Charter for Compassion: About to Reach 100,000 signatures

 



On the Brink of Reaching 100,000 signaturesWant to add your signature? Well, here's your opportunity: Click Here.
Also, there's Facebook page for the "Charter for Compassion" as well!

Yes, a Charter for Compassion or even Karen Armstrong's recently released book "Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life sound very insipid. Is that our gut reaction though to a world where we often suffer the malaise of compassion overload? We are told in insistent voices often about the importance of being compassionate, without fully understanding the implications of the rigor of having true compassionate for someone else than your own self. I personally never really understood the term till I stopped letting my Christian faith become too insular/too dependent upon my own salvation. The end result was that I not conventionally Christian, neither am I particularly religious either. The honest face of my doubts has no strict religious countenance. Why should anything not bound to facts become something unimaginative and legalistic?

     Anyways, I was overjoyed to hear recently that the Charter is nearing 100,000 signatures. I highly recommend that all my blog readers check out the site. Believe me, these things are totally easy to ignore, and pass off as trite. Except, I don't necessarily find Karen Armstrong's analytical studies about compassion to be trite by any means. In July, I will be featuring books that I think have the subtle power to enhance our ability to empathize deeply with others. No, these are the preachy, didactic books/media that produce the internal disgust we show towards any superficial representation as something as deeply impacting as true compassion. No, these are books that have the power to edify, but also the primary goal is to make us emotionally invest ourselves in the fate of characters that are strangers from the beginning. Reading high-quality literature or watching well-produced films can sharpen our empathetic senses.

    Again, throughout July, I'll be trying to recast the face of compassion in a far more sophisticated light. Hopefully, everyone's ingrained belief that compassion is something unsophisticated and is the "party pooper" element. Believe me, Compassion is much more than  feeling pity/ooshy-gooshy feelings for someone. Those things are not exactly compassion. Compassion requires more vigor.

    If you haven't seen this brilliant video where Karen Armstrong speaks about her proposed "Charter for Compassion," project, I highly recommend it. Sometime in July, I will be doing a thorough review of her book that accompanies her project, "Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life."


Also, I've written about Karen Armstrong's remarkably thought-provoking memoir,Spiral Staricase,  before. If you feel disillusioned with religion that is doctrinal/belief obsessed, I highly recommend this. It is perfect for the doubters that feel left out, and without a secure category.