Picture a person (living or passed on) who has embodied compassion and let it flow through every interaction they have with others. Picture great teachers of compassion. Who comes to your mind?

For me it’s the Dalai Lama, Thích Nhất Hạnh, and Jane Goodall, all great teachers who dedicated their lives to practicing their spiritual disciplines so that they could cultivate compassion. Their entire lives. Practicing (because no human is ever perfect).

Cultivating Compassion (our October worship and programming theme) requires disciplined soul work and modified behavior patterns. It may be one of our most difficult monthly themes in terms of how we shift our ways of thinking, of being with each other, and interacting with people outside of our church walls. Because of the deep work required, cultivating compassion will take longer than just the month of October. It will take lifetimes. So, centered in Love, let us begin again.

What is compassion? Let us start here:

Quote – Rabbi Esther Adler:

There is a hierarchy of responses when we encounter suffering. Pity says, “I see your pain.” Sympathy says, “I understand your pain.” Empathy says, “I feel your pain.” Compassion says, “I am with you in your pain and I will help.”

Quote – Paul Gilbert:

Compassion isn’t always easy. I take a fairly simple general view of compassion, which is that it is ‘a sensitivity to suffering with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent that suffering.’

And so compassion isn’t just a feeling, it requires doing something. Compassion is Love in action. It needs true connection. The result is Transformation.

To “cultivate” compassion, we need to look at the practices that energize and sustain us. Ask yourself, what spiritual practices keep you hopeful and available for participating in joy? What spiritual practices help you maintain self compassion?

As we journey down our path together this month, and this year, I hope to support you in answering these questions and finding practices that will nurture you and help you to cultivate compassion so we may Transform the world towards Love, together.

In Faith and Hope for our Journey ahead,

Heather