Compassion: Suffering as a Fact of Life, Essay Example

It’s quite easy to assert that humans are selfish. The same can be said for various other observations when looking at what is happening in the world today. Altruism does not exist. Greed pervades. Cooperation and coordination with others shows weakness. War is inevitable, competition is a natural, human desire. Indeed, the negative aspects overwhelm the good. Such claims mirror various timeless assumptions about human emotion, and for a long time, human emotions have been perceived as the foundation of human sin, irrationality, and degeneracy (Smith 3). Compassion has historically been derided as a weak, passive, and misguided emotion because a concern for another’s welfare and benevolence evinces weakness. However, compassion cannot be reduced to a signifier of human sin because humans, by nature, have a natural instinct to be compassionate towards others.

The Buddha figurehead in eastern religions embodies the very concept of compassion, yet a simple definition of “compassion” is almost impossible to articulate. Compassion literally translates to “to suffer together,” and emotion researchers view it as the feeling that germinates when one discerns the suffering of another and years to relieve such suffering. Many people, however, incorrectly conflate compassion with altruism or empathy, although they are related. Although empathy refers to the human capacity to put oneself in another person’s shoes and feel what that other person feels, compassion is a more encompassing concept, as those cognitions and feelings incorporate the innate desire to help (Lipp 374). In turn, altruism refers to selfless, humane behavior conjured up by one’s compassion, yet compassion does not require an individual to act upon such feelings. Although cynics decry compassion as irrational and overly emotional, many scientists have traced the biological underpinnings of compassion to convey how compassion has an evolutionary function. The relationship between and suffering elucidates a clear, powerful, and poignant account of how compassion—which calls for an uncompromising and unwavering acceptance of suffering—can be discerned in various patterns of knowledge and thought. Humans have a natural propensity towards compassion, and those who lack the capacity to feel towards are rendered inhumane and savage.

Cynics contend that human compassion signifies a sign of weakness because those who have it allow their emotions to overwhelm their rational thought. The famous philosopher Plato used the analogy of the human soul as being a chariot. Human rationality and intellect drove human emotion, which Plato viewed was the horses. Throughout one’s life, an individual constantly confronted and grappled with keeping their emotions under control, never letting them vanquish human rationality (Smith 56). This mind/body dyad permeates various philosophical, sociological, and scientific discourses that traverse both geographical and temporal contexts. Evincing emotions is viewed in a negative light. In gender discourses within the context of western civilization, emotionality and compassion are often associated with the female gender, which connotes a passivity that is often frowned down upon. As such, cynics believe that compassion is a female attribute and a sign of weakness. Moreover, true compassion has been discounted as a feeling that is clearly motivated by self-interest and selfishness rather than true benevolence.

Although critics decry compassion as a sign of weakness and a manifestation of one’s irrationality, extant scientific research points to its evolutionary and biological roots. When humans feel compassion, their heart rate slows down, and they secrete oxytocin, the so-called “bonding hormone,” and various regions in the brain scientifically linked to feelings o pleasure, empathy, and care-giving all light up when the brain is mapped. As a result, people feel a natural desire to care for others. Various scientists have conducted experiments on the human brain that prove that there is a biological basis of human compassion. Moreover, the parts of the brain that are attuned to compassion are linked to positive emotions. In other studies, when subjects cogitated about harming others, certain regions in the brain lit up that suggested that compassion is not an irrational or fickle sentiment but rather an intrinsic human reaction that is firmly embedded in various regions in the human brain.

Compassion has been derided as a sign of weakness and human selfishness, yet there is a growing corpus of literature that proves that compassion is a human instinct. Compassion is an acknowledgement that human suffering is a fact of life. While philosophical discourses engaging in the mind/body dyad argue that compassion is a human succumbing to their emotionality and irrationality, various studies prove the contrary. Humans naturally look to reduce harm and alleviate the suffering of others.

Works Cited

Coplan, A. and P, Goldie. Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 2011.

Lipps, Thomas. “Empathy, Inner Imitation,, and Sense-Feelings” in A Modern Book of Aesthetics, 374-382. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1979. Print.

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. August M. Kelley Publishers: New York, 1853. Print.