Compassion means being aware of and sympathetic toward others, their needs and troubles. It is cultivated when I feel deep empathy for others. Its opposite is uncaringness.§
Comparing the behavior of one who is compassionate to one who is uncaring§ |
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|---|---|---|
Situation§ |
Compassion§ |
Uncaringness§ |
Listening to another’s problem, you…§ |
are genuinely concerned, and ponder ways to help.§ |
make it clear you are not interested in listening, nor in helping.§ |
Visiting a home for the elderly, you…§ |
are aware of their loneliness and try to cheer them up.§ |
don’t perceive their loneliness and are unmoved.§ |
After a major earthquake, you…§ |
brainstorm ways to meet the victims’ needs.§ |
blame the affected residents for living near a seismic fault.§ |
Gurudeva explained: “Compassion is defined as conquering callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings. A compassionate person would tell a plant verbally if he was going to pick from it, intuiting that the plant has feelings of its own. A compassionate person would seek to keep pests away rather than killing them.”§
“Compassion comes from the heart, comes spontaneously. It is a total flow of spiritual, material, intellectual giving, coming unbidden to the receiver.”§
ASSIGNMENT: These two weeks, seek out someone in need and find practical ways to reduce his or her suffering.§
Date you began this assignment ____________________§
MY THOUGHTS ON THE BENEFITS OF COMPASSION: 
§
