Why do we need compassion? How can it be nurtured?

 

On 27^th October 2023 in twitter

Tim Ferriss, “In my first interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I brought up a photo of him at age 19, just before he won his first big competition, Junior Mr. Europe. I asked, “Your face was so confident compared to every other competitor. Where did that confidence come from?”

He replied: “My confidence came from my vision. . . . I am a big believer that if you have a very clear vision of where you want to go, then the rest of it is much easier. Because you always know why you are training 5 hours a day, you always know why you are pushing and going through the pain barrier, and why you have to eat more, and why you have to struggle more, and why you have to be more disciplined… I felt that I could win it, and that was what I was there for. I wasn’t there to compete. I was there to win.”

 

On 28^th October 2023 in Times of India

“If you accept yourself as you are, and begin to release your strong attachments and expectations, then stress too should lessen its stifling grip. If you can be flexible, you allow room for wonderful things to happen.” Gyalwang Drukpa

These two led me to another incidence, i.e, recollecting what during ThinkEdu16 conference in concluding session Sri Sri Ravishankar answered spontaneously very well to VC of a university in very simple terms how to avoid irrational depressions due to high expectations and corresponding disappointment.

 

He used just three very effective words. He said you need 'Passion' to perform effectively but 'Dispassion' to carry on with shortcomings and failures. He said when you succeed in Passion you enjoy, when you have this 'Dispassion' then you do not 'hate yourself' between these two if you have 'Compassion' then you do not hate or blame others. So, he said you need Passion, Dispassion and Compassion -all the three.

 

I think this simple mantra can contribute enough moderation and sense of balance which is the ultimate test of a matured person.

 

Why do we need compassion? How can it be nurtured?

It is necessary because our individual life [ however great and good it may be],  is merely part of totality of LIFE, besides, we perceive life only in parts.

 

"We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles.  Meantime within man is the soul of the whole: the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE.  And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject, and the object, are one.  We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul. "Excerpt from The Over-Soul, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, first published in 1841

 

No one starts, may or must not start or cannot start all aspects of life in moderation.

 

Aggression, passion, influence, impact, intensity are the things that spice up the adventure of life but then everyone must grow out of these experiences into a matured balanced person acting with modicum moderation and deft diplomacy.

 

But it is also high time that all individuals and institutions which feel responsible for youth, future generations, and posterity of humanity must emphasis and consciously promote  virtues of moderation, tolerance, forgiveness, compassion, accepting facts, happiness, contextual relevance of whatever is done  etc as most important tenets of emancipated human beings practicing a universal religion.

 

Compassion must be inculcated consciously so that it acts as  a spontaneous base in subconscious with a caveat for exceptions.

 

William James, “In the end nothing less than the whole of everything can be the truth of anything at all”. 

 

“Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.” -Idries Shah.

 

Human life, after all, is a very short journey in the ocean of totality of LIFE. 

 

Identities of all hues while they enable creating social groups at the same time enfeeble options for universal acceptance. 

 

Writers, when they slide on the side of reason are 360 degree stroke makers, they  are able to seek and to see numerous possibilities that exist between, beneath and beyond ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ which ordinary mortals may not that easily  grab and give a name or label and in addition writers are not averse to churn by throwing those possibilities in the cauldron which may contain from several sources all sorts of thoughts, information and /or knowledge of /in various domains, imaginations, dreams, fantasies, intellect, conscious awareness, perception, tools of perception, logic, reason, evaluations, purpose of evaluations, tools of evaluations, understanding and application of understanding, social values, social interactions, individual and/or collective emotions/feelings, psychology, cultural contexts, ideological identities which influence those very thought processes, imaginations, dreams, fantasies, scientifically established facts, intelligent questioning, attitudes, willingness and ability to understand and solve problems, bio-chemical components of human beings and /or some other species as well, application of  highest physical laws etc.

 

Writers realize at least, partially that reality is that shifting priorities, drifting value systems, jilting relationships, wilting spirits seek only befitting systems and swift solutions and not suffocating taboos and traditions, rituals devoid of rational, sermons of socio-morals of ancient times which may enthuse automatic cognitive operations through appealing nicely worded and socially applauded hyper philosophizing thoughts and opinions[passing of as collective wisdom] but will get exposed at the altar of existential anxieties which may expose how far removed they are from any contextual relevance. 

 

Growing up and growing out of certain things are natural process of evolutionary metamorphosis both biologically and psychologically.

 

Life is functionally a dynamic energy; visually a multi-faceted splendour; a marvellous mystery which unfolds itself through each one of us at every moment. Therefore, life cannot be either generalized in any manner or simplified into any predefined categories.

 

Life continues to evolve in its dynamic energy every moment and constantly throws up challenges in varying degrees and intensities, in different dimensions and at unexpected intervals.

 

Wisdom is to live in the present context and to practice certain time-tested values which have relevance in present context but with global perspective to bequeath a liveable planet, a lovable society with lovely ecosystems and improved living conditions.

Scott Atran, a respected Anthropologist called Religion as “belief in hope beyond reason”. 

 

In evolutionary biology we find that all creations have shed the unnecessary parts or shrunk them for better survival; in evolutionary sociology too human race has shed too many models of social groups and narrowed down on a few that would be easier for global interaction; in languages too, from a few thousands languages that existed humanity has reduced the number to just a few hundred languages for easy communication leading to at least better verbal understanding. 

 

Life is never fulfilled with unfulfilled relationships within the family, with others in the society, with the environment, with the many sciences, subjects, systems that we come across which are useful to us, used by us or we are used by them and so on. So, the quality of life is the manifestation of the quality of the inter play of these various relationships. 

 

Everything has its relevance and appeal to different souls at various levels. That's why we cannot deny or defy the importance of anything or anyone.  So, oversimplifications or sweeping generalizations must be avoided.

 

“Across planes of consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that opposite things can be simultaneously true.” ― Ram Dass. 

 

We must also know that everything has its own inherent attributes, intrinsic values, internal mechanism, and logic for its existence besides, beyond, exclusive of and unmindful of human intellectual justifications, acceptance, acknowledgement, social approvals, political support  and therefore , it is purely absurd to extrapolate anything with specific ideological fixations. 

 

A whole gamut of things and factors that go on to develop an intellect, many more to define one and a lot to acquire that label which enable to deliver the real universal wisdom. 

 

Human knowledge even with all the advantages of technological advancements enabled accessibility and availability hubris, still navigates in the orbit of finiteness.

 

Whatever they be and however well packaged they are be they surveys,  statistics,  spread sheets all are meaningful abstractions and presentations of multiple facets and factors like randomness, measurable patterns, easily understandable classifications, blue prints or outlines or guide lines projecting or superimposing the trajectory of trends etc of real events, activities, actionable remedial measures of  PEOPLE who are involved or impacted by or responsible for such events or activities and circumstances which went on to create those factors or facets. 

 

“Scientists use whichever methods help them understand the world: drudge like tabulation of data, experimental derring-do, flights of theoretical fancy, elegant mathematical modelling, kludgy computer simulation, and sweeping verbal narrative" -karl popper.

 

 "All the methods are pressed into the service of two ideals, and it is these ideals that advocates of science want to export to the rest of intellectual life. The first is that the world is 'Intelligible'. The phenomena we experience may be explained by the principles that are deeper than the phenomena themselves." “The second ideal is that we must allow the world to tell us whether our ideas about it are correct, i.e., consistency with empirical evidence".

 

Vulnerabilities are unavoidable but leaving them unobserved, unattended, and unaddressed is bad.  "I was at the age when one felt like one needed to read everything, which prevented one from making contemplative stops"- Taleb. 

 

This happens to most of us. In a way it is good initially, more the merrier. 

Then we end up getting lost with excess of fuzziness than real assimilation.

The INSTINCT/IMPULSE to filter and be selective come with prejudices and biases to NARROWING DOWN on only a few things.

 

However, the ABILITY to do so come with enhanced matured way to choose and decide and end up CONSOLIDATING our radius of receptivity.

 

Sometimes, many other factors like time constraints and lack of resources limit our options. I cannot resist quoting my favourite author here.  

 

“The ability to choose an action that best satisfies conflicting goals is not an add-on to intelligence that engineers might slap themselves in the forehead for forgetting to install! It IS intelligence"- Steven Pinker .

 

 “Understanding does not obey Moore's Law: knowledge is acquired by formulating explanations and testing them against reality, not by running an algorithm faster and faster. Devouring the information in the Internet will not confer omniscience either: big data is still finite data, and the universe of knowledge is infinite" - Steven Pinker.

 

He also writes, “if narratives without statistics are blind, statistics without narratives are empty". 

 

Summing up the whole thing I would like to add that life is injected into the spread sheets only when one SYNERGIZES them with underlying HUMANITARIAN WELFARE and long-term ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT based on RATIONAL OUTLOOK and SCIENTIFIC APPROACH with CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCE and ensuring not to hurt the SENTIMENTS and VALUE THE SOCIO-CULTURAL SENSITIVITIES of the people involved. 

 

Surveys,  statistics,  spread sheets are meaningful abstractions and presentations of multiple facets and factors like randomness, measurable patterns, trajectory of trends and so on of real events, activities, actionable remedial measures of people who are involved or impacted by or responsible for such events or activities and circumstances which went on to create those factors or facets. 

 

Life is injected into the spread sheets only when one synergizes with underlying human and environmental factors.

 

 “Everything changes as you move through three stages of awareness: first, that beliefs are the result of conditions; second, that beliefs are the cause of conditions; and third, that beliefs are themselves conditions.”― Eric Micha'el Leventhal.  

 

“All of us have our own inner fears, beliefs, opinions. These inner assumptions rule and govern our lives. A suggestion has no power in and of itself. Its power arises from the fact that you accept it mentally.”― Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.

 

“We must realize that the subconscious mind is the law of action and always expresses what the conscious mind has impressed on it. What we regularly entertain in our mind creates a conception of self. What we conceive ourselves to be, we become.” Grace Speare.