Contemplating compassion

I’ve been meditating on compassion lately, which has led to me trying to figure out what it means.

Does it mean wanting people to be happy? Having their material needs met?

Does it mean giving people what they want? Satisfying their urges?

Wanting freedom for others?

Wanting what they want for themselves? Or wanting what you want for them?

Does it mean wanting them to be great?

Do you wish they never fail? Or that they learn from their mistakes? Never suffer depression? Never suffer at all?

Maybe it’s a desire to fulfill Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from the bottom-up. If someone needs food, wish them food. If someone needs self-actualization, wish them self-actualization, in whatever form that means for them.

Or maybe it’s more about yourself. Is compassion wishing that you are a positive force in people’s lives, in whatever way you can be? Maybe it’s about building a habit of sacrifice, where you give up something you want to help someone else? Or maybe as simple as keeping others in your awareness, thinking of them more often?

If someone wants a piece of candy, despite its unhealthiness, does compassion urge you to give it to them or to keep it from them? Or can both acts be done in service of compassion, as long as you have the person’s best wishes in mind?