Today is Good Friday.

Compassion

“When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.”

                                        Thich Nhat Hanh

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

                                        The Buddha

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

                                        Jesus (Luke 23:34)

          Good Friday is the day that we follow Jesus to Golgotha.  He has been tried, beaten, abandoned, spat on, crowned with thorns, and mocked.  Through all of it, he has expressed only compassion.  Compassion for Judas, then for the Roman soldier who lost his ear to Peter’s sword, then to the women along the way, then to his mother, and even to those who were nailing him to the cross.  Jesus clearly knew that his compassion was not contingent upon the goodness of others.  Empathy may be the most difficult spiritual hurdle to leap.

          Almost everyone feels compassion for people who are in distress due to no fault of their own.  I believe it is human nature to feel compassion for hurt and devastated people, whether we know them or not.   We can imagine what they are going through, and what we would feel in their situation and thereby sympathize.  But feeling empathy for people who have done something stupid, who have brought about their own suffering, who are in a sense, reaping what they sow, well, that’s another thing all together.  At least it is for me.  My evolution stops right there, I’m afraid.  I doubt that many Americans feel compassion for say, Osama Bin Laden, or closer to home, Timothy McVeigh.  When I try to take compassion there, it feels like running into a brick wall.

          The best most of us can do at this point in human evolution is to feel empathy where it comes naturally, and to pray for compassion where it does not.  We can be aware of when we are judging, and ask for a sympathetic heart.  And, we can be compassionate with ourselves knowing that we, too, are a work in progress.

                                        In all things give thanks,

                                        Jane