To me, this is the basic concept of love - to love another as much as, if not more than you love yourself. And I think love is at the heart of compassion, and compassion is thinking of somebody outside yourself. A lot of times, we get stuck in our own world, in the daily rituals of life that affects only us and perhaps our family and friends. Getting stuck in this rat race takes away the magic and mystery of life that we read of, what Ken Kesey describes as our job "to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom." (83) THe concept of neighborly love doesn't specifically mean the person who lives next door, but rather the human being right outside the boundaries of your own world. It is a common teaching in all religions to consider others. In Islam, there is a story of how the Prophet's wife Ayesha, one day, had some unexpected visitors. All the food left in the house for her, the Prophet, and their children were two dates (the Prophet lived a very meager life, going through poverty as well as relative prosperity). However, she offered the two dates to her two guests rather than deny them sustenance. There is a Hadith, or saying by the Prophet, that "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should not hurt his neighbor, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should serve his guest generously, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk what is good, or keep quiet." (Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Number 158) In addition, we are taught to never eat while our neighbor goes hungry.
These are just some small examples of a great wealth of teachings, but the point is - the fundamental unit of compassion is love, and love, I think, is looking beyond yourself and truly caring for another. Obviously there is self love as well, and that is vital - you cannot give of yourself if you don't first love and accept yourself. In ON ANOTHER'S SORROW, Blake writes:
"And can He who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small bird's grief and care,
Hear the woes that infants bear-
...
He doth give His joy to all:
He becomes an infant small,
He becomes a man of woe,
He doth feel the sorrow too." (167)
Love and compassion entails putting yourself in another's situation and truly feeling with them. Feeling the pain and the grief and the sorrow and the excitement and happiness that they feel. It is becoming not necessarily ONE with someone else, but being in tune with them.
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This goes beyond our species.
Nothing and no one is too small or insignificant or unworthy of being heard. "The eucharist could serve to fight a ritual of absence witha ritual of presence, forcig upon our attention suffering we would rather ignore." (165)
Ignorance is bliss, true. But bliss is not the best way to live life. If we are not even in tune with the basic cruelties existing in the world, cruelties that we ourselves enact through our simple decisions, how can we truly be compassionate to others? It is necessary to be conscious of the suffering in the world so that we can help. According to Ram Dass, "At another and deeper level, however, the suffering of others spontaneously awakens a response of instant empathy." (55) The thing is, we have to be receptive of other's suffering in order to feel that empathy and be compassionate.
And that's where stepping out of our own bubble, our own mini-universe, comes into play. THere's a huge wide world of beings, human and animal, who are calling out, if only we listen.
A hugely powerful image of compassion.
"Love and Compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive."
-His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
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