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Official Event Partners of Charter for Compassion Now, more than ever, the time is right for the world to focus on compassion The
Charter for Compassion* is a cooperative effort to restore not only
compassionate thinking but compassionate action to the center of our
lives. Next
Local Gathering Agenda: Compassionate
Action Work Fest Bring
Ideas and Proposals *
* * Meeting
Notes The
second local gathering on the Charter for Compassion proclaimed 35,827
international affirmations of the Charter and 744 acts of compassion
having been posted thus far. The international statistics are revised
daily at http://charterforcompassion.org.
Sections
of the Charter were read aloud by various people. Compassionate
Thinking Lance
Brunner shared the Buddhist approach to compassion and to life in
general. He gave a brief overview of the Four Noble Truths and the
Eightfold Path to end suffering. Some practices that promote
compassion and wisdom were also explored as were resources for study
and practice. Mindful/Awareness Meditation is a key discipline that
involves both taming and training the mind to settle. Compassionate
Action A
natural flow of the group’s interest in Buddhism consumed most of
the allotted meeting time. With consent of the group, the second half
of the agenda for proposals of local compassionate action was tabled. Suggested
New Format A
consensus determined monthly meetings with alternating agendas:
compassionate thinking presentation and compassionate action work. Proposed
Meeting Schedule Meetings
to fall on the third Sunday of each month at Respectfully
submitted by: Contact:
FranciscanVision@aol.com
or 859.230.1986 Visit
www.FranciscanVision.org
for more information Click
the below link to read and affirm Karen Armstrong’s Charter for
Compassion (made available in four different languages: Arabic,
Hebrew, English and Spanish): http://charterforcompassion.org/share/ Why a Charter for Compassion?
The Golden Rule requires that we use empathy -- moral imagination -- to put
ourselves in others’ shoes. We should act toward them as we would
want them to act toward us. We should refuse, under any circumstance,
to carry out actions which would cause them harm. The Charter, crafted by people all over the world and drafted by a multi-fath,
maulti-national council of thinkers and leaders, is a cry for a return
to this central principle which is so often overlooked in our world.
It reminds the faithful that in the past leading sages of all the
major traditions insisted that the Golden Rule was the essence of
religion, that everything else was “commentary,” and that it
should be practised “all day and every day.” They insisted that
any interpretation of scripture that led to hatred or disdain was
illegitimate and that exegesis must issue in practical charity. Like the Charter of Human Rights, this Charter for Compassion is a yardstick
against which the laity as well as religious and secular leaders can
measure their behaviour; it can empower congregations to demand a more
compassionate teaching from pastors and preachers; it can mobilise
youth, who have seen at a formative age what happens when bigotry
becomes rife in a society; it can make interfaith understanding a
priority; inspire exegetes, scholars, educators and the media to
explore the role compassion has played in the traditions, and ensure
that it compassion is a focal point in the curricula of schools,
colleges and seminaries. The Charter seeks to change the conversation so that compassion becomes a
key word in public and private discourse, making it clear that any
ideology that breeds hatred or contempt ~ be it religious or secular ~
has failed the test of our time. We need everybody to participate ~ atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians,
Jews, Muslims ~ everybody! Our polarized world needs to see compassion
practically implicated ~ politically, socially and economically ~ and
show that in our divided world, which so often stresses difference,
compassion is something on which we can all agree. About Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the
role of religion in the modern world. Armstrong is a former Roman
Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern
literature at Oxford. She has written more than 20 books around
the ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and
around their effect on world events, including the magisterial A
History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on
Today’s World. Her latest book is The
Case for God. Her meditations on personal faith and
religion (she calls herself a freelance monotheist) spark discussion
— especially her take on fundamentalism, which she sees in a
historical context, as an outgrowth of modern culture. In February 2008, Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and wished for help in
creating, launching and propagating the Charter for Compassion. A project of the TED
Prize
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It is an annual conference
which brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and
doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18
minutes). TED.com
makes the best talks and performances, the ideas worth spreading, from
TED available to the public, for free. The TED Prize is
designed to leverage the TED Community’s exceptional array of talent
and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals
who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of
“One Wish to Change the World.” Made possible by the Fetzer
Institute
A private operating foundation based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Fetzer
Institute engages with people and projects around the world to
help bring the power of love, forgiveness and compassion to the center
individual and community life. The Institute’s work rests on a deep
conviction that each of us has power to transform the world by
strengthening the connection between the inner life of mind and spirit
with the outer life of service and action. While the Fetzer Institute
is not a religious organization, it honors and learns from a variety
of spiritual traditions.
Contact Franciscan Peace Center 859.230.1986 FranciscanVision@aol.com www.FranciscanVision.org CONTACT
INFORMATION
859-230-1986 |
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