“The grace of Compassion so often gets confused with pity. Compassion is not pity. 

The grace of Compassion expands the walls of the heart. 

Suddenly you are capable of understanding and responding to the suffering of others without harsh judgment, even when their behavior negatively impacts your life. 

When a reporter asked the Dalai Lama about his response to the Chinese soldiers who slaughtered hundreds of Tibetan monks, he said, “I feel compassion for them.” 

The reporter was not just stunned by that response; he was disappointed. He wanted to hear the Dalai Lama speak words of vengeance and anger. He wanted an ordinary human response. 

But the grace of Compassion is not ordinary. It is a mystical force that defies ordinary choices and elevates us to the potential within ourselves to defeat our own dark judgments, which so easily arise in the face of what we disdain in the world.

 Yet we forget how easily the tables can turn. One day we may find ourselves hoping and praying that someone will look upon us with this powerful grace.”

Excerpt From

Intimate Conversations with the Divine

Caroline Myss