COMPASSION | RACHAMIM | רחמים
PHRASE/SLOGAN
Suffering has no body, does not adhere to body boundaries
Anatomically separate, emotionally connected
Human being/human between
Same space, time, emotions, different bodies
Emotional womb of earth
Intermental, interemotional, interbeing
Love all creation as yourself
Closeness + feeling with + acting on behalf = compassion
The ultimate protection from harm is to know no walls, yet compassion may need fiercely loving love walls
Compassion in the form of compassion, compassion in the form of judgment
Compassionate sun, barrier clouds
SOUL TRAIT (MIDDAH) SPECTRUM
ETYMOLOGY
- compassion, mercy
- root - רחם
- womb
- to love, have mercy, have compassion
- affection, tenderness
- protect from harm
- pity, sympathy, kindness
MUSSAR
Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things. (Chp. 2: Holding the World in Kindness: A Psychology of Compassion)
281. He used to say, The space of a needle's eye suffices for two friends, whilst the universe itself can scarcely contain two enemies.
חמשה קולן יוצא מסוף העולם ועד סופו ואין הקול נשמע. בשעה שכורתין את האילן שהוא עושה פרי הקול יוצא מסוף העולם ועד סופו ואין הקול נשמע, ובשעה שהנחש נפשט, ובשעה שהאשה מתגרשת מבעלה, (ובשעה שהאשה עם בעלה בעילה ראשונה, אבל אין קולה נשמע).
The voices of five (objects of creation) go from one end of the world to the other, and their voices are inaudible. When people cut down the wood of the tree which yields fruit, its cry goes from one end of the world to the other, and the voice is inaudible. When the serpent sloughs off its skin, its cry goes from one end of the world to the other and its voice is not heard. When a woman is divorced from her husband, her voice goeth forth from one end of the world to the other, but the voice is inaudible. When the infant comes forth from its mother's womb. When the soul departs from the body, the cry goes forth from one end of the world to the other, and the voice is not heard.
Remember/be mindful of Your compassion God, and Your kindness; they are old as time.
וַיַּעֲבֹ֨ר יְהוָ֥ה ׀ עַל־פָּנָיו֮ וַיִּקְרָא֒ יְהוָ֣ה ׀ יְהוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן אֶ֥רֶךְ אַפַּ֖יִם וְרַב־חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת ׀ נֹצֵ֥ר חֶ֙סֶד֙ לָאֲלָפִ֔ים נֹשֵׂ֥א עָוֺ֛ן וָפֶ֖שַׁע וְחַטָּאָ֑ה וְנַקֵּה֙ לֹ֣א יְנַקֶּ֔ה פֹּקֵ֣ד ׀ עֲוֺ֣ן אָב֗וֹת עַל־בָּנִים֙ וְעַל־בְּנֵ֣י בָנִ֔ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִֽים׃
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed: “The LORD! the LORD! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”
Compassion is natural after all. Somehow, the surrender into Being, into God, does make us kinder . . . Just silence, just stillness, just seeing things as they are, and compassion, lovingkindness, and wisdom appear on their own, without any oughts from us. (Chp. 9: Ethics: The Problem of Evil and Improving on God)
The self comes into existence by virtue of the other; therefore, the self comes into being indebted to the other. This other, the other person, is presented to the individual through a face-to-face encounter that commands a response in action. . . . this face-to-face encounter shatters the self-containedness or insularity of the self. . . . [in] a philosophy that begins with this intersubjective encounter . . . questions of ethics precede questions of being. . . . the question “What is being?” is asked only after we ask the question “What is my responsibility in being?” (Introduction)
We have a commonsense appreciation that we are all separate beings, but the truth is that we are very much connected at several levels. Could there be a better image for this intimate connection than the physical proximity of fetus to mother, where two beings so totally overcome duality by situating one of them within the other? That is a beautiful and revealing image, but such closeness is not a feature of only the mother-child relationship. . . . When we experience being so close to one another that the membranes that separate us are permeated, then I will live in the recognition that you and I are as connected as I am to my own foot or mouth. This condition of intimacy precipitates compassion. . . . Drawing close sets the stage for compassion. . . . the inner experience of touching another being so closely that you no longer perceive the other one as separate from you. The two are made one, as the baby in the mother’s womb. In that state of inner identification, feelings will be shared as fully as if they were your own. You will leap to care for the other as naturally as you care for yourself. Because the other is no longer other. (Chp.10: Compassion)
וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ
Love your other as yourself
My oneness with you means that whatever you are feeling is also stirred within me as my own emotional experience. (Chp.10: Compassion)
According to the Mussar masters, compassion can come in two forms. There is “compassion in the form of compassion,” when our feeling along with the other leads us to act kindly, softly, and gently. The second type of compassion comes as “compassion in the form of judgment.” In this case, our shared feelings with the other call for action that is firm, hard, or possibly even harsh. (Chp.10: Compassion)
To be truly nurturing of life and growth . . . our compassion must become flexible, like the womb itself, allowing us to expand or contract as needed; for at times compassion requires that we extend our boundaries and give of ourselves, and at times it requires that we hold back and restrain from giving. (Chp. 9: Moving from Judgment to Compassion)
My beloved, holy Jewish people, you should know that the right side of the heart symbolizes kindness, while the left side symbolizes strict judgment, and the middle of the heart is the synthesis, the beautiful balance between the two. (Parashas Bo, Teachings of Fire)
The Sages understood the two primary names of God in the Tanach as pointing to two different qualities: YHVH—the Tetragrammaton, often translated as “the Eternal” or “Lord”—representing “loving-kindness” and “mercy”; and Elohim, “God,” representing “justice.” Yes, we humans are in particular need of God’s compassion, but this world also depends on law and morality; actions do and should have consequences. Much of Rabbinic theology is an exploration of the dynamic between God’s two contradictory middot: “loving-kindness” and “justice.”
The various divine attributes are not separate but interconnected. It means that on a very deep level, even the paradoxical middot, like justice and loving-kindness, are not actually different from each other because they are both vessels that garb the same animating force. (Fine-Tuning Our Middot as a Spiritual Practice)
Because we more easily perceive our separation than our oneness with others, we slip into judgment more easily than we rise to compassion. . . . The primary barrier to being compassionate is the sense that you and I are separate from each other.
Compassion can come into existence only when you lower the barriers that ordinarily wall off and isolate your own sense of self. Opening up to connecting so closely with another that you actually feel that other person’s pain will be possible only when the high walls of ego are reduced. (Chp.10: Compassion)
285. We may recognize the friend when our heart is cognizant of his affections, and our tongue utters his praise.
Compassion has us believe that a person is inherently holy and has the capacity to change, so the deeds we might find ourselves judging do not really reflect who a person is at the core, nor could be. As a result, compassion has us see a person more favorably than his or her deeds currently warrant. Said a different way, judgment assesses a person based on the reality of who he or she is now, while compassion recognizes as well a person’s soul-nature. This is how compassion offsets the force of judgment. (Chp.10: Compassion)