Here's a Charter we can all get behind! The Charter for Compassion is a declaration to restore compassion to the centre of our moral and religious traditions. It started on February 28, 2008 at the TED conference when Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and made a wish: for help creating, launching and propagating a Charter for Compassion.
Since then, thousands of people and institutions signed the Charter:
- Seattle signed it and became the first "Compassionate City"
- In the US, the entire presbyterian church signed it
- In South Africa, reverend Peter Story unveiled the Charter at the World Cup.
What exactly is compassion? The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. It's the Golden Rule...and each culture has it's own words to describe it..
"Do unto others as you would have done to you."
"Do not treat others how you would not like to be treated"
Although wording varies, each tradition shares the same message: Live and act with empathy (Check out Jeremy Rifkin explaining the empathic civilization). As one signatory of the Charter put it "I will commit to seeing myself in my enemy."
Imagine the world we would shape if we each made this committment.
Make your committment
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