Wise Heart Way

Compassion of Community

Along with my daughters I went to our local women's theater the Brava to see a play "Song for Coretta."  It featured five women of different generations and their individual reasons for coming to ta funeral. On the program was a quote from Coretta King, "the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members."  Thank you Wise Heart Way members, I love being part of our little community. 

In a larger community of Catholics, I joined a weekly retreat at the Jesuit high school.  I felt a kinship with the others who said they came to figure out just what it is they do believe.  I can see that mindfulness is the holy spirit, shining the light. (The audience sang along with the cast of the play "This Little Light of Mine" which very much moved me). I see that acting with compassion  and the interconnectedness of all beings is related to what St Ignatius says in doing everything for "the greater glory of God."   We are at week two of the retreat, and I still don't like reading  passages from the old testament.  I think I'll stick to St Ignatius and Buddhism. 

crabby humans

Ever since I read Julie's post about the crabs I've had a Shawn Colvin song "Climb On (A Back That's Strong)" running through my head. Not a bad thought to be carrying around.

But I've been reflecting on her post in light of the Wise Heart chapter I read this week,  too. I am always amazed when I hear a story like that about animal kindness. A mother dog nurses an abandoned kitten along with her own puppies. Elephants free an antelope from a pen. A dolphin aids a drowning human. Ants have been seen to pull thorns from other injured ants. Wow, I think, how incredible, how unusual. And I guess I think that because somehow I've come to believe that an animal can't have compassion. That compassion is a complex thing, only humans can express. But this week another possibility occurred to me. Perhaps compassion is an innate part of all living things, a natural instinct. And perhaps we humans are the only living things who choose repress it.

Incredible Crab Compassion

While walking the beach at low tide with her parents, a yoga classmate, Sophie, witnessed a sea gull eating something in the surf.  She ran to shoo the gull away, thinking it was feasting on a baby sea turtle.  Instead, she discovered a white speckled crab with one claw eaten.  Her father picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand.  The crab fiercely swung at him with his one good claw.  A tough little critter.  Her father dug a nest in the sand, gently placed him down, covered him up, and Sophia and her parents continued on their walk.  Upon returning, about thirty minutes later, they looked for the crab to see if he survived.  Amazed, they witnessed a much larger crab carrying the injured crab on his back, towards the water.  The injured crab slipped off, and the larger crab, scrambled back into the sand, under the smaller crab, and, once again, lifted him up, and walked towards the ocean with the injured crab on his back.  They carried on, in this fashion, until they reached the water, then both floated away.

Principle #2: Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.

Practice: A Meditation of Compassion