COMPASSION IS THE BASIS OF ALL MORALITY
“There is no need to define morality, let man be simply compassionate.” This sentence expresses the basic essence of morality. For when we think about it, is not that truly human feeling of compassion the basis of all morality?
Morality rests for its very meaning on the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ where good refers to all thoughts and deeds that do not involve an attempt to inflict suffering on others. Thus, morality is based on man’s ability to understand, to be able to sympathise, feel kindness and sorrow for and identify himself with the sufferings of his fellow-men. So, only compassion can give rise to moral thoughts and feelings. Depriving a person of what belongs to him, taunting or insulting others through words or actions for the purpose of self-gratification, indulging in violence or killing, contradict morality as well as the inner feeling of kindness and compassion. When we talk about social morality, what comes into play is our ability to feel for the well-being of our society. A certain moral code of conduct is ultimately necessary to ensure that the society does not fall prey to degeneration of values which would lead to rampant sufferings and ultimately chaos in the society. That moral code of conduct cannot come into existence unless and until there is a relationship of compassion and sympathy among the members of a society. This relationship would furnish the foundation on which to build the edifice of morality. There is the need to realise that man must continue to feel compassion for the sake of himself as well as the society. But like any other human trait, compassion ought to be continually exercised if it is to remain a dominant force, serving as true basis for morality. Unfortunately, in modern society, we witness a complete lack of kindness and sympathy. What remains is material values that look only towards immediate personal gains. But it need not be so if only we would realise that compassion is the underlying principle of all morality. Without compassion human society cannot prosper in the real sense.
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