It's pretty easy to have compassion for victims, and for the helpless, and for those who have fallen on hard times. But what about those who victimize others? Or what about those who have only themselves to blame for their predicament? These people don't generally get as much sympathy as the good or the innocent who have been blindsided by fate, and oftentimes, they are actually the recipients of disdain and condemnation.
But then we remember that those people are just experiences of the same single consciousness than any of us are. So, what do we do about compassion for the drug addict, the child molester, or the most horrible of human beings, the politician?
This is a strategy that I recommend: Instead of looking for some reason to have empathy or sympathy for such people, which would be almost impossible in some cases (the smug, unrepentant rapist, for example), try asking yourself, "What would have to happen, in my past, in my life today, and in my own mind, to make ME like that person?" This is a pretty creative exercise in self-discovery, because you're going to have to consider many questions and circumstances that maybe you've never thought about before. "What kind of damage would I have to receive to ever consider killing another person?"
What this line of thought does is allow you think of the "bad person" as a person, because you think of yourself as a person. It allows the mind to move past the idea mistaken for a thing, the label you place on the person (jerk, Nazi, low life, murderer, etc.) and see them as you see yourself. Now, you might have to put together a HUGE laundry list of awful circumstances to get yourself into that person's shoes, but in doing so, it becomes easier to see that there must be more to that person than his/her actions at the moment, or even over the course of a lifetime. It also ensures that you see that they must be suffering in many ways, to have come to such a place in their lives where horrible actions are what they feel they must commit to deal with their circumstances.
Jim
I think how you treat the "least of these," our brethren, demonstrates who you are as a human being. Having compassion for people who hurt others recognizes their humanity and grieves the loss of potential. For example, if the "Arizona Shooter" had been given therapy and appropriate medication for his schitzophrenia, the killing of innocents would not have occured.
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