How did compassion help people move toward freedom from the will in Schopenhauer’s ethics?

In the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, the world is driven by an insatiable, aimless "will to live" that causes universal suffering. While aesthetics—particularly music—can provide a temporary escape from this striving, true liberation requires the negation of the will.12

Compassion serves as a critical step toward this freedom by breaking through the "bounds of individuality" imposed by the ego. Schopenhauer argued that when an individual experiences genuine compassion, selflessness, and kindness, they begin to perceive the suffering of other beings as their own. By identifying with the pain of others, the individual transcends the narrow perspective of their own ego, which is the primary instrument of the will.2

This realization that the barrier between "self" and "other" is an illusion is essential for moving toward the final abnegation of the will to life, a state of detachment historically exemplified by the lives of saints and the practice of asceticism. Through compassion, one ceases to serve the restless desires of the individual will and instead moves toward a state of will-less peace.2