Feeling Others' Joy and Pain as One's Own
One who, measuring by oneself, feels others' joy and pain as one's own everywhere — that one is held to have reached the highest state.
In this verse I meet the oldest formula of empathy.
Before judging another's situation, do I first ask how it would feel if I were in their place?
📝Reflection
In this verse I meet the oldest formula of empathy. To measure another's joy and pain against my own — this is the place the old teacher calls the highest state. If I do not want to hurt, neither does another; if I want joy, so does another; so to weigh others by myself is the beginning of love. Here is the very seat of Confucius' reciprocity: do not do to others what you would not want. When I am about to judge someone, I first put on their shoes, asking, 'if I were in that place...'
🌱Apply It Today
The moment you are about to judge someone today, first picture, 'how would it be if I were in that situation?'
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
