Being Empathetic to others - What religions and science has to say...

Why should we help others? Is it mandatory that we need to help the needy? Well, the answer is, even if you don’t do this, nobody will kill you. But think deeply. I am presenting here my thought in this topic. There are a bunch of religions all over the world. When considering all these religions in a broader perspective, as all speakers around the world and religious leaders say all these leads to the same point – The eternal truth. Being religious is not bad. However, being religious to that point which blurs our vision from having a clear picture of what happens around us is dangerous. In my opinion, there will be no scripture in this world, which does not mention about being empathetic to our fellow beings.



In bible, Jesus Christ urges everyone to love every other person the same way you love yourself. We all love our self the most dearly. We will eat the food we like the most, buy clothes we like, and will live our life the way we like – mostly, in the most beautiful way. We all will try to make our life as smooth and happy as possible. Why cant we do this to others as well? Why cant we help the needy, feed those who are hungry? What will we do if God himself comes to us and ask us to give him some food and clothe? Wont we provide him with what he want? I am sure that we all will try our level best to make him happy.


I know my above paragraph is a cliché one – All might have read this or heard this from various speakers who come across our life.



But when I thought about various incidents that mentioned in bible, one incident caught my attention – God created Man in his own resemblance. Now the question is why it is mentioned like that in the bible? Does God really have a shape like ours? Is God really a He or a She? From a religious perspective, God is a He if we consider Christianity or Islam and God can be He or She if we consider Hinduism. Now the question comes again, why did it mentioned like that in bible? Now try to combine the two statements from bible – “Love every other person the same way you love yourself” and “God created Man in his own resemblance”. Doesn’t it mean that God is urging us to find God in our fellow beings? This gives other statements from bible a perfect sense –“ If you do anything to them (poor people), you are doing it to me”, “If you cant love your brother who is with you and visible to you, then how can you love God, whom you cannot see?”



In Hindu mythology also, there are two statements – “Aham Brahmasmi” and Tathwamasi” which means that “God is in you” when you are trying to find him elsewhere. Doesn’t this also agree with the point that we should find God in ourselves and our fellow beings and love and help others like we love our self?



Here we can find that various religions – even though has different mode of worshipping and all – aims at the well being of the entire humanity.



Now take the case of Science. What does science has to say in this? The most widely accepted theory about the origin of universe is “The Big Bang Theory”. According to that, this universe is formed as a result of a big bang. So before Big Bang, what might have been the state? Some scientists say a chain of Big Bangs have happened and some say a very dense form of energy was there. Most of the scientists agrees with the intervention of a force – something external, to trigger these. And they have given that force or that source of energy a name – God. So we can say, according to science, God is a source of energy which fills the entire universe and anything beyond that also, if there is any. String theory is the most modern theory which explains the universe and its origin. As you all know, every matter is made up of molecules, which in turn by atoms, which consists of electrons and protons. If we go further inside, we can find particles called quarks. According to String theory, if we go deeper level into the quarks, we can find strings of energy vibrating in certain frequencies inside it. That means we can see God (energy, according to science), deep inside us. When I discussed this with one of my friends, he told me the beauty is that the further understand science, the greater we understand God. We can find his signature in each and everything around us. That means God is in us and in our fellow beings.



This is the real beauty where we can see religion and science agrees upon the concept of God being inside us. So treating our fellow beings with compassion is the great thing that we can do. A smile, a consolation, a helping hand to the needy will make small changes. And don’t forget the saying – “Little things make perfection. But perfection is not a little thing”.