Edward’s Diary Entry 37 – Virtue 16: Compassion towards all beings (Daya)

“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate…” Thus begins the Quran, and before Mohammed was the Buddha, image chosen here, who admonished us to be compassionate to all living creatures, to all things that breathe. And before the Buddha, the Gita listed this Virtue – this divine endowment – as the 16th Virtue or empowerment of the Sattwic mind. The “Daya” of the Gita is often translated as “empathy”, which is the same thing as “com-passion”, feeling for, or with, others. Not to be confused with weeping sentimentalism, which is more of a “thought process” of generating pity and then feeling superior to those poor people who suffer! That’s called ego-feeding. Anything that breathes must be respected and given compassion. Because we breathe too. Because, again, what is induced is connectedness and the effacing of the individual, egoic, frightened little "self-versus-the-universe" concept. No one is alone in their suffering, all life “suffers”, as it is material and physical and strives to endure, but eventually decays and disintegrates, so its existence cannot be much more than suffering, which is not to say that it is exempt from joy – on the contrary. Joy is always present in a sane mind and sane being – you can see it for yourself in insects chirping, birds singing, animals playing and humans at their best. The opposite is what happens, unfortunately, mostly in humans: stress (mental insanity), depression (about what?), anxiety (wrong wiring maybe?), hatred (why?)… Lucky animals, they don’t have a thinking brain that distresses them! Which is why compassion towards all beings is important – if you connect to the natural world and its animals, you are practising empathy. If you then reach out to other human beings, stop criticising them, accept them as they are, you are practising empathy and becoming more human… Can you practise empathy and criticise others? No. Can you be empathetic and want to correct others? No. Compassion accepts, just like – whatever you do – the universe accepts you. Because apart from a story in the Bible about turning someone into salt, you don’t usually get stuck down suddenly when you do something nasty. The universe is too compassionate for that. So let’s be more like the universe. And reinforce compassion in humans.