Karen Armstrong on Bill Moyers
Tomorrow night at 9pm EST tune into the Bill Moyers Journal for an interview with Karen Armstrong on the Charter for Compassion.
From the show…
My work has continually brought me back to the notion of compassion. Whichever religious tradition I study, I find at the heart of it is the idea of feeling with the other, experiencing with the other, compassion. And every single one of the major world religions has developed its own version of the Golden Rule. Don’t do to others what you would not like them to do to you.
…We’ve got to do better than this. 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.
Find your local PBS station by clicking here.
UPDATE: Click here to watch the show online.
2 most civilizing concepts. 1st: = eye for an eye. Establishes responsibility for our actions.
Basis for compensatory laws. predates the bible, where most people find it. 2nd: the golden rule by Confucius – adopted word for word by Hillel around 100 BC. Never a proactive concept. An acceptance of a neutral theoretical space whereby diverse groups are permitted their ethical, religious ideas, practice; Unfettered, unless those activities encroach upon their neighbors in adverse, harmful ways. This precious open space is what I call civic compassion. It is entirely in our self-interest to maintain, protect it. Without it we cannot function as a civilization. Without it I could never safely ride a bus downtown. It is the glue for a multi-cultural mobile world.
This program was marvelously done. It was informing, intellectural, inspiring, hopeful and challanging to all who listened with a purpose to make the world a better place to live for all of creation.
I am coming to the understanding of compassion and understanding and I am calling this “being present” with another being. Being present with another has 3 personal components which naturally lead me to being present with someone. First, I do my personal work by being truthful with myself. Bold self honesty regarding my thoughts and actions upon those thoughts, asking myself if I am making up a story or if I can know if my thoughts are true, leads naturally to the second step, personal integrity. I am in integrity with myself after questioning the authority of my thoughts. Third is accountability, I hold myself personally accountable if I am out of integrity and I work to get back into integrity with myself. All of this leads me to be able to be present with another, not have an agenda to fix someone or judge them. When I find I am not present I go to step one and find out what took my out of compassion. Then I am again present and getting there is my gift to me so that I may be a gift to others.