Compassion

There is a new look at the concept of compassion being undertaken on a worldwide scale, put into motion in part by author Karen Armstrong. It is compelling, to say the least, that such a project be undertaken with the aid of the www, and I wonder, will it actually take off? As of today's date, just over 15,000 people have signed on to affirm the Charter for Compassion since its release on November 12, 2009.

Compassion in itself is a good thing. The very idea of putting oneself in the shoes of another, considering feelings outside of one's own ego centered existence, is one of, if not the, core teachings of the Christian Gospel.

This teaching has been all but lost in the post modern world where individuality has been celebrated to the point of self worship in the religion of consumerism.
(As a consumer myself, I hate to admit it, but it is unavoidable, to a point).

Individualism is not inherently bad, but it does tend to take one away from the other. The other being defined as the billions of souls making up the rest of the world's population. We all have no choice but to exist together on this tiny rock of a planet. There have been precious few periods in history where that was actually accomplished in a peaceful way. Rather than accept, share and rejoice in the miracle of living, people have chosen just the opposite.

Individualism in religion easily lends itself to ego based religiosity, where God becomes an extension of the individual's idealism concerning justice and morality. It is easy to isolate, become xenophobic and literally hate those outside the comfort zone of ego based religion, which has to contributed more to conflict in the world than it has towards peace.

My question, is the goal of the Charter for Compassion too much to ask? Has humanity evolved to the point where individuals can understand it's concept? Could this be the beginning of a movement that could accomplish what spears, swords, bullets and missiles have been unable to? Is there enough compassion in the world to overshadow the fear that is so easily kindled in the hearts of people? I certainly hope so. I am planning to participate, what have we to lose?