Compassion

Once one accepts evolution as fact one is forced to recognise that feelings of composition are biological and a product of development of our own society. This is not necessarily a cause to reject compassion on the grounds that it is something imposed upon one by circumstances of birth and education. In any case, one is deluding oneself if one thinks that one can rise above emotions of pity and pathos. One is a human, an ape, an animal. A struggle to escape this fact will not get you far. Examining one’s character and behaviour on a deeply intellectual level will not allow one to escape one’s instincts.

We are bound by our anatomy and education our society has evolved and implemented onto us. This is not necessarily a prison. It is just a set of breaks which do not let us run too quickly. It is probably for the best. The faster one runs the more likely one will fall. Every time humans chose to dramatically cut ties to the past and build a new society it all came tumbling down. Communism and Nazism is an example of this.

When thinking about compassion and other emotions which might be thought of as irrelevant one must come to terms that this is part of our makeup. We are what we are. We can only build upon and change what we have very slowly. Hence one must accept compassion. One must allow oneself to feel it for others, and to let others feel it for oneself, even when it seems weak or unnecessary.