Hey all,

I just wanted to bring this up because sometimes when I hear people talk about 'compassion', they're talking about something very watered down compared to how it seems to me.

There seems to be this rather small idea of compassion where we should have concern for others because they are 'like' us - that is, that we are parts of a group or peers or something like that.

To me, compassion is something much more profound (and harder to realize). You are not 'like' your neighbor - you ARE your neighbor. You are not similar to him or her, you ARE him or her. A realization of this is how one has compassion for the whole world, including plants and inanimate objects.

All respect for Thich Nhat Hahn, but when he and other teachers describe 'interdependence' as though we are all parts of an interconnected web - that's really beside the point, IMHO. It's far too intellectual, far too watered down and removed from actual experience.

You ARE your neighbor. I think that until you realize that, your compassion will always come up short - based as it is on your own identity and relationship to the 'rest of the world' in what ever way you conceive that.