The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect. read more...
With these words the Charter for Compassion was launched yesterday as a vehicle to promote peace, understanding, compassion, and justice in our world. Amongst the early "affirmers" of the Charter are His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Karen Armstrong, Queen Noor of Jordan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Sister Joan Chittister.
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This initiative could not come at a better time for me. After attending our Remembrance Day service on Wednesday I was overwhelmed by the awareness that, as we gather each year, we bear witness to our collective failure to create and sustain a just peace in this world.
I invite you to visit the Charter for Compassion website, affirm the Charter and learn more about how we can restore compassionate thinking and compassionate action to the center of our lives.
With compassion... Rob; in Vancouver
“The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”
Thomas Merton
1 comment:
This is Beautiful! I love the acknowledgment that Religion has not been the epitome of compassion. And in fact it still is not. I learned compassion at home and in the church, but while watching "Wife Swap" one night I saw first hand that people are being taught to judge others. They belittle people for their decisions about religion and spirituality. They try to save them from their decision to reject Jesus and therefore to go to Hell. Jesus doesn't send people there, we send ourselves by denying the Lord.
There was much more in this episode that really upset me, but hopefully the negative one-mindedness will be identified and can be changed.
We are not perfect, but to try and always be better, compassionate people is beautiful. Thank-you for bringing awareness to this compassion movement.
Love Robyn
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