Compassion or Violence?

Two tendencies we humans have that seem to me to be quite antithetical are compassion and violence. They appear to me to be opposites, primarily because one involves helping the world, while the other causes harm.

Compassion is often simply interpreted, according to the dictionary, as “sympathetic pity and concern for the suffering of others.” That's only half of the definition, however. To be fully compassionate, one must also feel the urge to help ease the pain of the other—not just to experience the admirable sensation of pity or sympathy. It implies that we get off our butts and do something to help. Compassion is not a passive emotion.

By definition, violence is the (usually intentional) act of hurting or causing harm. The intentional aspect of this definition is crucial, I think. The worst kind of violence happens when we purposefully cause harm to our world. Anger and hatred can fuel this kind of action. But we can still cause much harm when we unconsciously or unthinkingly hurt. Maybe we didn't intend to hurt, but our insensitivity and heedlessness still resulted in violence.

Just as it is our duty to help when we feel compassion for those less fortunate, it's our duty to be mindful of how our actions can cause unintended harm. Both of these obligations stem from the need to be a responsible citizen of our world. And our citizenship expands beyond just other people; to all of the world and its creatures.

The power of nonviolence, I think, stems from the fact that it implies not just “not harming,” but going the next mile and helping. Nonviolence and compassion are thus closely related; they both require action.

It is difficult to be a member of American society, and also try to be nonviolent and compassionate. We may want to be a good person, but by simply participating in our acquisitive culture, we so easily can commit unintentional harm. How many of our consumer goods come at the cost of increasing the suffering of people who literally are slave laborers in a distant land? How many of our food choices cause violence to animals and to the environment? It's a huge job just trying to decrease the harm we cause—let alone help. Thus, compassion, like nonviolence demands a lot of us.

So how does one diminish one's harm? Where do you start? It helps me to figure out how to decrease the harm I do by cultivating the activity that is its opposite. That's why I often ponder opposites. How may I reduce the harm (the violence) my actions cause? One way is to cultivate its opposite: compassion. That can simply mean paying attention to the suffering of the world and do something to alleviate a little of the pain. The hard part? The starting point? Paying attention!