Compassion is in style

It's becoming cool to do something nice for someone else. Just look around, said Mike Austin, a philosophy professor at Eastern, and witness all the many charitable organizations that dot the landscape, all dependent on peoples' compassion for others. "It's the hot virtue to have," Austin said. "You can think of it as the iPod of virtues."

Austin, a professor of philosophy at Eastern, presented "The Compassionate Person" to an audience of about 50 people in the Student Services Building Auditorium Thursday before spring break.

Speaking quickly, Austin explained what compassion is, quoting several philosophers and religious leaders on the subject. Compassion can be conducive to happiness, Austin said.

He compared the contemporary and classical views of happiness, saying that contemporary happiness is mostly fleeting, but classical happiness springs up from deep within a person.

Using the classical model of happiness, he set up a framework for compassion. This framework included a cognitive aspect, an emotional aspect and an active aspect.

"We may not attend to it everyday," Austin said, "but there's abundant suffering in the world, therefore abundant opportunity for compassion."

Austin cited that 2,400 people die from lack of food every day and 6,000 people die each day from AIDS. "We become desensitized when we see so much suffering," Austin said. "We can't take it in."

In order to be a compassionate person, there are barriers one must overcome, Austin said.

Some of these barriers include insensitivity, self-absorption, inattention and social barriers. Many people spend a lot of time and energy attempting to perfect their exterior appearance, but Austin suggested that their efforts could be better spent.

"We need to give more effort to our own moral self-improvement," Austin said.

Being a compassionate person has its benefits. Happiness, humility (and a better understanding of one's self), a better quality of relationships and a more just society are some of the benefits compassionate people may experience, Austin said.

During the question and answer session after his lecture, Austin explained the difference between compassion and sympathy. Compassion is sympathy that fosters action, Austin said.

He also noted a difference between doing a compassionate act and being a compassionate person, one difference being a person's motivations.

Austin, who decided to participate in the Chautauqua lecture series after receiving an e-mail forward about it, had never spoken on the subject of compassion before. It was also his first time lecturing in the series.

Four lectures remain for the Chautauqua lecture series this semester. The final three lectures will focus on the religious aspects of compassion and will include Buddhist, Islamic and Christian presenters.

Reach Maria at progress@eku.edu