Is Compassion Learned or Inherited?

Compassion is when we sympathize with another’s suffering and even share in it. Empathy means relocating into another person and feeling their experiences as our own.

We rarely cultivate these qualities, yet from the age of thirteen or fourteen, people are already capable of deeply sensing another’s pain. If we educated them properly, the world would change completely.

Compassion can indeed be developed. A person can learn to perceive another’s suffering to the point of sharing it, partially taking it upon themselves, and thereby neutralizing it. This does not lead to burnout because the suffering is divided into many smaller parts, spread across those who participate, and this naturally brings relief. If humanity was to share compassion equally, the world would reach balance, a state that could be called “bliss.”

We face serious challenges ahead. The egoistic desire within us continues to grow, becoming less and less satisfied with what used to fulfill it, and as the force of altruism and interconnectedness dwelling in nature reveals itself more strongly against our egoism, the pressures on us will only intensify. If we cannot unite, share the burden, and spread compassion among ourselves, we will be unable to endure what is coming. Unity, positive connection, thoughts, and relationships is the foundation of a future of harmony, peace, and happiness.

However, it is not just compassion but the sharing of suffering itself. There is an enormous desire and an enormous light that can fill it, yet without the intention to receive “not for oneself,” the light cannot enter. Fulfillment becomes possible only when it is for the sake of others. We can achieve balance when we learn how to share this great contradiction—between absolute emptiness and absolute fulfillment—among all people. When we do, the contradiction disappears. This is the unique property of unity.

At that point, pain and pleasure merge. The inner cry turns into satiation, into something higher. Pain itself transforms into pleasure because the two are balanced. The greatest pain, when reconciled, becomes the greatest pleasure. This is the elevated purpose of suffering: to be transformed into joy through unity.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 15, 2025. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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