Compassion: The Inner Light

The root word of compassion is the Latin cum patior meaning to suffer with or to be passionate for someone else’s well-being.(1) Compassion is more than the simple act of caring. It leads us to go where it hurts, to enter places of pain and to share in brokenness, fear and confusion. Compassion means full immersion in the human condition including sorrow and loss.

Compassion is sometimes regarded as a type of sentimental pity towards those less fortunate: the sick, the poor, or the mentally ill. This kind of thinking taints compassion with the sour odor of superiority. Such pity is condescension and is applied to emphasize the differences between us. To discover for yourself if you engage in pity or compassion, ask this question: When I help another, do I feel superior or humble?

Compassion is not a mere quiet sympathy with others because compassion always requires action. We no longer give help because we are supposed to, or give aid with the expectation of getting something in return. We do not reach out to another soul in pain because it shows how "evolved" we are, but because it is the compassionate thing to do.

Compassion is located in the heart, the place of our healing. The more hurts we have encountered, the more potential we have to be compassionate. As we seek to embrace the meaning of our own pain, we discover a healing light and open up to the suffering around us. We begin to understand people and events in a new way. Difficult situations no longer baffle us. This new understanding of how to help others allows us to reveal our compassion--the outward expression of our inner light.

Footnote:

1. Webster’s II New Collegiate Dictionary, Margery S. Berube, Editor. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001, page 228.

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