Can Humanity Be Reborn Through Compassion?

[OneGrassRoot]

(Here is link to original blog post; since I'm the author, I'm posting here in its entirety. Have a good day, everyone. :) )





As someone who has never followed a religious path, I struggle with how to outwardly honor Christ and Christianity, or any religion, without seeming to be a hypocrite or offending The Faithful.

I embrace Christianity in the sense that I greatly admire and try to follow the teachings of Christ as I know them. I also embrace Buddhism in the sense that I greatly admire and try to follow the teachings of Buddha, as I know them. The same with other spiritual paths and leaders throughout time.

I respect others who follow a deeply devout path, a path which follows and is genuinely steeped in the teachings of those who seem to embody All That Is Good and Divine. We are human, we won't always succeed in following such teachings, but a genuine desire and attempt to put such teachings into practice is something I respect wholeheartedly.

One of Easter's most powerful and uplifting messages, for Christians and non-Christians alike, is "rebirth" and "renewal."

While the idea of rebirth and renewal is positive and inspiring, many religious and spiritual paths also seek to transcend this human experience and "rise above." Something has always bothered me about that, and it wasn't until this morning that I identified it clearly.

Why do we want to transcend being human?

Are we afraid to be human, to truly immerse ourselves in this human experience?

I fervently believe fear is the guiding force behind many of our decisions and actions; we're often influenced or controlled by others based on our fears.

I wonder if one of our most primal, core fears is that we are afraid of being human?

Why can't tap into the good within us – it is there – and join together to heal the ills of the world and create something divine and uplifting right here, right now?

Why can't we at least try?

When I think of Christ and other great teachers, I think of Compassion, Honesty, Integrity, Reverence, Community, Cooperation, and so much more.

Compassion is not the same as sympathy or empathy, or even altruism, although these traits and others are part of being compassionate. The compassionate person feels the suffering of another and takes action -- makes positive steps -- to alleviate that suffering, done with respect, integrity, cooperation.

To me, that is The Golden Rule.

I humbly suggest we start with showing compassion for ourselves. Compassion about our fears and doubts and feelings of failure or being unworthy of….well, you fill in the blank.

To do this, I also believe fervently that we must be brutally honest with ourselves. We don't have to be honest with the rest of the world as far as revealing our inner truths, but we need to be honest with ourselves. We must strip away all the layers and barriers we've constructed to protect ourselves from pain and disappointment.

To protect ourselves from this human experience.

What if instead we embrace this human experience, acknowledging the pain and suffering and heartache, even if we believe – or have faith – that there is more to us beyond this physical being, and more to come beyond this physical life?

What if we release the fear or sense of shame of Being Human, and allow our hearts to open to one another and start creating a human experience we CAN fully embrace and delight in? One steeped in Love, Respect, Compassion, and genuine Cooperation, rather than competition and greed (fear, masked) that we've come to identify as human nature.

The one truth I believe we can all agree on is this: We are human. We are here on Earth now. Some of us may believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience, but isn't that the point: We are here to have that human experience?

Let's recreate it be much more loving and joyful, full of more grace and ease, less suffering. Not run from it or try so desperately to transcend it, but dive in to unite and raise the human experience … together.

I sometimes wonder why I am so called to create genuine Community and Unity, which is the foundation of Wishadoo!, because I make no secret of the fact that people can really, really bug me. And, I really, really bug myself when I am not able to be the best person I can be.

But it always comes back to my truth which is that I LOVE HUMANITY. I have tremendous faith in Humanity. This faith is the heart of who I am and all I do.

And, because I have a profound love for Humanity, I believe – I know with every fiber of my being -- we can do so much better and elevate this human experience by joining together, by tapping into the better angels of our nature, and by opening our hearts.

By not being afraid to BE human.

I invite anyone with whom this resonates to choose to be reborn right here, right now, as a human being with an open heart, choosing Compassion and Cooperation -- Love -- not fear.

Your choice to do so can be the start of a rebirth of Humanity.

I have faith in you…in us.

[Kind of Blue]

1. Well done! And the graphic is gorgeous.

KnR, OGR. Thanks :)

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Thanks, KoB...

Compassion just ain't sexy or angry or indignant.

Can't make it angry or indignant, but maybe we can make it sexy?

:shrug:

;)

[patrice]

3. Thank you for this witness! I would add only the word: Empathy.

To me that does not mean that you adopt someone else's experience/thoughts/feelings, but like all authentic understanding, their true experiences/thoughts/feelings exist in dialectic with one's own.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. I agree...

:hug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion."


The Dalai Lama

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Indeed...

:hi:

[BuddhaGirl]

5. +1000

Beautiful, thank you for posting!! :-)

[OneGrassRoot]

9. Thank you, BuddhaGirl...

:hug:

[BanzaiBonnie]

6. This is directly from the NVC booklet

that I just finished reading. It is sooooooo very appropriate to this topic. We need to have enough life energy to do what needs to be done. So one must first take care of oneself, then one can go out and give, in celebration of life, from one's abundance.


This is from "The Heart of Social Change - How You Can Make a Difference in Your World." transcript of a workshop given by Marshall B. Rosenberg

Conclusion

So, we've been presenting the fourth dimension of social change,
what I call self-development, and we might start there-as the
Buddha and others have suggested. The gist of it is that, before we
tackle the gangs and the basic story, we have to make sure that we
have liberated ourselves from what we have been educated in and
make sure that we're coming from a spirituality of our own
choosing. I would agree with that as a very important step, to
liberate ourselves, and to do that I would make sure that I get
into transformative spirituality, not translative spirituality. I've
seen some who hear the Buddha's words and interpret them in a
way that leads to translative spirituality, where you're just nice,
calm, neat, meditating people even though the world continues as
it is, and you hope that your good energy will spread. I think that
kind of spirituality perpetuates the problem. So, I do think we need
to start with our own self, our own spirituality, but I hope we
know the difference between translative spirituality and
transformative spirituality. This is basically what Nonviolent
Communication is about. If you want to serve life you want to
create life-enriching systems. So we need to really be conscious
moment by moment. We need to be as smart as bees and dogs-
connected to life.

Given the enormity of the social change that confronts us-
change that we would all like to see - the thing that I predict
will give us the most hope and strength to make change happen
is if we make sure that we learn how to celebrate. Let's build
celebration into our lives and come from that. That's first.
Otherwise we're going to get overwhelmed by the immensity.
Out of a spirit of celebration I think we'll have the energy to do
whatever it takes to bring about social change.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. Thanks for sharing, BanzaiBonnie...

Good stuff.

:thumbsup:

:hug: