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The Charter for Compassion — from www.CharterForCompassion.org

  Video of scholar Karen Armstrong introducing the Charter for Compassion

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Talks on Compassion

These six speakers were chosen for many reasons. The five who are religious leaders are not just eloquent sermonists — each one is also known for his or her own compassionate leadership. And all six are known for their thoughtful efforts at explaining faith to the larger world.

Together, these six speakers bear witness to the fact that compassion and the Golden Rule lie at the heart of all religion and all morality.

One of the great blessings of the 20th century is the ability for different faith communities to learn more about one another in greater depth than ever before. We have discovered the profound unanimity that lies at the core of all religion and ethics, and will never be able to see either our own or other people’s faith in quite the same way again. Each tradition has its own particular genius, and we are now able to learn from one another, enriching thus our own quest for enlightenment. These six talks provide just such an opportunity, reminding us at this time of global tension, suspicion and conflict of what we hold in common. 

 

  1. Tenzin Robert Thurman: Expanding your circle of compassion

    It’s hard to always show compassion — even to the people we love, but Robert Thurman asks that we develop compassion for our enemies. He prescribes a seven-step meditation exercise to extend compassion beyond our inner circle.  (filmed at the Chautauqua Institution)

     

     

Robert Wright: The evolution of compassion

Robert Wright uses evolutionary biology and game theory to explain why we appreciate the Golden Rule ("Do unto others…"), why we sometimes ignore it and why there’s hope that, in the near future, we might all have the compassion to follow it.

Watch now »

 

 

 

 

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    Rev. James Forbes: Compassion at the dinner table

    Join Rev. James Forbes at the dinner table of his Southern childhood, where his mother and father taught him what compassion really means day to day — sharing with those who need love.  (filmed at the Chautauqua Institution )   18:38

    Watch now »

     

     

Rabbi Jackie Tabick: The balancing act of compassion

 

While we all agree that compassion is a great idea, Rabbi Tabick acknowledges there are challenges to its execution. She explains how a careful balance of compassion and justice allows us to do good deeds, and keep our sanity.  15:46

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Swami Dayananda Saraswati: The profound journey of compassion

Swami Dayananda Saraswati unravels the parallel paths of personal development and attaining true compassion. He walks us through each step of self-realization, from helpless infancy to the fearless act of caring for others. (filmed at the Chautauqua Institution)  17:15

Watch now >>

 

Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf: Lose your ego, find your compassion

Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf combines the teachings of the Qur’an, the stories of Rumi, and the examples of Muhammad and Jesus, to demonstrate that only one obstacle stands between each of us and absolute compassion — ourselves.  16:47

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T H E   C H A R T E R   F O R   C O M P A S S I O N

 

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.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Find out more about the Charter for Compassion by visiting the Charter web site. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Charter for Compassion — from www.CharterForCompassion.org

  

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.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Find out more about the Charter for Compassion by visiting the Charter web site. 

View videos about Charter for Compassion

A Declaration of Interdependence
from the web site of the David Suzuki Foundation

The Declaration of Interdependence expresses our values as an organization [The David Suzuki Foundation]. It was written for the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

 

This we know

We are the earth, through the plants and animals that nourish us.
We are the rains and the oceans that flow through our veins.
We are the breath of the forests of the land, and the plants of the sea.
We are human animals, related to all other life as descendants of the firstborn cell.
We share with these kin a common history, written in our genes.
We share a common present, filled with uncertainty.
And we share a common future, as yet untold.
We humans are but one of thirty million species weaving the thin layer of life enveloping the world.
The stability of communities of living things depends upon this diversity.
Linked in that web, we are interconnected — using, cleansing, sharing and replenishing the fundamental elements of life.
Our home, planet Earth, is finite; all life shares its resources and the energy from the sun, and therefore has limits to growth.
For the first time, we have touched those limits.
When we compromise the air, the water, the soil and the variety of life, we steal from the endless future to serve the fleeting present.

This we believe

Humans have become so numerous and our tools so powerful that we have driven fellow creatures to extinction, dammed the great rivers, torn down ancient forests, poisoned the earth, rain and wind, and ripped holes in the sky.
Our science has brought pain as well as joy; our comfort is paid for by the suffering of millions.
We are learning from our mistakes, we are mourning our vanished kin, and we now build a new politics of hope.
We respect and uphold the absolute need for clean air, water and soil.
We see that economic activities that benefit the few while shrinking the inheritance of many are wrong.
And since environmental degradation erodes biological capital forever, full ecological and social cost must enter all equations of development.
We are one brief generation in the long march of time; the future is not ours to erase.
So where knowledge is limited, we will remember all those who will walk after us, and err on the side of caution.

This we resolve

All this that we know and believe must now become the foundation of the way we live.
At this turning point in our relationship with Earth, we work for an evolution: from dominance to partnership; from fragmentation to connection; from insecurity, to interdependence.

SIGN THE DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE

at the David Suzuki Foundation web site.  Visit the David Suzuki Foundation web site.

 

A Declaration of Interdependence: a crowdsourced short film

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A rewriting of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, A DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE is a global-participatory film from the team behind CONNECTED. With music by Moby and directed by Tiffany Shlain, it is an exhilarating montage of user-generated videos and graphics, a global mash-up demonstrating the vast potential of creative collaboration in the 21st century. A DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE is the first film of a new short film series called Let it Ripple: Mobile Films for Global Change.

Source:  https://connectedthefilm.com/interdependence/

  

 

Eating As Political And Spiritual Action

By Maía — December 2011

Take an orange and  hold the globe of it in your two hands. Breath the deep fragrance.  

Do you know the eye-shaped leaves of  the  orange tree?  Shining dark green, bursting with life.  Break open the  flesh  of the orange. The flesh glistens, makes the mouth water.

Bite into  it.  

Close your  eyes:  you are eating the earth, the water,  the  air,  the light.

Maybe for some time you’ve been feeling a call to change your relationship to food …perhaps by joining a non-profit food coop, or by starting to shop more often at a natural food store or at your local farmer’s market, or even by growing some of your own vegetables and herbs.   

But can  we change our  relation to  food even more?

 

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