I believe in unconditional compassion… and that every living person is a unique and sacred soul to be honored and protected on the battleground of life.
To me, unconditional compassion is basically having respect for every single person as a human being and trying to have understanding for where they are coming from or ways in which they may be struggling. It also encompasses letting people be their own person guilt free. Indeed, I don’t expect, and I don’t want, everyone to think the way I do. We are all different people with unique life experiences… and I would expect our thoughts and beliefs to reflect that. I might call you out on some things… like logical fallacies or inconsistencies of thought (And would ask that you call me out that way too!). And I might not be able to share your values or worldview. And I may even argue against them. But I will never shut you out, reject you, nor diminish you (At least not intentionally!). I understand you are your own person and I want you to be. I want to learn from you. I want to be challenged by you. And I want to witness you. As you. In all your glory… and all your failures. You will figure yourself out. I will figure myself out. It’s not something we can do for each other.
This is similar to how I feel about whether or not other people are Christians: I absolutely don’t expect you to be a Christian if you have not had your own experience and conviction of Jesus like I have. Indeed, if you’ve never met Jesus, I would never expect you to follow him. Indeed, I don’t even know how you could follow him. And this goes even for people raised “in the church” … as an experience of Jesus does not equate to going to church or being exposed to Christian theology. An experience of Jesus is absolutely an experience and matter of the heart and not of upbringing or exposure. And in no matter do I have any condemnation or judgment for people who have not had the same experiences I’ve had. I just had a different experience, and that’s why I followed Jesus.
Anyhow, I would say that unconditional compassion is one of my core values. As I just really, really don’t believe in judging other people or treating them poorly nor standing by when they are treated poorly. I believe that every single person has intrinsic worth and value and I believe in treating and protecting people accordingly. And I very much care about being aware of the ways other people may be suffering. As such, I’ve made a study of various defining life experiences people undergo such as addiction, abuse, orphanhood, psychological disorders, divorce, etc. as well as studying being a child of divorce, addiction, etc. I feel like I emphasize a lot of positive things in life, but I have definitely delved into the experience of human suffering so that I can both hopefully better meet others in it and take suffering into account in any ways in which I try to approach or figure life out as a whole (Which is why I am a proponent of deep and true adventure as a way to address challenges of life, rather than merely advocating conventional adventure– which isn’t necessarily accessible to everyone nor necessarily addresses some of the deeper issues of life.).
Anyhow, I am committed to honoring people as human beings no matter who they are and what they think or what they’ve done. I believe my treatment of other people should reflect what I see as their intrinsic worth as a human being and not be contingent on “who they are” … except as intrinsically worthy human beings. This goes both for treating people with special treatment or treating them poorly… I’m not a proponent of either option.
I relish learning from other people and entering their spaces to understand them better. Indeed, part of why I’m sharing more of myself now is because I feel I have spent most of my adult life entering other people’s spaces to understand and appreciate them while neglecting my own space and never truly inviting anyone in to understand me. So now I am inviting people in.
Not to sound like a martyr though… as I’m actually more comfortable in other people’s spaces than inviting people into my own and I truly get a lot out of opening myself up to other people’s thoughts and lives. This is yet another reason I studied philosophy: I’m just so curious how other people think.
I also see trying to understand someone as an aspect of unconditional compassion, which I am a proponent of because I believe it is what Jesus modeled and I believe it is an avenue for true good in the world. So, I don’t believe in condemning others and taking it upon myself to punish them in some way. Instead, I feel convicted to treat everyone with compassion. Indeed, it is hard to feel so loved and forgiven and accepted and understood by Jesus, and to not feel I owe others the same.