Compassion, the virtue of reason and heart

Compassion is not a sad feeling . And we cannot reduce it to synonyms like charity and pity, which bind it to moments when we encounter life's darkness.

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The positive energy of compassion

If we begin with the etymology of the word , and its root in the Latin compati , meaning to sympathize, we already glimpse a new beginning of compassion. Its magnetic attraction toward others, its positive energy in pushing us toward sharing pain, difficulty, or tragedy. But also toward a space of light.

The two elements of compassion

In this journey, two elements overlap : one rational and the other purely emotional , which comes from the heart. Reason, when we confront the hardships of life, pushes us to compassion, to use it as an antidote to pain. How have we experienced the plight of those affected, among their closest loved ones, by a loss caused by Covid-19? By spreading compassion. And knowing that this gesture, not to be wasted due to its power, transforms much more quickly than we imagine into concrete help for others . But also to bear the weight of our limitations, of our indifference. Almsgiving , which on this site we consider a duty, is a small, concrete gesture of compassion. Like suspending shopping, or like anything that translates into participation in need, of any nature, financial, emotional, or social.

Importance of compassion

Alongside reason, and we are still in the rational sphere of compassion, there are reflection and responsibility . I sympathize after I have seen and understood suffering. I sympathize to share something that, together, we can better cope with. And I sympathize not out of duty, but out of responsibility, with respect to a fundamental code of community life. Dostoevsky said : " Compassion is the most important and perhaps the only law of life for humanity ." A law that defies any form of violence. Even when someone tries to take advantage of our tendency to sympathize, and attempts, as they say in jargon, to "walk all over us," it is reason that leads us to maintain calm, detachment, the appropriate distance from things. To not give in to the impulsive reaction of anger and resentment.

Compassion and love

The second sphere of compassion, the emotional one, leads directly to love . Start with painting, with any classical author who explored the universe of the weakest, such as Caravaggio , and look at the hands, faces, gazes, and postures of men and women expressing compassion. You will discover a perfect symmetry with the visual language of love, with the vocabulary of tenderness. The same goes for literature. The Great Novel of the 19th century is full of compassionate stories, almost always intertwined with love stories. Not always with a happy ending.

Compassion goes beyond empathy. It's a direct and concrete form of sharing in another's pain, a way of sharing suffering, trying not to make the other person feel alone. There's an almost unconscious desire to comfort and heal, which also helps us understand ourselves better.

How to cultivate compassion

Compassion , in fact, can come at a very high price . Even to the point of sacrifice, although this shouldn't be considered a necessary price. And sacrifice concerns, first and foremost, what we give away of ourselves, something we renounce. In 2016, Pope Francis announced his Jubilee of Mercy , another key synonym for compassion and love, and on that occasion he helped us discover "the two aspects of mercy": the first: giving, helping, serving others. The second: understanding and forgiving. The two aspects are inseparable, and both evoke an absolutism of feelings, an approach toward others that breaks down the barrier of a question to which, consciously or unconsciously, we are accustomed by the existential breath of cynicism. "What do I get out of it?" There you have it: compassion, like mercy, never expects anything in return . They don't take it into account.

Compassion helps you not to grow old

Along the reason-love binary, compassion leads to varying degrees of happiness . You feel freer, stronger, more capable of giving, without the expectation of receiving. And you have more energy and less worry about daily anxieties. Medical research confirms these benefits of compassion. It doubles the production of DHEA, the hormone that fights aging. And it reduces cortisol, the stress hormone, by 23 percent. Further reasons not to squander, in freedom, the beauty of the virtue of compassion.

Compassion: the virtue of reason and heart