The Anvil of Compassion #1

Compassion could be described as empathy combined with an overwhelming desire to alleviate the suffering of another human being. A dictionary would call compassion a noun but it seems more like a verb of action to me. The reason it's probably considered a noun is that compassion is based on the desire to alleviate suffering and not the actual alleviation.

Are people compassionate because they feel another person's pain and they feel a desire to do something about it? How do we turn that into compassionate action?
 
I have an idea in my spirit for something called the Anvil of Compassion. I have a lot of praying and meditating to do on that but I thought I would share it with you and possibly glean your thoughts. The idea comes from the transference of energy from the hammer into the object being shaped against the resistance of the anvil. We need resistance to become stronger. Compassion to me is an empathetic reaction to the misery (or hardness) of another life.

Life is be hard. A hammer and heat can shape us into something useful.

 

 

 

I'm asking myself some questions and I'm inviting you to question yourself and any young people that you might be teaching:

•  Is empathy the hammer that shapes compassion against the hardness of life? 
•  How can we create compassion muscles in our young people? 
• Are we the the hammer that shapes compassion?
•  Is the hardness of heart the anvil or the object being shaped?
• What are the roots of compassion?
• What are acts of compassion?
• Is compassion a teachable habit?
• Can we create a compassionate school or city or neighborhood or family?
• What are the attributes of a compassionate person?
• When does compassion allow suffering to make a person stronger?

As we answer these questions, let's make a commitment to be as compassionate to others as we would expect them to be compassionate to us.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Bob