Compassion Over Time

Compassion is connecting with another’s feelings and wanting to support them. Compassionate action is that caring support. 

We all know what compassion feels like. It is sometimes known by kindness, mercy or sympathy, but compassion holds its own promise.

Is compassion hard to explain? Yes. We do know we appreciate when someone offers compassion to us. And when someone we know is heartbroken and we offer our compassion to them, we value that as well. So, we know compassion is important in relationships. 

Many think more compassion is needed in modern society. Has that always been true? Let’s consider compassion in three different time periods.

Compassion in Prehistory

How ingrained is compassion in humankind’s makeup? Many archaeological findings reveal sometimes prehistoric people cared for their disabled. People have treated others with compassion for tens of thousands of years. 

Consider the case of a child disabled from birth. A skeleton of a young man who died at age seventeen over twelve millennia ago tells a story. He was a disabled dwarf of a man, reaching only three feet tall. Though unable to hunt or gather unassisted, he showed no signs of malnutrition or neglect. In fact, his skeleton was found in the arms of a woman’s skeleton, who would have been about forty when she died.

Obviously, others cared for the young man for him to reach seventeen. Further, others cared enough to bury these two together. So, compassion and fulfilling compassionate activities are integral within human development. Humans practiced it well before writing historical records.

Compassion in the Greco-Roman Worldview

Once written records developed, the ancient world became complex.

 

Within literature cultures, authors wrote about virtues at length. While cultures varied, Greek and Roman philosophers wrote and debated more than most. Pagan Greco-Roman thought in first century CE evoked compassion as an important virtue. The works of Statius (1st century CE) and Pausanias (2nd century CE geographer) both allude to Eleos. Eleos was the Greek deity who personified compassion. Compassion had become deified.

Eleos was a late entrant to religion within Athens, where the main Altar of Eleos stood. Hyginus’ theogony of late second century CE is the earliest one, with Eleos being born of goddess Nyx. Eleos’ late entrance to the pantheon could be viewed as either an innovation or as a late recognition. That recognition was late, but the society had valued forms of compassion earlier.

The practice of asyla at sacred sites is an early form of compassion in Greek society. Here, sacred sites granted temporary relief suppliants seeking asyla within them. For example, abused servants would seek asyla at temples, and their perpetrators would be kept away. So, ancient cultures valued compassion in some forms early on.

Compassion in Modern Times

Challenges in modern times

Modern society finds compassion to be a challenge. In some ways, our culture has mishandled the virtue. The general consensus claims today's world has too little compassion. 

Like many things, the concept of compassion has been coopted. For example, the virtue of compassion has unfortunately been branded for commercial purposes. “Kind” is a brand of nutritional snacks. “Mercy” is used by many entities in naming for healthcare and other concerns.

Compassion is branded as well. Online search for “compassion” first yield its branded "international" namesake. While that nonprofit’s goal of helping children in poverty is laudable, it has its criticisms. For example, Geraths (2013) writes that the nonprofit “commodifies, dehumanizes, and silences the children it claims to sponsor." Further, it positions "articulates sponsors "parents and children as objects for spiritual consumption.” 

The nonprofit's webpage offers options for selecting children. These first include location, gender, and age range. Further, sponsors may select for those who are longest waiting, orphaned, vulnerable to exploitation, affected by HIV/AIDs, and mentally or physically challenged. This reads more like a condiment ingredients list for a sandwich. But sponsors are choosing a living child.

Involved sponsoring may indeed be a compassionate act. But few would argue the above is presented compassionately. A button click for a donation is only one action. Alone, little personal change has taken place.

Personal development from compassion requires its consistent effort, more than a button click. A routine of volunteering two hours a week at a soup kitchen over a summer requires consistent effort, for example. That effort may impact a person as they develop a more compassionate worldview,

Advantages in modern times

On the other side of the coin, modern times have some advantages. Tools for practicing compassion exist that weren’t available before. Self-compassion training in virtual reality is one example.

Many people are part of specialized online groups. Those online have more opportunities for compassionate support. Further, these may be for specific issues and ailments few have. Also, resources online are available for marginalized groups with these same concerns. Marginalized persons may find such support lifesaving.

In addition, there are other modern resources, such as podcasts about compassion, and online compassion meditations. Access is available on the seeker’s schedule.

These innovative advantages and modern problems over compassion exist side by side. They provide a “best of time and worst of times” scenario for compassion in our modern world.

Conclusion

Compassion for ourselves and for others requires consistent effort to sustain it. Further, practicing compassion of one kind feeds another. Better compassion for oneself leads to better compassion for others. Better compassion for others, including compassion for animals as well as people, leads to better compassion for oneself.

Practicing compassion is fulfilling. It satisfies in a way that consumption of brands in modern life cannot. Also, we are better informed about our personal development. Compassion has been shown to have personal development benefits (Roeser 2018). Compassion and compassionate actions may benefit you and those you would help.