ABSTRACT
As the competencies for developing a compassionate self are cultivated, the ability to extend compassion to others and to receive compassion from others is enhanced. Expanding upon this idea is the concept of the spheres of compassion, recognizing that compassion is a multitiered concept that can include the intention to relieve suffering in oneself, others, and at the macro level of communities, governments, and the environment. The tendency to focus strictly upon the individual runs the risk of assuming that individuals are responsible for controlling things that may truly be outside of their ability to direct. Likewise, our compassionate motivation and intention can flow between all of these spheres quite readily. Just as there may be collective grief for losses that are experienced by entire groups, there is also structural compassion that can be directed toward the macro, or sociopolitical levels.
