“When our fear meets someone’s distress the result is pity. When our love meets someone’s distress the result is compassion.”
– Stephen Levine
Fear and pity are separation. Love and compassion are connection.
Compassion, possibly the greatest human strength, occurs when our love is non-directed. When we realize that we are all similar human beings, that we need love equally and that we deserve it equally, we understand that any discrimination between us has no logical basis. The result of this, the dissolving of the imagined separation between us, removes tension and creates inner peace. This is not different from compassion.