Quote Originally Posted by fikusroot
If we had no souls, we would have no need to show anyone compassion
Why would having a soul produce the need to show compassion to others anyway? I don't believe in souls, and I don't think the impulse towards compassion has to come from anything external, like some God telling us what to do or what's right. It's just that our happiness is not self-contained, it is more of a communal thing that spreads by way of giving rather than taking. We don't have to see people as being in a state of competition with each other, because a state of collaboration and sharing is more advantageous to everyone, in this life here on earth, regardless of any afterlife you might believe in.

We ARE "just surviving," but it so happens that our survival as individuals is dependent on others, and really everything else in the universe, because we are not separate. Compassion does not have to jeopardize our survival, but rather helps our life to flourish.

It might be easy to think people are innately evil, depending on what your experience in life has been. But once you pay attention to your experience of different types of people, you realize that selfish and "evil" behavior is just a misguided expression of good impulses that have gotten confused. Secretly, everyone just wants what is good, except they may not have realized what is truly good yet. Which is to see how much we're all suffering, and to care for that suffering and admit how we are all the same, which can lead to an open and beneficial situation for everyone.