To understand the nature of compassion from a One Life perspective, we will discuss the notion of the abuser and the abused. The stories of the abused and their abusers have become prevalent in the media. It might seem as if it is easy to have compassion for the abused and difficult to have compassion for the abuser; however, a One Life perspective is compassionate without preference. A One Life view has compassion for all human suffering and imperfection and also recognizes the human experience within which exist the abuser, the abused, and all other polarities.
First, both the abused and the abuser exist in the midst of beliefs that power has to do with hierarchy and that having power is power over another person or thing. This is cultural, familial, and personal, meaning these beliefs arise from the culture, the family, and the individual. Experience in the world fixes these beliefs and makes them become reality for most people.
All people have felt abused or seen themselves as abusers — even in the tiniest of ways — or at least had some experience of power and powerlessness. On one side is the feeling of being powerless in which someone or something has some kind of power over you, putting you in the position of possibly being abused. On the other side is the feeling of power in which someone or something is subservient to you in some way, putting you in the position of possibly being abusive. The abuser and the abused maintain a line drawn between them, yet they usually share similar beliefs about power and lack of power, defining power in such a way as to allow for the abuse of power.