. You have made a decision that they are wrong and you are right. You do not feel motivated to relieve their suffering because you have made a judgement against them that they deserve to suffer. If you were in their shoes however, you would feel very differently.
The inability to see yourself in someone else’s shoes, to feel empathy, is the biggest problem facing the world today. This is the reason why we can tolerate the fact that a huge segment of the world’s population lives in poverty. Lives with hunger. Lives with war. Lives life with little or no opportunity to change things.
Imagine if that was you? Ignored. Marginalized. Forgotten. We are one people on this planet. Why can’t we accept this and get busy creating equality, harmony and opportunity for ALL.
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