Compassion can be synonymous with empathy. It can be joined with the harder work of forgiveness and reconciliation, but it can also express itself in the simple act of presence. It's linked to practical virtueslike generosity and hospitality and just being there,just showing up. I think that compassion also is often linked to beauty -- and by that I mean a willingness to see beauty in the other, not just what it is about themthat might need helping. I love it that my Muslim conversation partners often speak of beauty as a core moral value. And in that light, for the religious,compassion also brings us into the territory of mystery -- encouraging us to see, not just beauty, but perhaps also to look for the face of God in the moment of suffering, in the face of a stranger, in the face of the vibrant religious other.
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