282 Global Ethics for Leadership
and to further the natural self-help, the inner and outer activity, which
only then brings blessing!
Through the fatal consequences of pity, the harmony of the mutual
relationship between human beings has already been severely disrupted
for a long time, because the giver as well as the taker act wrongly in this
matter and seek only after earthly gain.
Compassion, however, swings in the Law of Balance, and can there-
fore only release joy and gratitude. Compassion releases joy to the giver
and gratitude from the taker. Joy and gratitude are not virtues but are
compensating value that must be in the right proportion to what has been
received. Hence our gratitude towards our fellow men is limited and it is
wrong to speak of a duty to be grateful, and to expect far more than the
gift is worth. Gratitude should be unlimited only towards God, because
for all that man receives from Him there is nothing he can do except
give thanks.
The path of virtue has become a lonely one. In this present time, we
are making vices out of every virtue, and changing all good qualities to
the contrary—thus courage to cowardice, compassion to pity, truthful-
ness to falsehood, grace to vanity, humility to arrogance, wisdom to
sham knowledge, and faithfulness to unfaithfulness.
It will therefore be a difficult and hard struggle to restore a new clear
and pure concept human image in the likeness of the image of God. This
image cannot be moulded without the virtues, because it is through the
cultivation and harnessing of virtues that we become true human beings.
22.6 Fruits of Choosing and Practising Compassion
Fruits of Practising Compassion include friendship, understanding,
peace, trust, inner happiness, vitality, care, happiness for others, etc.
Scientific studies discovered that there are physical benefits to practicing
compassion—people who practice it produce 100 percent more DHEA,