First, excellent words from the Koṭirudra-saṃhitā (24, 26.24) of the Shiva Purāṇa:
“It is the nature of superlative men that they cannot bear the suffering of others.
They consider others’ suffering as their own, and try to obliterate it.
...
A man full of compassion {dayālu},
A man unpuffed by pride,
A person who helps others {or, who does good to others} {upakārin}, and
A person with perfect control over his senses {jitendriya},
These are the four sacred pillars that support the Earth {mahī}”
It can also be said: these are the four pillars of holiness {puṇya}, upon which this Earth rests.
Second, From the Meditations (6.19, or 24, or 26, according to translation) of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius:
“If any one has used you upon {or, hurt you on} any occasion, consider immediately with what ideas of right and wrong he has probably acted thus.
For when you have discovered that, you will pity him, and neither wonder at his conduct nor resent it.
It may happen, indeed, that you yourself have the same opinion, or something similar, of what is right; and therefore you ought to pardon the delinquent.
{That is, the person who has injured you has the same conceptions of right & wrong as you do, in which case you pardon him; the idea being, evidently, that he has acted under some sort of distress, or duress, or inadvertently, his action does not spring from incorrect thinking or values.}
But suppose you differ in your sentiments; you ought at least to bear with patience and equanimity a man that offends you through ignorance and error {because he is misguided –i.e. we are exhorted to be gentle with one who is in error}.”
Do note the focus of the words of Aurelius: consider immediately with what ideas of right and wrong he has probably acted thus.
The first desired response, the first emphasis is on: Thinking.
Thinking carefully about the motives of the other person: of the way his consciousness operates; an examination into his heart; an investigation of the psychological laws of cause & effect.
Aurelius asks you to use your own intelligence, first.
Observation, analysis, thoughtfulness: these constitute the root of the Compassion or Forgiveness you are enjoined to show.
This is not a Commandment: this is an exhortation to use your own mind to understand reality first, and then act according to the conclusions of your own intellection.
Point is: when you think about it {such is his conclusion}, either way, you will find that to forgive & be gentle is the most logical response.
Third: This is from the fascinating Confucian text, The Great Learning {translated by James Legge}, a must read for any thinking person, a short, crisp text which compresses an enormous degree of wisdom into a very short format:
“What is meant by ‘The making the whole kingdom peaceful and happy depends on the government of his state,’ this:-
When the sovereign behaves to his aged, as the aged should be behaved to, the people become filial;
when the sovereign behaves to his elders, as the elders should be behaved to, the people learn brotherly submission;
when the sovereign treats compassionately the young and helpless, the people do the same.
Thus the ruler has a principle with which, as with a measuring square, he may regulate his conduct.
What a man dislikes in his superiors, let him not display in the treatment of his inferiors;
what he dislikes in inferiors, let him not display in the service of his superiors;
what he hates in those who are before him, let him not therewith precede those who are behind him;
what he hates in those who are behind him, let him not bestow on the left;
what he hates to receive on the left, let him not bestow on the right:-
this is what is called “The principle with which, as with a measuring square, to regulate one’s conduct.”’
This is very similar to the Golden Rule of do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
In a way, it is a more elucidative re-statement of the same principle.
Because, a man understands what he does not like in {and similarly, understands the behavior, respect & consideration he would like to receive from} those who are his subordinates, or his seniors, only from his own experience with them.
Do not do what you do not like others to do.
Do not do what you do not like seeing in others.
Give, what you would like to receive.
Act, as you would like seeing others act.
The Golden Rule has been articulated at several different locations in the Mahābhārata.
Fourth, & Finally, from The Nature of the Gods, by the Roman intellectual, Cicero {Section 59, 61; Book 2}:
“Any one, moreover, who fails to perceive that the very mind and intelligence of man, his reason, contrivance, and forethought, were the result of divine care, seems to me to be destitute of these qualities themselves.
And I should be glad... while discussing this subject, for your eloquence to be bestowed upon me, for what a description you would have given in the first place of the high degree of intelligence that there is in us, and in the second of what a power we have of connecting and including in one survey premisses and conclusions. Through this power
we are able to discern what the data in each case prove;
we draw the conclusion by a reasoning process, and
we define each conception and enclose it within strict limits.
The nature and significance of knowledge, than which even in God there is nothing more exalted, is thus understood.
...
Then again, has not human reason reached as far as to the sky?
Yes, for we alone of animate beings have learnt the risings and settings and courses of the stars; the day and month and year have been defined by man, and the nature, extent, and date of the eclipses of the sun and moon have been ascertained and foretold for all future time.
By contemplation of these things the mind arrives at a knowledge of the gods, from which knowledge springs piety; with piety justice and the other virtues are bound up, and from these a blessed life results, equal and similar to that of the gods, and yielding to that of the heavenly beings in nothing except immortality, which has no connection with right living.
{That is, as another translator interprets, immortality is not necessary for leading a happy life – the life extolled here is similar to that of the gods in virtue & blissfulness except the attribute of immortality.}
By setting forth these facts I think that I have sufficiently shown how far the nature of man surpasses that of all living creatures, and this should make it understood that neither his shape and the disposition of his limbs, nor such powers of ability and intelligence, could have been the result of chance.”The wisdom of the so-called “Pagan” world can be almost infinitely expanded in its infinite glory & infinite profundity.
The question arises: Why did it fade away, or diminish, or sink into the sands of time, when it has everything that men needed, to be happy, healthy, strong, confident, creative, and endowed with utmost political acumen & foresight?
Strictly speaking, a good chunk of Paganism is still alive: and even flourishing ... but it behoves every conscientious, careful thinking person to meticulously examine the true reasons why Egypt & Greece fell, why the Flamens & the Druids disappeared from the surface of the Earth, why the Persians were persecuted almost unto total extermination, why nobody really cares about Confucianism nowadays, and why Indian cultures suffered defeat, humiliation, massacre, plunder, and finally, self-hate-generating brainwashing & demoralizing mass misrepresentation, for so many centuries to a point where practically nobody understands anything that is written in our books.
What was lacking on this side, and what was the lure on the other?
Everything rests upon a coherent, dispassionate, objective, and verifiable answer to this question.
