Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.
Karen ArmstrongRead
Compassion is not an option. It's the key to our survival.
Interpretation
Compassion is essential for human survival, not merely a choice.
In this quote, Karen Armstrong emphasizes the importance of compassion in sustaining our human existence. She suggests that empathy and understanding for one another are crucial not just for nurturing relationships but also for building a society where individuals can thrive together. Without compassion, we risk losing our humanity in the face of conflict and adversity.
In practice
During a speech on community service, one could use this quote to inspire volunteering.
Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.
Yet a personal God can become a grave liability. He can be a mere idol carved in our own image, a projection of our limited needs, fears and desires. We can assume that he loves what we love and hates what we hate, endorsing our prejudices instead of compelling us to transcend them.
When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too.
Far from being the father of jihad, [Prophet] Mohammad was a peacemaker, who risked his life and nearly lost the loyalty of his closest companions because he was determined to effect a reconciliation with Mecca
Yes, all fundamentalists feel that in a secular society, God has been relegated to the margin, to the periphery and they are all in different ways seeking to drag him out of that peripheral position, back to center stage.
Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious concept.
Patience, that blending of moral courage with physical timidity.
Sometimes, we feel like we don't want to offend people, but there are times that we need to express ourselves without fear that somebody is going to shut us down simply because we have differing opinions. That's how we grow.
I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I'm not afraid of my flaws.
Let's cool it brothers . . . Spoken to his assassins, three men who stabbed him 16 times.
Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.
Do you want to understand how to swim, or do you want to jump in and start swimming? Only people who are afraid of the water want to understand it. Other people jump in and get wet.
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