In an excerpt from "Compassion in Buddhism without Beliefs," the author introduces us to the development of loving which the author rightly sees not just as a separate exercise but also as a means to developing mindfulness and loosening the grip of centeredness. Compassion is a big role in our lives and states that compassion can awaken our lives if done correctly, which I completely agree with. If you want that awakening, then compassion must be given universally to everybody. Generally, everyone feels some sort of compassion, but honestly that compassion is sort of flawed. It is flawed because for instance, some feel compassion for human beings but not for animals for other types of living beings. Others feel compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for humans. Others who feel compassion for human beings, only feel compassion for human beings of their own country or race. Then there are some people who feel compassion for their friends but not for everybody else. Thus it seems like we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for one group but not for the other. This is where our compassion is flawed. If one wants that life awakening and to feel great, then we must extend our compassion to everybody. Compassion is a path of happiness. Another good point the author makes is that the greatest threat to compassion is believing that we are the savior to the people we help. We should be selfish when we help people. We should think that, "oh I am so great for helping this person." By having this thought in our mind when we give compassion to another being, it's not like giving compassion at all. This thought of selfishness can really cause problems in our compassion and should be avoided if we really want to have a self-awakening. I feel like compassion is one of the biggest things in our lives. Through acts of love and compassion we can upgrade ourselves and help better the Earth, bringing everyone along for the beautiful ride.
