Goddess of Compassion

Many scholars of religion have postulated as to the nature of the Divine. Even within our Pagan community there are a wide range of opinions. While I find much to be admired in an academic approach to divinity it is the central concept of compassion that drives my relationship with the Goddess and the universe around me.

Once again this has been reinforced by personal experience. While traveling in a third world country it was clear that compassion is the most powerful force of magic that I know.

Each of us holds prejudices, opinions, and a framework of viewing the world that isolates us from aspects of the human experience. When these are tempered by compassion we begin to see the oneness of the human experience.

One cannot visit third world countries and not experience a wave of compassion. On a deeper level, the experience shreds any pre-conceived notions we have about poverty, race, culture and economic status.

Suddenly, my conception of my life style as middle class was torn away as I faced the reality of the abundance that I enjoy. Viewing real poverty, created compassion, which resulted in gratitude.

Walking around the slums of Nairobi, the only Caucasian in miles, the reality of the legacy of slavery and colonialism confronts my views of race. My belief that racism will soon be a relic of the past is confronted by the very real suffering still being endured as a result of the barbaric actions of my European ancestors. Compassion for those unable to let go this legacy fills me with insight, understanding and a sense of responsibility.

My very western belief that hard work, education and determination leads to success was confronted by the reality of a mother of four too weak from hunger to rise from the dirt floor where she huddles with her children. Cultural ideals that I hold strongly shattered by the reality I face. Compassion washed over me as I internalized a change in my worldview.

Speaking to a young mother, a member of Kenya’s emerging middle class, I realize that what she has accomplished is astounding. Also, I am struck by the fact that her middle class status means that she still has much less than those who live in government projects in the United States. No matter how hard this woman works she will likely never be able to achieve what even the most unfortunate in my country take for granted. Again I am filled with compassion for her situation and a new understanding of what economic status really means.

Over the course of my life it has always been this experience of compassion that has allowed me to grow, understand others and tear down the walls that separate me from humanity and divinity. It is through this, I believe feminine principle, of compassion that the Goddess guides me in this life.

Home now I gaze around me, abundance flows from every direction. All the “important issues” that I care about seem a little less urgent. Filled with compassion for others the Goddess is present in my thoughts, actions and beliefs.
Some have put forward that love is the greatest expression of the Divine.

I would argue that compassion is the greatest expression of the Goddess.

In Service to the Goddess,

Peter Dybing,