"Kindness is the measure of a person" essay and discussion guide is now available to UUAWOL Tier 2 and Tier 3 Patrons.

"Kindenss is the measure of a person" essay and discussion guide is now available for UUAWOL patreon Tier 2 and Tier 3 members.

For access to this content, become a UUAWOL Patreon, by signing up today clicking on the button in the upper right hand corner of the main web page.

Virtue develoopment - Kindness, what is the measure of a person?

Part two - What is the measure of a person? Kindness

Kindness cannot co-exist with attack whether that attack comes in the form of judgment, contempt, disdain, cheating, lying, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, or physical abuse.

When one deals with one’s shame and guilt by blaming others, how can any good come from it other than to save face, avoid one’s own accountability, and live a lie pretending things are one way when they are really another?

Kindness does not harm, does not gloat, does not avoid responsibility and certainly does not attack another to benefit one’s ego.

When one is unkind, one further contributes to hell on earth. Rather than choose harm and a further enhancement and extension of hell on earth, choosing kindness does the opposite and bestows a blessing on oneself and others. Kindness is one more step towards heaven on earth.

Choosing kindness is facilitated by always asking “What would Love have me do?” and then doing it.

Because of our socialization and conditioning by society, kindness does not come naturally but is a skill that is strengthened by practice. By being mindful of what Love would have us do and doing it, we become stronger with every effort at extending kindness. After much practice, kindness seems to come more habitually and be natural.

What is the measure of a mature person? It is their skill and competence in employing kindness in their interactions with themselves and others?

How much of the time do you interact with yourself and others in a kind way: 100%, 50%, 25%? How could you increase the percentage of the time that you act kindly? What would it take? Are you willing to deliberately practice being kind?

Virtue development - Kindness, the expression of awareness of inherent worth and dignity

Chapter four - Kindness

Part one - the expression of awareness of inherent worth and dignity.

What is the measure of a person: money, power, status, adulation? The bumper sticker says, “The person with the most toys wins.” We laugh embarrassingly because there is a kernel of recognition in our having played this game of the ego. It is one thing to play this game as a child and even as an adolescent but not as a mature adult.

Some people may have tried to teach us that money can’t buy us love, and the key to friendship is not in taking but in giving, and the good life is characterized by kindness not by competitiveness and selfishness.

Doing harm intentionally is impossible for a person who practices kindness. A person who has perfected the skill of kindness can neither harm nor be harmed. The kind person does not function in the space where harm is done.

Harm comes from judgment and judgment comes from dishonesty and dishonesty comes from a lack of genuine faith. Judgment is a verdict of guilt upon a brother or sister, a guilt which is not part of their inherent worth and dignity. If we judge another guilty we have, at the same time, judged ourselves guilty by passing the judgment of guilt on a brother and sister of inherent worth and dignity. We have missed our opportunity to exercise kindness.

Kindness is not the same thing as being nice. Being nice is often being false, pretending things are okay when they are not. Kindness is truth telling not with the intention of punishment but with the intention of accountability and joining which is born from honesty..

Judgment and harm interferes with peace and learning. We have chosen the path of the ego which plays the games of “one or the other” and “give to get.” Playing these games is never kind.

The first step in the development of the virtue of kindness is the nonjudgmental attitude and the second step is to look for and focus on the inherent worth and dignity of every person we meet.