Tags
Becoming Wise, compassion, Krista Tippett, love, Meister Eckhart, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Some days now I can hardly see what to write that is anywhere near relevant to the world, our country, faith or this time of our life. Today I picked up the book that my book group is reading because we meet tomorrow. The book is Becoming Wise by Krista Tippett—not the easiest book to read or to use as a guide, but a really great read! I pulled the scrap of paper that is doubling as a bookmark and found out why it has avoided the trash for so long. I don’t know where it came from or who wrote it but the words written there are surely worth our notice—and our reflection. Take it slowly and savor the message.
Title: Compassion is the expression of love
Love is the inner feeling and compassion is its expression. It doesn’t see the faults of others. It doesn’t see the weaknesses of people. It makes no distinction between good and bad people. Compassion cannot draw a line between two countries, two faiths or two religions. Compassion has no ego; thus there is no fear, lust or passion. Compassion simply forgets and forgives. Compassion is like a passage. Everything passes through it, nothing can stay there. Compassion is love expressed in all its fullness.
That quote puts me in mind of a saying of Meister Eckhart that has hung in my bedroom for years and today seems a fitting conclusion to this reflection. It says: “Whatever God does, the first outburst is always compassion.”
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 