Empathy or compassion is akin to acceptance—the acceptance, understanding, and response of a person to the distress, need, or stalemate of another being. A stalemate in chess is a kind of deadlock in which the opponent is not checkmated but has no legal moves to either concede defeat or claim victory. It simultaneously conveys the negation of both victory and defeat. It intertwines the struggle—pain—of defeat with the pleasure of victory. It turns suffering into a strange form of pleasure, becoming a part of the human experience, like a poisoned chalice whose holder is unknown.

This experience of being trapped in a deadlock requires empathy more than anything else.