Wars, disasters, diseases… the plight of others moves us, moves us deeply. Is the compassion we feel related to an awareness of our own vulnerability?
I have a blood phobia. I can’t watch those TV shows about surgical teams. But be careful, I faint at the sight of other people’s blood, but not my own. Even when I gave blood, it was the pockets of other donors that impressed me. I have often wondered why. The reason lies in the deception of perception. I can know the extent of my pain, but I can’t feel someone else’s pain, so I exaggerate it. But what I feel exaggerating someone else’s pain in my image is no different than minimizing it. It is the way to deny it. A way to protect yourself from the violence of compassion, which can be overwhelming. We all live in this moment. images of war affecting people who lived like us yesterday make us shudder. And we see that it is impossible to remain indifferent, like the wise man of whom Lucretius speaks; he who, because…
Source: Le Figaro
