Where does compassion sit within this American society?
The most salient deficit within this materialistic society is the state of economics. What about the obvious deficit in compassion, is this ever talked about? It seems to me that our priorities and perspectives within this society have been focused on the superficial aspects of being human. This declaration of the shallow nature of contemporary American culture probably does not sound unfamiliar or unjust to many of us. The more important question to me is - if our society is suffering from a lack of heart, how do we as individuals help to fill this void? I believe that one way of balancing this budget of being human is to bring compassion into our full attention. Living life with one's attention on compassion for others is an ancient practice of being human.
Through my own experience with the practice of compassion, I have noticed how it can help to tear down the wall of - us and them. If there is any one human virtue that can help balance out the socially destructive affects of extreme individualism, it is compassion. When we see ourselves in others, we tend to treat them a little differently than when we see them as the other.
I think that when we couple the role of separate realities with this deficit in compassion, we can start to view our society in a very different light. Is it fear that is keeping us from the realization that we all are truly connected? I think that there are multiple causal factors that are creating this deficit in compassion, but I do see fear as being a major catalyst. Maybe the biggest fear is that if we do live our lives through a compassionate perspective we will realize what a fallacy American individualism really is. Can we as a society return to that preschool lesson of treating others as we would like to be treated? I believe we can, and I believe that we can do it through the practice of compassion.
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