COMPARATIVE APPROACHES TO COMPASSION : understanding nonviolence in world religions... and politics

Man is a fragile animal. This fragility is not only biological, due to the fact that human beings die, but also ontological, in relation to everyday existence of individuals as members of a fragile species. However, what makes the huge difference between a human being and animals is that the former is totally conscious about its fragility as a living being. Man is a fragile being who cannot, in any circumstances, step beyond his fragility. At the same time, every individual, as a fragile being, realizes, at every moment of its life, that it cannot not think about its own fragility without thinking about the fragility of others. Life, in all and for all, consists in learning that humanity is fragile. This means basically learning who we are: homo fragilis, and what we can do with this fragility. Undoubtedly this ontological dimension of fragility is the foundation of our relatedness to others which appears in the form of love. As Kierkegaard puts it, "No human being can place the ground of love in another person's heart; yet love is the ground, and we build up only from the ground up; therefore, we can build up only by presupposing love. Take love away-then there is no one who builds up and no one who is built up. " 1 If there is search for love in human beings, it is because fragility creates a need for interconnectedness. To search for love is to presuppose fragility in oneself. To give one's love to others is to presuppose that they are Introduction: Human Fragility and Compassion also fragile, but capable of nursing and healing our fragility. The ontological fragility of human beings is not a being-for-oneself quality, but a quality by which we give our love to others. As Thomas Merton affirms: Love is, in fact, an intensification of life, a completeness, a fullness, a wholeness of life. We do not live merely in order to vegetate through our days until we die. Nor do we live merely in order to take part in the routines of work and amusement that go on around us. We are not just machines that have to be cared for and driven carefully until they run down. In other words, life is not a straight horizontal line between two points, birth and death. . . . We do not become fully human until we give ourselves to each other in love. 2 What Merton is pointing out is that the center of gravity of homo fragilis is a philosophy of love. Man is uplifted by love because he needs to compensate his fragility with a search for spiritual fulfillment. Love can change our mind and our body, which are both determined by our fragility. Love, also, tames our savage ego, which considers the world as its own conquest. Truly, Man is a conqueror, because Man is weak and fragile. To conquer is a way for humankind to conceal its ontological fragility. But homo fragilis is a spiritual animal which creates meaning, and love is an expression of spirituality. "Love, " proclaims Kierkegaard, "is the source of everything and, in the spiritual sense, love is the deepest ground of the spiritual life. In every human being in whom there is love, the foundation, in the spiritual sense, is laid. And the building that, in the spiritual sense, is to be erected is again love, and it is love that builds up. " 3 Love is the development of the spiritual in life. Love is the source of happiness in human beings. But more important, it gives highest moral experience of our existence. That is why there can be no ethical understanding of a human community without any reference to the generating values of love and compassion. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama underscores, "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. " 19 In studying Man of compassion (miserator hominem) we shall have to say, each time, whether homo fragilis remains faithful to its noble moral promise or it forgets its original purpose as a "being toward love" and plunges back into serving its wellbeing and success. "There is solidarity of all men in error and aberration, " writes Albert Camus, "and if justice has any meaning in this world, it means nothing but the recognition of that solidarity; it cannot, by its very essence, divorce itself from compassion. " 20 If we agree to define humankind as an animal with values, then, we can say that the greatest humanist value in Man is compassion. However, it should be remembered, as Milton says, that Man prefers "to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. " 21 The fact is that Man can be mean and petty and shallow; a being who sadly overrates itself and tries to expose its ego at any price. But let us not forget that, despite its vice and wickedness, Man can be kind, tender, compassionate, and considerate. Consequently, compassion is a revolution of values in humankind, since Man, as Hegel argues, is a "sick animal. " The French radical philosopher, Louis Althusser points out: Hegel saw in man a sick animal who neither dies nor recovers (cet animal malade qui ne meurt ni ne guérit), but stubbornly insists on living on in a nature terrified of him (mais s' entête à vivre dans une nature effarée). The animal kingdom reabsorbs its monsters, the economy its crises: man alone is a triumphant error who makes his aberration the law of the world. 22 Ramin Jahanbegloo develops the concept of compassion as a practical and ethical response to the problems of today's world. Examining the power of compassion through the lens of multiple world religions, he explores ahimsa in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism and neighbourly love in Christianity, before synthesizing the two concepts in the Gandhian theory of non-violence and its impact on Muslim and Christian thinkers such as Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Martin Luther King, Jr. Jahanbegloo considers the idea of a compassionate civilization based on the nonviolent democratic theory put forward by Gandhi with Swaraj , and completed by Martin Luther King, Jr. with the Beloved Community. By scrutinizing compassion in various religious and ethical traditions and exploring the relevance of homo fragilis , Jahanbegloo's comparative approach enriches our understanding of nonviolence as a universal philosophy and practice for the 21st century. He shows that nonviolence is not only a mode of thinking and a way of life, but also a powerful strategy of social and political transformation. "Ramin Jahanbegloo develops the concept of compassion as a practical and ethical response to the problems of today's world. Examining the power of compassion through the lens of multiple world religions, he explores ahimsa in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism and neighbourly love in Christianity, before synthesizing the two concepts in the Gandhian theory of non-violence and its impact on Muslim and Christian thinkers such as Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Martin Luther King, Jr. Jahanbegloo considers the idea of a compassionate civilization based on the nonviolent democratic theory put forward by Gandhi with Swaraj, and completed by Luther King, Jr. with the Beloved Community. By scrutinizing compassion in various religious and ethical traditions, Jahanbegloo's comparative approach enriches our understanding of nonviolence as a universal philosophy and practice for the 21st century. He shows that nonviolence is not only a mode of thinking and a way of life, but also a powerful strategy of social and political transformation."-- Provided by publisher Cover Contents Introduction: Human Fragility and Compassion 1 Ahimsa in Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism: A Compassionate View of Life 2 Love and Compassion in Christianity: From Jesus Christ to Thomas Merton 3 Mahatma Gandhi: Compassionate Citizenship and Feminization of Politics 4 The Twin Heritage of Gandhian Nonviolence: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan 5 Toward a Compassionate Civilization: From Swaraj to The Beloved Community 6 Nelson Mandela: Common Humanity and Ethics of Empathy Conclusion: Spiritualizing Compassion and Nonviolence Notes Bibliography Index