Friday, March 26, 2010

Compassion for the world

"Unless it extends the circle of compassion to all living things, humanity itself will not find peace."

Michael Nagler

Unitarian Universalists even carry this injunction further and say that unless humans extend their compassion to the web of all existence we will not find peace.

Do we have compassion for the air, the water, the trees, the land itself?

Compassion implies justice, respect, care. Instead we have exploited, disregarded, and been careless.

To be sinful, is to be off the mark, and we inhabitants, especially in the first world, have been way off the mark for decades. It seems we are learning slowly that we can no longer afford to foul our nest.

We Unitarian Universalists can, should, and do lead the way with the seventh of our seven values/principles. Would that we preach it more clearly, live it more genuinely, and exemplify it more inspirationally.

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