This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing Assistant director Timothy Harrison speak on behalf of Emory University's Emory-Tibet partnership. I also spoke with assistant director Carol Beck regarding Emory-Tibet partnership's thoughts on if compassion and empathy were the same or similar.
She explained that while they are similar they are not the same (like the sizes of two boobs on the same person - -looks like the sizes are the same but we know they're not -mind you she didn't say that. It was my own clever comparison).
With compassion it is not only that you feel pain or sadness for someone else but in addition you want to take action and actively relieve their suffering. While you can't go and personally dig someone out of the Nepal earthquake rubble, you can donate funds and do your best for the situation if the reality presents itself.
While empathy is feeling for a person's suffering and are sorry.
Which would you want? compassion or empathy?
Now that I am more aware of the difference I would have to go with compassion. Sometimes you can feel bad for someone in the hospital or a family that lost their home in a disaster, but that is not doing actively anything for anyone. Did you go visit them? Talk to them? Help them?
Definitely something to think about.
Recently there were multiple tornados in OKC (shocking) and a family lost almost everything. My friends, Katie Camp and Erica Fernandez, didn't just have empathy but they showed compassion by creating a tornado relief fund to actively help this family.
Next time if you're wondering if you've done enough by showing empathy ask yourself which you would want.
Even as modern scientific research demonstrates the wide-ranging benefits attributable to qualities such as mindfulness, love, forgiveness, and compassion, the Tibetan science of mind offers time-tested techniques for effectively developing and strengthening these attributes. By creating bridges between these two bodies of knowledge, the Emory-Tibet Partnership facilitates an education of both heart and mind. 
- Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Director
If you want to learn more about the Emory-Tibet partnership go HERE.
If you would like to be an awesome human and donate monetary funds to the family caught in the path of a tornado you can do so HERE.
This is amazing! Yes, the difference between these two is small but so important...in nursing, we always learn about how to find the balance and feel a certain amount of empathy, but not so much that it inhibits our ability to act on our compassion and relieve someone's suffering. Lovely posts =)
ReplyDeleteFatima, you're so right. I have so many friends who are nurses and I bet they can all relate to your comment. It can be tricky in your field I imagine! Thanks for sharing :)
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