Compassion
We are a small and lonely human race
Showing no sign of mastering solitude
Out on this stony planet that we farm.
The most that we can do for one another
Is let our blunders and our blind mischances
Argue a certain brusque abrupt compassion.
We might as well be truthful. I should say
They're luckiest who know they're not unique;
But only art or common interchange
Can teach that kindest truth. And even art
Can only hint at what disturbed a Melville
Or calmed a Mahler's frenzy; you and I
Still look from separate windows every morning
Upon the same white daylight in the square.
~Adrienne Rich
Found the poem up there in it. Love the line, "They're luckiest who know they're not unique;" Fox goes on to say about this poem,
"Notice that Rich places compassion within a cosmic context Compassion is not merely a human energy, it is integral to the universe. It requires a cosmology. We are a small and lonely race farming a stony planet - a planetary perspective is indispensable to our self-understanding. And who are we? "The most that we can do," that is, our very essence, the very best of ourselves, is to practice compassion. Here Rich is being true to her Jewish and biblical heritage in insisting that compassion lies at the heart of our essence as a species made in the image of "the Compassionate One." Here, too, she shares common ground with another Jewish prophet, Jesus, who said to the people: "Be you compassionate as your Creator in heaven is compassionate."
But lest we be ego-inflated, the poet couches this "best of ourselves," our compassion, in the facts of our everyday lives - we are loaded with "blunders" and "blind mischances," and our compassion is more often than not "brusque" and "abrupt." Rich's verse, "They're luckiest who know they're not unique" must sound like heresy to an audience of rugged individualists. One can hear the caws from our culture: "How dare she tell us we're not unique!" Rich is, in fact, defining compassion. For her, compassion consists of learning that we're not unique. We are to partake of both the joys and the pain together. Thomas Merton names the issue interdependence - knowing we are "all part of one another and all involved in one another.""
What do you think of this? Your thoughts on these two assertions are of particular interest to me:
The most we can do, that is, our very essence, the very best of ourselves, is to practice compassion.
and
Compassion consists of learning that we're not unique. - that is, interdependence.
Of course, to discuss this it would be helpful to have a common working definition of compassion, but I'm going to leave that out, as I think the discussion will be the richer for seeing the varying ways we all think of that concept. The book goes into considerable detail when looking at the definition of compassion. I found it surprising, even shocking, to read the author's assertions about the fundamental difference in the way the Jewish and Christian traditions approach the word and idea. Very interesting. Possibly the subject of another post.
Thanks to all who stopped by my previous post and offered the best of themselves in compassionate care. It is very much appreciated. May we all be blessed with people in our lives who care for us, in ways large and small.
Showing no sign of mastering solitude
Out on this stony planet that we farm.
The most that we can do for one another
Is let our blunders and our blind mischances
Argue a certain brusque abrupt compassion.
We might as well be truthful. I should say
They're luckiest who know they're not unique;
But only art or common interchange
Can teach that kindest truth. And even art
Can only hint at what disturbed a Melville
Or calmed a Mahler's frenzy; you and I
Still look from separate windows every morning
Upon the same white daylight in the square.
~Adrienne Rich
Found the poem up there in it. Love the line, "They're luckiest who know they're not unique;" Fox goes on to say about this poem,
"Notice that Rich places compassion within a cosmic context Compassion is not merely a human energy, it is integral to the universe. It requires a cosmology. We are a small and lonely race farming a stony planet - a planetary perspective is indispensable to our self-understanding. And who are we? "The most that we can do," that is, our very essence, the very best of ourselves, is to practice compassion. Here Rich is being true to her Jewish and biblical heritage in insisting that compassion lies at the heart of our essence as a species made in the image of "the Compassionate One." Here, too, she shares common ground with another Jewish prophet, Jesus, who said to the people: "Be you compassionate as your Creator in heaven is compassionate."
But lest we be ego-inflated, the poet couches this "best of ourselves," our compassion, in the facts of our everyday lives - we are loaded with "blunders" and "blind mischances," and our compassion is more often than not "brusque" and "abrupt." Rich's verse, "They're luckiest who know they're not unique" must sound like heresy to an audience of rugged individualists. One can hear the caws from our culture: "How dare she tell us we're not unique!" Rich is, in fact, defining compassion. For her, compassion consists of learning that we're not unique. We are to partake of both the joys and the pain together. Thomas Merton names the issue interdependence - knowing we are "all part of one another and all involved in one another.""
What do you think of this? Your thoughts on these two assertions are of particular interest to me:
The most we can do, that is, our very essence, the very best of ourselves, is to practice compassion.
and
Compassion consists of learning that we're not unique. - that is, interdependence.
Of course, to discuss this it would be helpful to have a common working definition of compassion, but I'm going to leave that out, as I think the discussion will be the richer for seeing the varying ways we all think of that concept. The book goes into considerable detail when looking at the definition of compassion. I found it surprising, even shocking, to read the author's assertions about the fundamental difference in the way the Jewish and Christian traditions approach the word and idea. Very interesting. Possibly the subject of another post.
Thanks to all who stopped by my previous post and offered the best of themselves in compassionate care. It is very much appreciated. May we all be blessed with people in our lives who care for us, in ways large and small.