I contend that compassion is an
automatic byproduct of having shut out the outside world for a time to experience
transcendence in its religious sense (i.e., reaching beyond the limits of human
conception, perception, and emotion). Such experience as prayer, for example,
or meditation can result in a heightened sensitivity in perceiving the world,
including things and other people who are in proximity. Such sensitivity where
other people are being perceived can illicit compassion to them. It is the
bracketing experience itself, away from our daily life, rather than what is being
prayed about or meditated on that triggers the generalized sensitivity and thus
the enhanced readiness or inclination to feel compassion where it applies. I submit
furthermore that with some beliefs regarding how God in the Abrahamic
religions views us creatures in Creation, we mere mortals can assume to some degree
the perspective that, given how God is depicted in scriptures, God would or
does have in watching us in our own little worlds.
The full essay is at "Taking God's Perspective: Disgust to Compassion."
