QUOTES
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.
"I say that
religion isn't about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It's
about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations
of holiness and sacredness."
"“Look into
your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then
refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain
on anybody else.”"
“If we don’t
manage to implement the Golden Rule globally, so that we treat
all peoples, wherever and whoever they may be, as though they
were as important as ourselves, I doubt that we’ll have a viable
world to hand on to the next generation.”
Compassion
doesn't mean feeling sorry for people. It doesn't mean pity. It
means putting yourself in the position of the other, learning
about the other. Learning what's motivating the other, learning
about their grievances.
If your understanding
of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you
to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this
was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind,
belligerent, cruel, of self-righteous, or if it led you to kill
in God's name, it was bad theology.
"..when
you feel compassion, you dethrone yourself from the center of
the world.
