Compassion - Quotations: Classified

Compassion Quotations - Classified

CONTENTS

A) DEFINITIONS

Buddhist
Christian
Secular

B) TOPIC CATEGORIES

Action, Inaction
Applications
Alienation
Buddhist Perspectives
CEC (Center for Engaged Compassion) / Training
Charitable Giving Is Not "Biblical Compassion"
Christian Perspectives
Christian Prayer
Compassion Absence
Compassion Absence in Christianity
Compassion/Empathy Distinction
Compassion Renaissance
Compassion Resistance
Contemplation as "Prayer"
Decline of Compassion
Decline of Compassion & Fatherlessness
Hear and Understand
Hypocrisy
Imagination, Improvisation
Intentionality, Discipline
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Mindfulness
Morality
Motive
Network Compassion
Neuroanatomy
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity - Christian
Noticing
Pity
Poverty Industry
Psychology
Religiosity vs. Authentic Compassion
Self-Absorption
Self-Compassion
Self-Loathing
Sentimentality
Social Connection
Suffering
Training

C) MISCELLANEOUS

D) LONG TEXTS

***

A) DEFINITIONS

DEFINITIONS - BUDDHIST

An openness to the suffering of others with a commitment to relieve it. Buddhist conceptualizations also highlight cognitive components (e. g. the ability to imagine and reason about a person's experiences) and approaching those who are suffering with tolerance and non-judgement. [Clara Strauss at al, “What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures,” Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 47, July 2016, Pp. 15-27; Dalai Lama, The power of compassion, HarperCollins, New Delhi (1995)]

DEFINITIONS - CHRISTIAN

We define compassion as simply being moved in our depths by others’ experiences and responding in a way that intends either to ease their suffering or promote their flourishing. [Frank Rogers Jr., Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus, Aug. 1, 2016, Upper Room Books, p. 30]

What is the spiritual definition of compassion? – The spirit of the word compassion is synonymous with doing. Compassion is not concerned with material or physical things. It's concerned with the human spirit and soul. The spiritual definition of compassion involves acting to alleviate the suffering of others. [Compassion International (Christian), Colorado Springs, CO, online, undated]

Compassion as an emotion is a movement towards another – a person who is in need – and with it comes a desire or commitment to help, to suffer with, to alleviate suffering. [Rolf R. Nolasco Jr. et al, Compassionate Presence: A Radical Response to Human Suffering, Oct. 19, 2016, Wipf and Stock. P. 52]

Compassion is an innate human disposition that is evoked within us when confronted with suffering and fuels our desire to alleviate and transform it. [Rolf R. Nolasco Jr. et al., Compassionate Presence: A Radical Response to Human Suffering, Oct. 19, 2016, Wipf and Stock]

This underlying conceptual framework regarding the roles of understanding, feeling, behavior, and relationships shape Christian approaches to compassion cultivation. In this framing, compassion is not only an emotion (an unintentional feeling of empathy is not compassion); nor only perceptual awareness (contemplative mindfulness in and of itself is not compassion); nor is it limited to conceptual understanding (knowing the meaning of compassion is not enough); nor is it simply a human behavior (all actions that ease suffering, while beneficial, are not necessarily actions of compassion). Rather, compassion within Christian traditions is engaged compassion, a holistic complex that integrates and involves the full range of human capacities (including emotion, cognition, perception, motivation, intention, relationality, physiology, and behavior) in the restorative, beneficial transformation of relationships, the systems and structures of human life, and the ecosystems that support earthly existence (Rogers, 2019). [Andrew Dreitcer, ”Skillful Means in Christian-Tradition Compassion Formation,” Mindfulness, Mar. 31, 2022, p. 5]

DEFINITIONS - SECULAR

Here, we offer a working definition of compassion framed as a discrete and evolved emotional experience. From this vantage point, compassion is conceived as a state of concern for the suffering or unmet need of another, coupled with a desire to alleviate that suffering (Goetz et al., 2010). An experience of compassion defined this way involves several distinct components:

1) Awareness of an antecedent (i. e. suffering or need in another individual);

2) Feeling “moved”; that is, having a subjective physical experience that often involves involuntary arousal of branches of the autonomic nervous system;

3) Appraisal of one’s bodily feeling, social role, and abilities within the context of the suffering;

4) Judgments about the person and the situational context; and

5) Engagement of the neural systems that drive social affiliation and caregiving, and motivate helping.

Although we see compassion as involving a patterned and specific response, we do not see the components listed here as serial, or occurring in temporal sequence. We also do not consider processes underlying these components to be wholly independent; they probably overlap and occur in parallel, and exert bidirectional influence upon one another in different configurations throughout life. [Jennifer L. Goetz and Emiliana Simon-Thomas, “The Landscape of Compassion: Definitions and Scientific Approaches,” in Elizabeth Seppala, Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science, Oxford UP, 2017, p. 3]

Following consolidation of existing definitions, we propose that compassion consists of five elements: recognizing suffering, understanding the universality of human suffering, feeling for the person suffering, tolerating uncomfortable feelings, and motivation to act/acting to alleviate suffering. [Clara Strauss at al, “What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures,” Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 47, July 2016, Pages 15-27]

Emotion researchers define compassion as the feeling that arises when we are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Compassion is different from empathy and altruism. Empathy allows us to take the perspective of (cognitive empathy) and feel the emotions of (affective empathy) another person. Compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. Altruism is the well-meaning, selfless behavior that is often, but not always, prompted by feelings of compassion. [Compassion Action Network (Christian, Seattle, online, undated]

Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related. While empathy refers more generally to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. [Greater Good Magazine: Science-Based Insights for a Meaningful Life, Berkeley; reference page, online, undated]

“Sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress, together with a desire to alleviate it.” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary)

What Is Compassion? – Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related. While empathy refers more generally to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. Altruism, in turn, is the kind, selfless behavior often prompted by feelings of compassion, though one can feel compassion without acting on it, and altruism isn’t always motivated by compassion. While cynics may dismiss compassion as touchy-feely or irrational, scientists have started to map the biological basis of compassion, suggesting its deep evolutionary purpose. This research has shown that when we feel compassion, our heart rate slows down, we secrete the “bonding hormone” oxytocin, and regions of the brain linked to empathy, caregiving, and feelings of pleasure light up, which often results in our wanting to approach and care for other people. [Theo Fleury (Ice Hockey Player), Theo Fleury, Motivational Speaker, blog, Sep 9, 2020]

What is compassion and how is it different from empathy or altruism? The definition of compassion is often confused with that of empathy. Empathy, as defined by researchers, is the visceral or emotional experience of another person’s feelings. It is, in a sense, an automatic mirroring of another’s emotion, like tearing up at a friend’s sadness. Altruism is an action that benefits someone else. It may or may not be accompanied by empathy or compassion, for example in the case of making a donation for tax purposes. Although these terms are related to compassion, they are not identical. Compassion often does, of course, involve an empathic response and an altruistic behavior. However, compassion is defined as the emotional response when perceiving suffering and involves an authentic desire to help. [Emma Seppala, “The Compassionate Mind,” Observer (AAS), Apr. 30, 2013]

“A deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.” Compassion consists of six ‘attributes’: Sensitivity, Sympathy, Empathy, Motivation/Caring, Distress Tolerance, and Non-Judgement. [Clara Strauss at al, “What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures,” Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 47, July 2016, Pages 15-27; P. Gilbert, The compassionate mind: A new approach to life's challenges, Constable and Robinson, London (2009), p. 13]

But what exactly is meant by ‘compassion?’ Various definitions of compassion have been proposed by researchers and philosophers. For example, in his detailed review, [Eric J.] Cassell (2009) reported the following three requirements for compassion:

1) “That the troubles that evoke our feelings are serious;”

2) “that the sufferers’ troubles not be self-inflicted— that they be the result of an unjust fate;” and

3) “we must be able to picture ourselves in the same predicament” (p. 3).

[Cassell, E. J. (2009). Compassion. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Oxford library of psychology. Oxford handbook of positive psychology (p. 393–403)]

“The feeling that arises in witnessing another's suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help” [J. L. Goetz, D. Keltner, E. Simon-Thomas, “Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review,” Psychological Bulletin, 136 (3) (2010), pp. 351-374, p. 351]

Compassion is “…a multidimensional process comprised of four key components: (1) an awareness of suffering (cognitive/empathic awareness), 2) sympathetic concern related to being emotionally moved by suffering (affective component), (3) a wish to see the relief of that suffering (intention), and (4) a responsiveness or readiness to help relieve that suffering (motivational)”[(Hooria Jazaieri, et al., 2012) Jazaieri, H., Jinpa, G. T., McGonigal, K., Rosenberg, E. L., Finkelstein, J. Simon-Thomas, E., Cullen, M., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., Goldin, P. R. (2012). Enhancing compassion: A randomized controlled trial of a compassion cultivation training program. J Happiness Stud. 2012]

Compassion consists of three facets: Noticing, feeling, and responding. [Clara Strauss at al, “What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures,” Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 47, July 2016, Pages 15-27; J.M. Kanov, S. Maitlis, M.C. Worline, J.E. Dutton, P.J. Frost, J.M. Lilius, “Compassion in Organizational Life.” American Behavioral Scientist,” 47 (6) (2004), pp. 808-827]

The emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior. [Jill Ladwig, “Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows,” U Wisconsin, May 22, 2013]

Richard S. Lazarus, definition: “Being moved by another's suffering and wanting to help” [Clara Strauss at al, “What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures,” Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 47, July 2016, Pages 15-27; R.S. Lazarus, Emotion and adaptation, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1991), p. 289]

“Being touched by the suffering of others, opening one's awareness to others' pain and not avoiding or disconnecting from it, so that feelings of kindness towards others and the desire to alleviate their suffering emerge. It also involves offering non-judgmental understanding to those who fail or do wrong” [Clara Strauss at al, “What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures,” Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 47, July 2016, Pages 15-27; K.D. Neff, “Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself,” Self and Identity, 2 (2) (2003), pp. 85-101]

Emma Seppala distinguishes compassion from empathy and altruism as follows: "... The definition of compassion is often confused with that of empathy. Empathy, as defined by researchers, is the visceral or emotional experience of another person’s feelings. It is, in a sense, an automatic mirroring of another’s emotion, like tearing up at a friend’s sadness. Altruism is an action that benefits someone else. It may or may not be accompanied by empathy or compassion, for example in the case of making a donation for tax purposes. Although these terms are related to compassion, they are not identical. Compassion often does, of course, involve an empathic response and an altruistic behavior. However, compassion is defined as the emotional response when perceiving suffering and involves an authentic desire to help." [Seppala, Emma (2013-04-30). “The Compassionate Mind,” APS Observer. 26 (5).]

B) TOPIC CATEGORIES

ACTION, INACTION

Book of James 2:14-26 (New International Version) - What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." [1 John 3:18, NIV [probably written in Ephesus between 95 and 110 A D]

The component of action is what separates compassion from empathy, sympathy, pity, concern, condolence, sensitivity, tenderness, commiseration or any other compassion synonym. Compassion gets involved. When others keep their distance from those who are suffering, compassion prompts us to act on their behalf. [Compassion International (Christian), Colorado Springs, CO, online, undated]

[N]oticing that suffering is present in an organization, making meaning of suffering in a way that contributes to a desire to alleviate it, feeling empathic concern for the people suffering, and taking action to alleviate suffering in some manner. [Monica A. Worline & Jane E. Dutton, Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations, Berrett-Koehler Pub., 2017, p. 5]

In a surprising finding, when monks engaged in compassion meditation, their brains showed increased activity in regions responsible for planned movement, as if the monks’ brains were itching to go to the aid of those in distress. “This was novel and unexpected finding,” Davidson told the Dalai Lama. “There’s no physical activity; they’re sitting still. One interpretation of this is that it may reflect the generation of a disposition to act in the face of suffering. It gives real meaning to the phrase ‘moved by compassion.’” / “It feels like a total readiness to act, help,” Richard agreed. “it’s a state of complete benevolence, of complete readiness, with no limitation. you do not think, ‘Okay, I’m sort of ready to help one or two persons, but there’s a limit to what I could do.’ What you cultivate instead is a state of unconditional, no-matter-what compassion: ‘Now or in the future, in all my lifetimes, I will be totally ready.’” [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 238]

[The master yogis’] training imbued them with preparedness for action, so the moment they encounter suffering they are predisposed to act without hesitation to help the person. This preparedness, along with their willingness to engage with someone’s suffering, counters the normal tendency to withdraw, to back away from a person in distress. [Daniel Goleman & Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits, 2017, Penguin, 238]

“Empathy and compassion are very different. They are represented in different areas of the brain. With empathy, we join the suffering of others who suffer, but stop short of actually helping. With compassion, we take a step away from the emotion of empathy and ask ourselves ‘how can we help?’” [Rasmus Hougaard (Potential Project), “Four Reasons Why Compassion Is Better for Humanity Than Empathy,” Forbes, Jul 8, 2020]

“Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers. The question of what to do with the feelings that have been aroused, the knowledge that has been communicated. If one feels that there is nothing 'we' can do -- but who is that 'we'? -- and nothing 'they' can do either -- and who are 'they' -- then one starts to get bored, cynical, apathetic.” ― [Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, 2003, Farrar, Straus and Giroux]

ALIENATION

Being moved by the suffering of another has always been necessary for the betterment of society and there is a multitude of modern examples where an ounce of compassion makes a world of difference. Unfortunately, research indicates modern society is showing an alarming decline in social connectedness (Seppala et al., 2013), which is a likely byproduct of the reliance on technology versus face-to-face contact. [Heather S. Lonczak, Ph.D., “20 Reasons Why Compassion Is So Important in Psychology,” Positive Psychology, Jan. 9, 2020]

APPLICATION

Given the importance of compassion in our world today, and a growing body of evidence about the benefits of compassion for health and well-being, this field is bound to generate more interest and hopefully impact our community at large. CCARE envisions a world in which, thanks to rigorous research studies on the benefits of compassion, the practice of compassion is understood to be as important for health as physical exercise and a healthful diet; empirically validated techniques for cultivating compassion are widely accessible; and the practice of compassion is taught and applied in schools, hospitals, prisons, the military, and other community settings. [Emma Seppala, “The Compassionate Mind,” Observer (AAS), Apr. 30, 2013]

BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVES

Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people’s hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human ‘brain’ with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human ‘heart’ with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is. [Dalai Lama, “1400 Lessons from the 14th Dalai Lama,” 2019, Akṣapāda, p. 22]

“A truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively or hurt you.” [Dalai Lama XIV]

CEC (CENTER FOR ENGAGED COMPASSION) / TRAINING

In the CEC Compassion Practice, discernment follows upon the processes described above. The CEC views framing, foundational, and formational capacities as fashioning a stance of clarity, calm, and stability. From within this grounded clarity, practitioners are invited into a discernment process that leads to behaviors that benefit oneself and others. A discernment process focused on another person might follow this broad outline: resting in a grounding sense of intimate connection with a figure of compassion; brainstorming possible beneficial behaviors; noticing which behavior offers a sense of benefitting the other person, oneself, and the world; imagining oneself as engaging in this behavior, and attending to the experience of that imagined action in relation to your expectations of it; asking, finally, if the behavior seems right, fitting, appropriate. If the answer to the last question is “yes,” the final move is to live into compassion (“become compassion,” as previously described) by embodying the discerned beneficial behavior (Dreitcer, 2017). [Andrew Dreitcer, "Skillful Means in Christian-Tradition Compassion Formation,” Mindfulness, Mar. 31, 2022.p. 9]

CHARITABLE GIVING IS NOT “BIBLICAL COMPASSION”

Biblical compassion differs radically from the kind that offers bread alone. First, biblical compassion stresses personal involvement. The Latin roots of the word itself suggest this: com (with) plus pati (suffer). Jesus himself showed compassion by coming to earth to suffer with us. He did not, contrary to Bette Midler’s recent song, watch “from a distance.” [Marvin Olasky, “Dependent No More,” Christianity Today, Aug. 17, 1992]

CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES

Jesus: “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” [Luke 6:36; NLT]

Jesus: 27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you. 32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. 35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. [Luke 6:27-36; NLT]

To have compassion is to be moved to your core (literally it means to feel your insides/guts churn!) for the sake of someone else. It is a concern for the "other" and their benefit that has set apart God's people for ages, and, in this passage, we see that it, too, is the key feature of the ministry of Jesus. [David Morlan PhD (Fellowship Denver Church), “The Gospel of Luke: The Compassion of Jesus,” Lifeway, Jan. 1, 2014]“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” [Henri J. M. Nouwen, Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, 1982, Doubleday]

“Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?” [John Wesley (1703-1791), source?]

“Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart [splanchna] against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).

In Hebrew (rauchum) and Greek (splanchnizomai), the etymological roots for the primary words translated as compassion are linked to a person’s vital organs – specifically the womb, heart, belly, and bowels. In essence, when we are moved to compassion, our depths are stirred, often viscerally. [Frank Rogers Jr., Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus, Aug. 1, 2016, Upper Room Books, p. 31]

In the Bible, genuine compassion contains three characteristics that inseparably intertwine: understanding, feeling, and acting. . . . We don’t have compassion, we become compassionate. [Andrew Dreitcer, Living Compassion: Loving Like Jesus, Nov. 1, 2017, Upper Room Books, p. 22]

Unlike Centering Prayer, Ignatian contemplation is filled with images, feelings, and thoughts. Ignatius of Loyola developed this practice in 16th century Spain. He founded a religious order of “contemplatives in action” --- the Jesuits – to live out compassion in the world rather than in monasteries. [Andrew Dreitcer, “Relationship: The Heart of Christian Contemplative Practices,” The Wise Brain Bulletin, 6:6, Dec. 2021]

“I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we condemn others.” [Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, One World, Oct. 21, 2014]

“Compassion is the sometimes-fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It's the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” [Frederick Buechner (Christian), source?: Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner, HarperCollins, 1992]

“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” [Francis Schaeffer (1912-84), source?; quoted in Martin H. Manser, The Westminster Collection of Christian Quotations, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, p. 266.]

Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it. [Henri J. M. Nouwen, Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, 1982, Doubleday]

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” [John Bunyan (1628–1688) (Christian)]

“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.” [Mother Teresa, A Gift for God: Prayers and Meditations, 1979, HarperCollins]

Understandings and feelings, however, do not stand alone in biblical texts about compassion. Whenever words for compassion appear in the Bible, behaviors follow that are intended to ease suffering; human beings are “moved” to embody compassion (Aland, et al., 2017). Compassion is dynamic—both in the movements of feelings within, and in the movements of actions in the world. People don’t have compassion, they become compassionate. And in so doing, they incarnate the image of God. [Andrew Dreitcer, "Skillful Means in Christian-Tradition Compassion Formation,” Mindfulness, March 31, 2022.]

You can’t engage with human pain and remain unchanged. But that is the beauty of it. It will cost you everything and cost you everything. [Lonni Collins Pratt and Daniel Homan O. S. B., Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love, Paraclete Press, Oct 1, 2002]

In taking on the pain of others we act in the transformation of the world. [Lonni Collins Pratt and Daniel Homan O. S. B., Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love, Paraclete Press, Oct 1, 2002, Ch. 10]

[T]here is more to compassion than emotion. It is the way to hold yourself rooted in spiritual consciousness, in God consciousness – finding the spirit of loving others without expectation in your mind. This may be away to help remove the distracting thoughts from the stream. It’s a deeper level of engagement, a deeper understanding: looking at and facing the elements of the way you think, both in terms of feeling and process by staying with those things and really seeing them: the negatives, the resentments, the fears of scarcity. They begin to lose some of their power. And the positives: the compassion, the mutuality of love, the tenderness toward vulnerable – these are just as apt to grow in strength. And I wonder if that isn’t part of what Jesus is trying to get us to understand. / Two very quick final points: Based on how creative Jesus is in this Gospel passage I feel moved to hazard a guess that he’s not terribly interested in the afterlife, regardless of Luke’s mention of the resurrection of the righteous. I think that Jesus is trying to tell us that if you get to the place where you’re able to give lavishly without expectation you are in Heaven. Because that is where and when the resurrection of the righteous takes place. If you are able, in an entirely unburdened way, to get and stay focused on the now—and with compassion – the afterlife will take care of itself. [Rev. Edwin Chinery, Sermon, The Church of the Ascension, New York City, Aug. 28, 2022. 12:08; 7:13-9:28]

Brian Fikkert – I think the gospel is the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God brings about Shalom. So. it's a really interesting question. Try this: go to your churches and ask people why did Jesus come to earth. In When Helping Hurts, the first chapter starts off – that's the title of the chapter: “Why did Jesus come to Earth?” – and what most of us most of our parishioners, or Brothers and Sisters in Christ, will say: “Jesus came to Earth to die on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins.” That is certainly true. / There is no question about that. I don't want to cast any doubt on that, at any level, but it's so interesting to me that the very start of Jesus’s earthly ministry he says he's come to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, which is the coming of all of the goodness that God intends for his – all of his – creation. / It means the transformation of the cosmos into a new heavens and new Earth, where there is Shalom; where human beings once again enjoy all that it means to be human – which we argue is to live in right relationship with God, with ourselves, with others, and with creation. And so that's the good news of the Gospel is that the Kingdom has come in Christ. And it's still coming. And so, what are the implications of that for gospel proclamation, for preaching? That's the message. And what bothers me is the church doesn't seem to know the message. / And so we don't have to pit these things against each other. Christ really his substitutionary atonement is necessary. It pays for the penalty for our sins, but then what? Well, it brings us into the very dwelling place of God, in which there is Shalom. And so, for me, the Gospel is the good news of the Kingdom. And our response is to repent and trust in Jesus, and grow into our new skin as new creatures in Christ. [“When Helping Hurts With Brian Fikkert,” #MissionsPodcast, ABWE International, Nov 6, 2022, 38:48; @ 14:31-16:30]

Not only does the love of God have attention for its substance, the love of one’s neighbor, which we know to be the same love, is made of this same substance. Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. The capacity to give one’s attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have this capacity do not possess it. Warmth of heart, impulsiveness, pity are not enough. [Simone Weil, “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God,” Waiting for God, 1951, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, p. 64]

CHRISTIAN PRAYER

…real prayer brings us closer to our fellow human beings. Prayer is the first and indispensable discipline of compassion precisely because prayer is also the first expression of human solidarity. Why is this so? Because the Spirit who prays in us is the Spirit by whom all human beings are brought together in unity and community. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of peace, unity, and reconciliation, constantly reveals itself to us as the power through whom people from the most diverse social, political, economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds are brought together as sisters and brothers of the same Christ and daughters and sons of the same Father. / / To prevent ourselves from slipping into spiritual romanticism or pious sentimentality, we must pay careful attention to the compassionate presence of the Holy Spirit. The intimacy of prayer is the intimacy created by the Holy Spirit who, as the bearer of the new mind and the new time, does not exclude but rather includes our fellow human beings. In the intimacy of prayer, God is revealed to us as the One who loves all members of the human family just as personally and uniquely as God loves us. Therefore, a growing intimacy with God deepens our sense of responsibility for others. It evokes in us an always increasing desire to bring the whole world with all its suffering and pains around the divine fire in our heart and to share the revitalizing heat with all who want to come. [Henri Nouwen, from Compassion (Doubleday: 1982); quoted in Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life, Crossroad: 1999, pp.61-62]

COMPASSION ABSENCE

COMPASSION ABSENCE IN CHRISTIANITY

The first thing I do when I visit a church is look through the bulletin for any community service outreaches. In 99% of the Reformed churches I visit there are none. There may be service to the community (Bible studies, picnics, sports fellowships), but that community is limited to the church and usually excludes the poor and hurting. Consequently I have often wondered if there is anything about Reformed theology itself that uniquely hinders Christians from showing compassion. [Edward Kim PhD, “Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller,” Edward Kim (Presbyterian minister) blog, Jul. 6, 2002]

COMPASSION/EMPATHY DISTINCTION

The term “empathy” stems from the German word “Einfühlung,” which means the ability to feel into another (literally “in-feeling”) [The term also suggests the Greek word “pathos.”] Today, scientists distinguish different stages or categories of empathy from highly automatic to more cultivated, such as emotional contagion, empathic concern, perspective taking and attunement. Here, we will use one fundamental definition of empathy, which is “the innate capacity to sense and feel the emotions of others.” Per this definition, empathy is not necessarily a good thing. For example, in order to bully someone and do it well, you have to have a quite clear sense of how to hurt them – which requires empathy. Similarly, when we get caught in the feeling of someone else’s negative moods, depression or anxiety, we ourselves experience traces of these moods, which may cause us to react to our own emotions rather than act in ways that can improve, console or alleviate the situation that gave rise to the emotions.

Compassion is rooted in the Latin “com” which means “with” or “together” and “passion” which relates to “suffering” or “intense feeling.” Two features distinguish compassion from empathy as the words are commonly used today. The first lies in not being overwhelmed with another’s emotions, but to stay “next to that other” and feel with them how they feel. In a state of compassion, there is less internalization of the other’s emotional state, which is why compassion is seen as a cultivated, refined state of awareness. The second concerns intention. For example, in many traditions like Buddhism, compassion is most often understood as the intention of alleviating suffering, of supporting the other (be that human, animal, or any other living being), and to have joy and happiness in their existence. In the Taoist tradition, for example, compassion comes with a deep sense of joy and wishing a life of joy for others, and, in the Christian model, compassion is expressed as being in service for others. [Peter Senge et al., Introduction to Compassionate Systems Framework in Schools, Jameel World Education Lab, MIT, The Center for Systems Awareness, Mar. 2019, p. 4]

COMPASSION RENAISSANCE

“We are at the beginning of an age of compassion. Right now it’s a ripple in human consciousness fueled by compassion, but it’s a ripple that has the potential to become a tsunami.” [James R. Doty MD, Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart, Avery, Feb. 2, 2016]

COMPASSION RESISTANCE

Fear of compassion for self was linked to fear of compassion from others, and both were associated with self-coldness, self-criticism, insecure attachment, and depression, anxiety, and stress. In a multiple regression, self-criticism was the only significant predictor of depression. [Paul Gilbert, Kirsten McEwan, Marcela Matos, Amanda Rivis, Fears of compassion: development of three self-report measures, Psychology and Psychotherapy, 2011 Sep;84(3):239-55.]

Fears blocks and resistances (FBRs) As with any motivation compassion, and some of its dependent competencies such as (empathy or distress tolerance) can be feared, blocked or resisted [37]. Fears relate to the consequences of becoming more empathically compassionate such as being overwhelmed by distress or feeling personally undeserving. Blocks can be related to internal processes such as maybe wanting to but not knowing how, or a lack of understanding of compassion. They can also arise because for one reason or another individuals haven’t the physiological architecture necessary for creating certain types of compassionate states of mind ([38], and see below). External blocks can be from environments and contexts where compassion is difficult. For example, bureaucracies of the health service can reduce time clinicians have to spend with their clients. Environments might be hostile and critical. In war contexts showing compassion to the enemy may be highly stigmatised. Self-compassion, in the context of very critical families, can be difficult. Resistance is where individuals are not frightened nor blocked but simply don’t want to be compassionate. For example, thinking why should we help immigrants? It’s too costly. All forms of compassion training will need to be aware of, and have means of addressing, fears, blocks and resistances. [Paul Gilbert, “Explorations into the nature and function of compassion,” Current Opinion in Psychology, Vol. 28, Aug. 2019, pp. 108-114; p. 6 of manuscript]

CONTEMPLATION AS “PRAYER”

For me it's [radical compassion] more [than anything] changing the seer. If you see things in their fullness, in their truth, then the flow of compassion can follow rather easily. In other words, it's not just a matter of will power: “I'm going to be compassionate today.” It doesn't work if you're seeing what is off in others. If you first of all see how people are different, or they're not like me, or they don't deserve my love, or they're a different race, or a different religion -- if you start with that kind of “No” inside of your psyche, that kind of resistance, then radical compassion, even basic compassion, can't happen.

So that's the teaching of contemplation where you teach the very way the mind works and the way it processes its information. I'd like to say that all of the world religions discovered this at the higher levels: that you needed to change the mind -- the way it operates. And I'm convinced that that was originally what we meant by the word prayer. But the word “prayer” has been so trivialized by making announcements to God or asking God for things, but it wasn't really giving you an alternative consciousness. And so that's why a lot of us use the word “contemplation” to say we're talking about something a little deeper and bigger and broader than just “saying prayers” does. [Richard Rohr: “The Compassion Interviews”; Interviewer: Kozo Hattori; Jan 28, 2014; 45:24; @ 1:20-3:06; PeaceInRelationships.com]

DECLINE OF COMPASSION

In the 1930s(?) Kurt Hahn [Kurt Matthias Robert Martin Hahn CBE, 1886-1974, German Educator] identified Six Declines of Modern Youth. They are:

The decline of fitness due to modern methods of locomotion
The decline of initiative and enterprise due to the widespread disease of “spectatoritis”
The decline of memory and imagination due to the confused restlessness of modern life
The decline of skill and care due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship
The decline of self-discipline due to the ever-present availability of stimulants and tranquilizer, and worst of all
The decline of compassion due to the unseemly haste with which modern life is conducted.

[Renee Igo, “Kurt Hahn: Six Declines of Modern Youth,” Outward Bound, July 21, 2020]

DECLINE OF COMPASSION & FATHERLESSNESS

While fatherhood has not fared well in a popular culture that celebrates freedom from both authority and obligation, more and more evidence shows that growing up without a father is even worse for children than folk wisdom suggests—and that it may be a root cause of a surprising array of social ills, from crime to academic failure to the decline of compassion. [“The Vanishing Father,” special issue, introduction, The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 1996]

HEAR AND UNDERSTAND

[Dr. Daniel Siegel] said that an important part of how people change –nor just their experiences, but also their brains – is through the process of telling their stories to an empathic listener. When a person tells her story and is truly heard and understood, both she and the listener undergo actual changes in their brain circuitry. They feel a greater sense of emotional and relational connection, decreased anxiety, and greater awareness of and compassion for others’ suffering. Using the language of neuroscience, Dr. Siegel labeled the change “increased integration.” [Curt Thompson, M. D., Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising connections between neuroscience and spiritual practices that can transform your life and relationships, Tyndale House, 2010, p. xiv]

HYPOCRISY

“Being kind to someone, only to look kind to others, defeats the purpose of being kind.” [Shannon L. Alder, Mormon inspirational writer, born circa 1970?]

IMAGINATION, IMPROVISATION

Imagination plays a key role in compassion in achieving understanding of, and feeling for, suffering people. This imagination involves self-transposal into another's situation. However, it is not enough merely to transpose one's own views unto the sufferer because 'selves' and personalities differ. Merely transposing one's own attitudes and beliefs unto the suffering person might be a grave mistake. (One is reminded here of George Bernard Shaw's quip: 'Do not do unto others what you want done to you: their tastes might be different.') Because people in fact differ greatly in what they value and feel, what creates suffering differs among people. [Gregory E. Pence, “Focus: Can compassion be taught?” Journal Of Medical Ethics, 1983, 9, 189-191]

Compassion action is improvisational in that it entails action created on the spot and directed by what is most useful for people who are suffering. [Monica A. Worline & Jane E. Dutton, Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations, Berrett-Koehler Pub., 2017, p. 82]

“Most people have no imagination. If they could imagine the sufferings of others, they would not make them suffer so.” Anna Funder, All That I Am (novel), 2011.]

INTENTIONALITY, DISCIPLINE

[N]europlasticity occurs only when the mind is in a particular mental state, one mandated by attention and focus. [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 130]

Unless we work at compassion, unless we practice and change our habits and make it an active force in our lives, it will only be something that happens to us – we get angry when the pain and needs of our loved ones, or sometimes to strangers in acute distress. If we leave it at that, we fail to tap into the transformative power of compassion. [Thupten Jinpa, A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives, Hudson Street Press, May 5, 2015, pp. 12-13]

INTERPERSONAL NEUROBIOLOGY (TECHNICAL TERM)

Siegel calls this integrated model for understanding the mind interpersonal neurobiology. This term expresses the reality that the mind is ultimately a dynamic, mysterious confluence of the brain and experience, with many aspects of it deeply connected (or potentially so) in ways that often go unnoticed. The interactions within interpersonal relationships deeply shape and influence the development of the brain; likewise, the brain and its development shape and influence those very same relationships. [Curt Thompson, M. D., Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising connections between neuroscience and spiritual practices that can transform your life and relationships, Tyndale House, 2010, p. 6]

MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness definition, Nyanaponika Thera - “the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us, at the successive moments of perception. It . . . attends just to the bare facts of a perception as presented either through the five physical senses or through the mind . . . without reacting to them by deed, speech or by mental comment which may be one of self-reference (like, dislike, etc.), judgment or reflection.” [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 139]

“The human mind, when it doesn’t do the work of mindfulness, winds up becoming a prisoner of its myopic perspectives that puts ‘me’ above everything else.” [Robert Booth, “Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn: ‘People are losing their minds. That is what we need to wake up to’,” The Guardian, Oct. 22, 2017]

MORALITY

C. Daryl Cameron: Compassion [empathy that prompts other-directed practical action] affirms our moral principles. When we restrain compassion, our sense of moral identity is compromised. [Joan Halifax, quoting: C. Daryl Cameron, B. Keith Payne, “The Cost of Callousness: Regulating Compassion Influences the Moral Self-Concept,” Psychological Science Journal, Feb. 24, 2012]

MOTIVE

"Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too." [Fredrick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theoretical ABC, 1973, Harper]

Matthieu Ricard, Dalai Lama: Buddhism distinguishes between acting because his suffering causes you distress that you want to stop. “There is helping because you really want to help, and there is helping because you feel so distressed by the sight of suffering that you act to alleviate your own suffering,” said Matthieu Ricard, the French-born monk who contributed insights from Buddhism at the 2004 meeting. “So when we speak of unbearable distress, it’s not that we want to do something about our own. It’s that we feel it is unacceptable, it is intolerable, to let the suffering be. It is not because I feel personally uncomfortable.” The Dalai Lama added, ”Those who feel distressed and want to be removed from the object of suffering if the can simply escape. But in true compassion, you don’t want to escape. But in true compassion you don’t want to escape. You say there’s no way I can allow that suffering to continue.” [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 196]

Motivation, however, seems to play an important role in predicting whether a compassionate lifestyle exerts a beneficial impact on health. Sara Konrath, at the University of Michigan, discovered that people who engaged in volunteerism lived longer than their non-volunteering peers — but only if their reasons for volunteering were altruistic rather than self-serving. [Emma Seppala, “The Science of Compassion,” Total Brain.com, Oct. 26, 2020]

NETWORK COMPASSION

Since social networks provide a structure that captures patterns of interactions between people, these networks can be activated in the wake of suffering. Network structures are often depicted in maps that show how regularly people talk or share information or advice with each other, and research also shows how energy and emotion flow through these structures. As in a highway system, feelings, interpretations, and calls for action travel fast on the most established and biggest paths. This is why networks matter so much for how quickly information about suffering is shared and how easy it is to calibrate and coordinate patterns of compassion competence in a system. [Monica A. Worline & Jane E. Dutton, Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations, Berrett-Koehler Pub., 2017, p. 115]

NEUROANATOMY

Based on earlier studies she did with Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard [in 2007], she further showed that the neural circuits underlying empathic responses to the suffering of others (feeling with someone) are different from the neural networks underlying compassion (feeling concern for someone paired with a motivation to help). Whereas empathy is associated with negative emotions and can lead to burn-out if turning into empathic distress, compassion comes with positive feelings of care and warmth and can boost resilience in the face of suffering. [“Tania Singer,” Wikipedia]

NEUROPLASTICITY

“We can actively ‘inspire each other to rewire.’” -- [Dr. Dan Siegel (source?: How Interpersonal Neurobiology Can Help Shape our Work and our World; source?: Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, 2010]

The brain can indeed be rewired. [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007,p. 8]

Something as seemingly insubstantial as a thought has the ability to act back on the very stuff of the brain, altering neuronal connections in a way that can lead to recovery from mental illness and perhaps toa greater capacity for compassion. [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 9]

Richard J. Davidson: “I believe that neuroplasticity will reshape psychology in the coming years. Much of psychology had accepted the idea of a fixed program unfolding in the brain, one that strongly shaped behavior, personality, and emotional states. That view is just shattered by the discoveries of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity will be the counterweight to the deterministic view [that genes have behavior on a short leash]. The message I take from my own work is that I have a choice in how I react, that who I am depends on the choices I make, and that who I am is therefore my responsibility.” [Richard J. Davidson, in: Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 241]

Richard J. Davidson: Qualities like kindness and compassion are very much like language. We're all born with a biological predisposition for language. But research shows that we need to be raised in a linguistic community in order for that biological propensity to become expressed. There are case studies of feral children raised in the wild who do not develop normal language, because they've not been exposed to a normal linguistic community. And it may be very similar for compassion -- that the seeds of compassion are there from the start. But in order for them to flourish. We need a compassionate community for those seeds to be nurtured. [Richard Davidson, “Well-being is a Skill,” lecture, Wisdom 2.0 2015; 25:27. YouTube publ. Mar 30, 2015; 12:14-13:05]

Allan Wallace: “Western scientists have an underlying assumption that normal is absolutely as good as it gets and that the exceptional is only for saints, that it is something that cannot be cultivated. [Allan Wallace, in: Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 250]

After compassion training the neural activation was quite different, including the medial orbitofrontal cortex, putamen, palladium, and ventral tegmental area. These areas are correlated to positive affect, love and affiliation. These form a system that reflects positive affect showing that it is not only possible to maintain a positive ‘brainscape’ even in the face of the suffering of others, it is helpful for the brain of the observer in being able to better cope with the experience and, one would imagine, be more able to be helpful and useful for those that are suffering. [Richard Hill (Head of Knowledge & Learning at Møller Institute, Cambridge, UK), “Neuroscience, kindness and compassion – doing something good for your own brain,” The Science of Psychotherapy Magazine, Apr. 8, 2019]

B. L. Fredrickson’s (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people’s daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and how loving-kindness meditation is an intervention strategy that produces positive emotions in a way that outpaces the hedonic treadmill effect. [Fredrickson BL, Cohn MA, Coffey KA, Pek J, Finkel SM. Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources, J Pers Soc Psychol, 2008, vol. 95 (pg. 1045-1062)]

In conclusion, the present findings provide evidence for functional neural plasticity induced by compassion training and thus constitute a crucial step in the endeavor of understanding neural plasticity in the affective domain. The results suggest that compassion training can serve as a new, powerful method for enhancing positive affect in response to adverse situations. This is in accordance with findings of beneficial effects of compassion training for strengthening personal resources (Fredrickson et al. 2008) and health (Pace et al. 2009). [Olga M. Klimecki, Susanne Leiberg, Claus Lamm, Tania Singer, Functional Neural Plasticity and Associated Changes in Positive Affect After Compassion Training, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 23, Issue 7, July 2013, Pages 1552–1561, 01 June 2012; Fredrickson BL, Cohn MA, Coffey KA, Pek J, Finkel SM. Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources, J Pers Soc Psychol, 2008, vol. 95 (pg. 1045-1062; Pace T W. W., Negi L T, Adame D D, Cole SP, Sivilli T I, Brown TD, Issa M J, Raison C L., “Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress, Psychoneuroendocrinology,” 2009, vol. 34 (pg. 87-98)]

How Brain Plasticity Works - The first few years of a child's life are a time of rapid brain growth. At birth, every neuron in the cerebral cortex has an estimated 2,500 synapses; by the age of three, this number has grown to a whopping 15,000 synapses per neuron. The average adult, however, has about half that number of synapses. Why? Because as we gain new experiences, some connections are strengthened while others are eliminated. This process is known as synaptic pruning. Neurons that are used frequently develop stronger connections and those that are rarely or never used eventually die. By developing new connections and pruning away weak ones, the brain is able to adapt to the changing environment. [Kendra Cherry, medically reviewed by Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, FAAN, “How Experience Changes Brain Plasticity,” Very Will Mind, Feb. 3, 2021]

Here is where the power of genes falls off rapidly: genes may lead neurons to make their initial, tentative connections and control the order in which different regions of the brain (and thus physical and mental capacities) come on line, but it’s the environmental inputs acting on the plasticity of the young nervous system that truly determine the circuits that will power the brain. Thus, from the earliest stages of development, laying down brain circuits in an active rather than a passive process, directed by the interaction between experience and the environment. As we will see, as the prefrontal circuitry matures, volitional choice can become a critical element in shaping the architecture bequeathed by both genetic factors and environmental happenstance. [Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, Harper, Oct 15, 2002, p. 117]

NEUROPLASTICITY - CHRISTIAN

Chapter 4 … explores how compassion cultivation practices can facilitate changes in the brain (neuroplasticity), and by extension change the person’s way of being in the world as well. The forgoing eventuates into an analysis of what it means to have the “mind of Christ” or “the renewing of the mind” and then integrate this with insights gained from brain science. [Rolf R. Nolasco Jr. & R. Vincent MacDonald, Andrew Dreitcer (Foreword), Compassionate Presence: A Radical Response to Human Suffering, Oct. 19, 2016, Wipf and Stock, Cascade Books (paperback).]

NOTICING

Suffering that isn’t even noticed will never be met with compassion. [Monica A. Worline & Jane E. Dutton, Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations, Berrett-Koehler Pub., 2017, p. 33]

PITY

Compassion’s near enemy is pity. Unlike genuine compassion, pity implies a sense of superiority. So, unlike compassion, which connects us with the object of our concern because we identify, pity distances us with the object of our concern because we identify, pity distances us from the other person. Compassion includes respect: We honor the other person’s dignity as a fellow human being. Our concern, if it comes from genuine compassion, is based on the recognition that, just like I do, this person wishes to be free from suffering. [Thupten Jinpa, A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives, Hudson Street Press, May 5, 2015. P. 72]

POVERTY INDUSTRY

Those who control the money in our society think that giving a dollar at the train station and then appropriating a billion dollars for federal housing can cure the ails of the homeless and the poor. But the crisis of the modern welfare state is more than a crisis of government. Private charities that dispense aid indiscriminately while ignoring the moral and spiritual needs of the poor are also to blame. Like animals in the zoo at feeding time, the needy are given a plate of food but rarely receive the love and time that only a person can give. Poverty fighters 100 years ago were more compassionate -- in the literal meaning of "suffering with" -- than many of us are now. [Marvin Olasky, The Tragedy of American Compassion, ‎Regnery Gateway, Oct. 25, 2022]

PSYCHOLOGY

Richard J. Davidson - “There is nothing in western psychology about how to cultivate compassion. It is no more than a mission statement -- that compassion is an admirable human value. But this amorphous thing called the cultivation of compassion actually leads to measurable changes in the brain.” [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 240]

RELIGIOSITY VS. AUTHENTIC COMPASSION

"Love thy neighbor" is preached from many a pulpit. But new research suggests that the highly religious are less motivated by compassion when helping a stranger than are atheists, agnostics and less religious people. [University of California - Berkeley. "Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers." ScienceDaily, 30 April 2012.]

SELF-ABSORPTION

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.” [Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, 2006, Bantam]

SELF-COMPASSION

Feeling emotionally secure allows you to forget your own needs and act as a selfless caregiver, showing compassion toward others even when it does not produce any other personal benefit and can actually cause personal distress. [Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2, 2007, p. 208]

SELF-LOATHING

“it was the many conversations I’ve had over the past 30 years with depressed, anxious, lost and lonely people that convinced me that the one core element they seemed to lack was the ability to be kind, gentle, warm and compassionate with themselves.” [Paul A. Gilbert, The Compassionate Mind, Constable, 2009]

“When the Dalai Lama first came to the West, he was stunned by the levels of self-dissatisfaction, self-disappointment, self-criticism and self-dislike he encountered. For all our technology and comforts, he found us a people in conflict with ourselves.” [Paul A. Gilbert, The Compassionate Mind, Constable, 2009]

SENTIMENTALITY

“The root of emotional sentimentality arises out of expectations that represent personal fears, dependency and control issues. In short, sentimentality is the result of personal attachment and fear, and is self-centered. . . . On the other hand, compassion is concern for the suffering of another with an inclination to provide support and mercy.” [Amrit Desai, “The Difference between Sentimentality and Compassion,” Amrit Kala Resources for Conscious Living, Jan. 13, 2016]

SOCIAL CONNECTION

The second notable set of research findings is that compassion is so essential for our social connections – and both physical and mental well-being – that it has been an essential feature for the survival of the human species (Seppala, Rossomando & Doty, 2013). [Christiane Wolf & J. Greg Serpa, A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness: The Comprehensive Session-by-Session Program for Mental Health Professionals and Health Care Providers, New Harbinger Pub., Aug. 1, 2015]

COMPASSION INSTINCT – “Compassion” is defined as what we feel – our emotional response rather than cognitive response – when we recognize suffering in another and have an authentic wish to relieve this suffering. There are two important elements to recognize in the area of compassion research. The first is a bit surprising: it appears we are hard-wired for compassion, and it is not solely a learned response. This wiring has been called the compassion instinct (Keltner, Marsh & Smith, 2010). It is supported by wide-ranging research from a study into [sic] the helping behavior and neurophysiology of rats (Decety, 2010) to the examination of behavioral and pupil responses in human infants too young to have learned the prosocial rules of politeness (Hepach, Vaish, & Tomasello, 2013). So there is an innate capacity for compassion built into each of us. / The second notable set of research findings is that compassion is so essential for our social connections – and both physical and mental well-being – that it has been an essential feature for the survival of the human species (Seppala, Rossomando & Doty, 2013). Compassion has been linked to lower levels of inflammation (Frederickson et al., 2013) and also linked to longer life (Brown et al., 2009; Konrath, Fuhrel-Forbis, Lou, & Brown, Brown, 2012). All of this research work is summarized beautifully by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” [Christiane Wolf & J. Greg Serpa, A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness: The Comprehensive Session-by-Session Program for Mental Health Professionals and Health Care Providers, New Harbinger Pub., Aug. 1, 2015]

SUFFERING

“No one becomes compassionate unless he suffers” (Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), cited in Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness, Rodale Books, Mar. 23, 2005, p. 13]

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “After Ten Years,” late 1942; published in: Letters and Papers from Prison; Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Witness to Jesus Christ, (John W. De Gruchy ed.), Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1991, quote: p. 262]

TRAINING

A new study by researchers at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate. The report, published by Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, found that training adults in compassion can result in greater altruistic behavior and related changes in neural systems underlying compassion. / "Our fundamental question was, 'Can compassion be trained and learned in adults? Can we become more caring if we practice that mindset?'" says Helen Weng, lead author of the study and a graduate student in clinical psychology. "Our evidence points to yes." …

Participants in the study practiced focused compassion towards four different categories of people. First, they focused on sending compassionate thoughts to a loved one or someone whom they easily felt compassion for, like a friend or family member. Secondly, they practiced compassion and forgiveness towards themselves. Thirdly, they focused on a random stranger or group of people who was suffering. Lastly, they practiced compassion for someone they had a conflict with or would consider a "difficult person," such as a backstabbing co-worker or “frenemy.” … / "It's kind of like weight training," Weng says. "Using this systematic approach, we found that people can actually build up their compassion 'muscle' and respond to others' suffering with care and a desire to help." [Christopher Bergland, “Compassion Can Be Trained: Loving kindness meditation cultivates compassion and altruism.” Psychology Today, May 23, 2013]

The researchers measured how much brain activity had changed from the beginning to the end of the training, and found that the people who were the most altruistic after compassion training were the ones who showed the most brain changes when viewing human suffering. They found that activity was increased in the inferior parietal cortex, a region involved in empathy and understanding others. Compassion training also increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the extent to which it communicated with the nucleus accumbens, brain regions involved in emotion regulation and positive emotions. “People seem to become more sensitive to other people’s suffering, but this is challenging emotionally. They learn to regulate their emotions so that they approach people’s suffering with caring and wanting to help rather than turning away,” explains Weng. Compassion, like physical and academic skills, appears to be something that is not fixed, but rather can be enhanced with training and practice. “The fact that alterations in brain function were observed after just a total of seven hours of training is remarkable,” explains UW-Madison psychology and psychiatry professor Richard J. Davidson, founder and chair of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and senior author of the article. [Alison DeShaw Rowe, “Brain Can Be Trained in Compassion,” Neuroscience News.com, May 22, 2013]

“A common reaction to encountering other people’s suffering is to feel sad, to be reactive, or to turn the other way,” Weng explains. By contrast, meditation practice can help individuals non-judgmentally hold difficult feelings, she adds, while cultivating a desire to ease others’ suffering. The study [Helen Weng et al, “Compassion training alters altruism and neural responses to suffering,” Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul 1; 24(7): 1171–1180.], carried out at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found participants were more generous in an economic exchange game after the two-week compassion practice. The more generous they were, the more their brains changed in response to pictures of suffering in regions associated with empathy and emotion regulation. / In a follow-up study, [Helen Y. Weng et al, “Visual Attention to Suffering After Compassion Training Is Associated with Decreased Amygdala Responses,” Front. Psychol., 22 May 2018]. Weng and her colleagues also found that participants who learned compassion could visually attend to images of suffering while dampening responses in the amygdala, a region implicated in negative arousal. This suggests they are able to attend to suffering in a more calm and equanimous way. [Sheila Kirkdale, “Helen Weng, Using Science to Spread a Message of Compassion, Equity, and Inclusion,” Center for Healthy Minds Blog, Jan. 29, 2020]

C) MISCELLANEOUS

You may call God love, you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion.
Compassion is where peace and justice kiss
No-one knows what the soul is. But what we do know is, the soul is where God works compassion
Whatever God does, the first outburst is always compassion. [Meister Eckhart; Eckhart von Hochheim OP (c. 1260 – c. 1328)]

Compassion is the basis of morality. [Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality (Ueber die Grundlage der Moral, 1840]

[T]here is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone, for someone, pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes. [Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être, 1982)]

“The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.” [Socrates, in Plato, Meno, 385 BC]

[I]f what we feel upsets us, all too often our next response is to tune out, which helps us feel better but blocks compassionate action. … [C]ompassion begins with accepting what’s happening without turning away. … This allows us to move along that spectrum noticing what’s going on to the payoff, actually helping them. [Daniel Goleman & Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body, Sep. 5, 2017, ‎Avery, p. 106]

“Compassion is the chief law of human existence.” [Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot, 1869]

“Before you call yourself a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or any other theology, learn to be human first.” [Shannon L. Alder; in: Dr. Purushothaman, Compassionate Quotes, Centre for Human Perfection (Kollam, Kerala, India), 2014, p. 75]

“No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to us because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.” [Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connections and Courage, ‎Sounds True, Inc., Audiobook, Nov. 15, 2012]

Imagine a world without Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., St. Francis of Assisi, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and so many others. [Heather S. Lonczak, Ph.D., “20 Reasons Why Compassion Is So Important in Psychology,” Positive Psychology, Jan. 9, 2020]

“When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy “Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing.” [Criss Jami, Killosophy, 2015, CreateSpace]

“It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias.” [Criss Jami, Killosophy, 2015, CreateSpace]

“Every single time you help somebody stand up you are helping humanity rise.” [Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free, 1999]

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.” [Mary Anne Radmacher, Live Boldly: Cultivate the Qualities That Can Change Your Life, 2008, Conari Press]

Visual Art -- Further techniques in the development of compassion toward self and others comes from an art-based training program described by Bennett-Levy et al.. In their pilot project with Australia's Indigenous participants, the investigators found an improvement in compassion skills directed toward the self and others using visual art projects. The use of imagery may be more effective than traditional verbal instructions used in CFT at least in some populations. [Myriam Mongrain, Dacher Keltner, and James Kirby, “Editorial: Expanding the Science of Compassion,” Frontiers of Psychology, Sep. 13, 2021; ref. to: Bennett-Levy et al, Arts-Based Compassion Skills Training (ABCST): Channelling Compassion Focused Therapy Through Visual Arts for Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, Frontiers of Psychology, Dec. 16, 2021]

Outside of HE [Higher Education] (as yet), because of the brain’s neuroplasticity, it is possible to image the effects of compassionate mind training on the development and enhancement of particular neural circuitry in the brain. Moreover, these changes, as shown by fMRI, may overlap with the neural circuitry of brain processes associated with empathy, but they are also separate and distinct as suggested earlier. [Theo Gilbert, Martina Doolan, NTF, Sylvia Beka, Neil Spencer, Matteo Crotta, Soheil Davari, “Compassion on university degree programmes at a UK university: The neuroscience of effective group work,” Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, Article publication date: 17 April 2018. Issue publication date: 29 June 2018]

What can I do to be more compassionate?

Be altruistic.
Avoid judgment.
Practice gratitude.
Consider Buddhism.
Be kind to yourself.

Heather S. Lonczak, Ph.D., “20 Reasons Why Compassion Is So Important in Psychology,” Positive Psychology, Jan. 9, 2020] Note that Christianity is not something recommended to “consider.”

In an ambitious paper, Ho et al. offer a brain-based Bayesian inference framework to highlight the information processing pathways involved in “ego preserving biases” that compromise compassionate responding. The juxtaposition of Buddhist concepts onto emerging findings in neuroscience is a tour-de-force. The authors manage to weave in the operations of large functional systems within the brain that hijack empathic concern toward another's suffering. The role of mind training to bypass ego-biases in situations of interpersonal conflict are incorporated within a neuro functional model. [Myriam Mongrain, Dacher Keltner, and James Kirby, “Editorial: Expanding the Science of Compassion,” Frontiers of Psychology, Sep. 13, 2021 ref. To: S. Shaun Ho, Yoshio Nakamura, and James E. Swain, Compassion As an Intervention to Attune to Universal Suffering of Self and Others in Conflicts: A Translational Framework, Frontiers of Psychology, Jan. 11, 2021]

“The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” [Mahatma Gandhi, source?]

“One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.” [Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums, 1958, Viking Press]

D) LONG TEXTS

James R. Doty

Why, in a country that consumes 25% of the world’s resources (the U.S.), is there an epidemic of loneliness, depression, and anxiety? Why do so many in the West who have all of their basic needs met still feel impoverished? While some politicians might answer, “It’s the economy, stupid,” Based on scientific evidence, a better answer is, “It’s the lack of compassion, stupid.” [James R. Doty, M.D (Prof. of Neurosurgery, Stanford U School of Medicine; Director, Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, “The Science of Compassion,” Jun. 7, 2012, Updated August 7, 2012]

When someone acts with compassionate intention, it has a huge, huge positive effect on their physiology. It takes them out of the threat mode and puts them into the rest and digest mode. What happens when that occurs is it changes how they respond to events. Instead of a quick response, oftentimes based on fear or anxiety, it allows for a much more deliberative or discerning response which typically is much more effective, and more creative because it’s allowing your executive control area to function at its best. [Dr. James Doty] Dr James R. Doty is a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University, and the Director of the Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. He is the author of Into the Magic: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. [Azriel ReShel, “The Neuroscience of Compassion,” Uplift, Aug. 30, 2017]

I think compassion is the appreciation, acknowledgment, or recognition or another’s suffering and, as a result, feeling a desire to alleviate that suffering. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have the ability to — it’s just that you wish that person’s suffering to be alleviated, and if you could, you’d do so. [Dr. James Doty, “Compassion and Health: An Interview with James Doty, MD,” Experience Life (By Life Time)]

So, what can we do to tap into genuine compassion for another person when the particular suffering they are going through triggers that response in us? /The answer comes, unsurprisingly, not from how we respond when we are emotionally “flooded”, but rather from the attitude we cultivate the rest of the time. In a recent interview on On Being, the founder of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Dr. James Doty, described research demonstrating that, in the brains of people who regularly practice compassion, their amygdala actually shrinks. / … just like muscles, our mental muscle […] responds to exercise. It’s just which exercise you’re going to do. And one exercise relates to mindfulness, compassion, lovingkindness, having an open heart. And when you strengthen that muscle, the world becomes a vibrant place where you recognize the incredible aspect of humanity that surrounds you in every person, how every person has this incredible potential to change the world. / Or you can do a form of exercise that makes you afraid, that makes you pull away, that makes you think that people are your enemies, or that people are out for something. And, unfortunately, sometimes it’s an active choice, but for many people, they don’t even understand that this is happening. / What muscle are we exercising when we give the pity look? Doty’s website defines pity as, “sorrowfully noting another person’s suffering, but regarding them as outgroup, weak and/or inferior and hence, undeserving of any wish to alleviate, or efforts towards alleviating suffering.” When we are afraid of the pain of the other person, we protect ourselves by making unreal the other’s suffering, saying to ourselves, “this could never happen to me.” By contrast, when we exercise compassion, Doty says, we see that “every person has this incredible potential to change the world”, that we each are capable of authoring our own stories. [Adam Lavitt, “Compassion Is a Skill,” The Wisdom Daily, Apr. 20, 2016]

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[Revised: 6/5/22; 6/8/22; 10/20/22]

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The Compassion Renaissance

Compassion - Quotations: Classified

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