Compassion also brings us into the territory of mystery — encouraging us not just to see beauty, but perhaps also to look for the face of God in the moment of suffering, in the face of a stranger, in the face of the vibrant religious other.

Tippett frames compassion as more than empathy or moral duty: it is a spiritual practice that opens a person to “mystery,” the dimension of life that resists tidy explanation. Compassion, in this sense, trains perception—moving us from merely noticing beauty to seeking sacred presence amid pain and difference. Her language (“face of God”) echoes religious traditions that locate the divine in the suffering neighbor, while her phrase “vibrant religious other” stresses pluralism: the encounter with people of different faiths can be a site of reverence rather than threat. The quote suggests that compassion enlarges the self by making suffering and otherness occasions for recognition, humility, and awe.