I am increasingly finding my ability to watch the news is waning! There are many and varied reasons. On the one hand the sheer volume of human and animal suffering on this planet can make me feel suffocated and overwhelmed. On the other hand, the absolute manipulation of our news, which should be the absolute expression of truth about the happenings in our world, can make me nauseated and angry.
Where is the objective relaying of facts? Have we become incapable of this, are we all unforgivably subject to our prejudices, are our mirrors of truth so owned by the powers that be that news has become a nasty parody of ‘Brave New World”, or “1982”? Are we become a parody of our own beliefs?
It seems we can have funny ideas of news priority too...people can suffer in innumerable ways and largely be ignored for what amounts only to gossip, inhumane injustices can be perpetuated and if they happen to occur in a country with which we have political or economic ties we brush them lightly away. Natural disasters can occur and if they happen to occur in countries we have ideological question with, we diminish our idea of the real human pain experienced. You have to shop around for a news that gives all the news...
The news seems to be largely concerned about any Australians lost or dying in these disasters. Perhaps because we cannot or will not relate to suffering unless we are somehow physically tied to it ourselves. But aren’t we, by our mere humanity tied to this suffering or that injustice? Have we forgotten that we are all sentient beings? We all share the same emotion, the same hurt, the same desire? We all bleed, we all cry.
Interesting words, but really try to imagine yourself in some of the situations others are experiencing across the globe. Close your eyes a minute and feel their pain in your body, your mind, your heart. It’s an intriguing exercise, and one I am sure many will not be able to actually accomplish. We have lost so much of our connection to each other. Sure we have facebook....we are connected to so many more folk ...but are we connected?? Do we feel someone else’s pain when we look into their eyes? Do we reach out to hold another’s hand, touch their flesh? Do we rise up of our couches and venture into the unknown to hold someone we do not know personally whilst they are dying. Do we give up what is easy to show that love exists in a world where there is so much hate and by example bring the change we talk about?
Is compassion relegated to the donation we give once a week or once a month or perhaps only once a year?
Compassion is a virtue in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy for another are regarded as a cornerstone of greater social interconnectedness and our own understanding of what it is to be human. Ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues. We fight over religion, we argue and propound, but where has the compassion gone? Compassion unbridled by the ego and a belief that only one belief can be right?
Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is called compassion. It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed. - The Buddha
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Jesus
The central concept particularly relevant to compassion in Hindu spirituality is that of “ahimsa”... Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word which can be translated most directly as "refraining from harmfulness." "Deliver all conditioned souls, my heart breaks to see the sufferings of all ".Vaishnava
Compassion for all life, human and non-human, is central to Jainism. Jain monks go to inordinate lengths to avoid killing any living creature, sweeping the ground in front of them in order to avoid killing insects, and even wearing a face mask to avoid inhaling the smallest fly.
Rabbis speak of the "thirteen attributes of compassion."
That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah. Rabbi Hillel
“Altruism is the basis of life." Michael Laitman (Jewish scholar.)
Each of the 114 chapters of the Quran with one exception begins with the verse, "In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate".
Compassion is a feeling deep within us and it is also a way of acting — being affected by the suffering of others and moving on their behalf. Don't turn away from pain; move toward it with caring. Go into situations where people are hurting. Identify with your neighbors in their distress. Then expand the circle of your compassion to include other creatures, nature, and the inanimate world. The practice of compassion increases our capacity to care. It reinforces charity, empathy, and sympathy. It is a very good exercise for your heart muscle. But when you move toward others with compassion, try to do it without the accompaniment of "isms": racism, sexism, ageism, classism, and nationalism. They eat at compassion and make a mockery of it.
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