The Best One Wish to Change the World

My religion, to the extent I have one, is compassion.

I’m not saying I live it out very often in any meaningful way. Only that I try to. That, to me, compassion is the highest of humanity, the ideal all truth aspires to.

Into a world, a culture, a religion centered in “be holy as God is holy,” Jesus taught and lived, “be compassionate as God is compassionate”—insisting that we can be no more like God than when we love enough to feel what another feels. And not just those who are like us or look like us or think like us, but even, especially, our enemies.

As a student of art, philosophy, and religion, I’ve found no better advice, no wiser counsel than “treat others as you would have them treat you.” And this is best and most consistently achieved through compassion, that process by which we open ourselves up to others—walk in their shoes, see the world from their view, feel with them what they feel, their joy and pain, frustration and futility, triumphs and tragedies becoming our own.

Given this, I was thrilled to discover that one of my favorite religion scholars and writers’ new book and project is about this very thing.

When Karen Armstrong, author and religion historian was awarded the TED Prize and asked to make “One Wish to Change the World,” she wished for compassion.

As far as I’m concerned there can be no better wish. If we lived in love, in compassion, actually put ourselves in the place of others, we could no longer close our hearts to them, no longer refuse to share the abundance we have with them. It would end hunger and arrogance and ignorance and violence and incivility and inhumanity and be the quickest route, the only route, to “on earth as it is in heaven.”

I’m so thankful TED chose Karen and Karen chose compassion.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The TED Conference, held annually in the spring, deals not only with technology, entertainment, and design, but also science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world.

The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, s/he unveils his/her wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

Karen Armstrong created a Charter for Compassion, aided by the general public and crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The charter was signed in November 2009 by a thousand religious and secular leaders.

Out of all this, her new book, “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life” was born. In it, she writes that while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. Here, in her straightforward, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life.

When told she was being honored with the award, Armstrong wrote, “I knew immediately what I wanted. One of the chief tasks of our time must surely be to build a global community in which all peoples can live together in mutual respect; yet religion, which should be making a major contribution, is seen as part of the problem. All faiths insist that compassion is the test of true spirituality and that it brings us into relation with the transcendence we call God, Brahman, Nirvana, or Dao. Yet sadly we hear little about compassion these days. And it is hard to think of a time when the compassionate voice of religion has been so sorely needed. Our world is dangerously polarized. There is a worrying imbalance of power and wealth and, as a result, a growing rage, malaise, alienation, and humiliation that has erupted in terrorist atrocities that endanger us all.

Please consider reading “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life” and joining me in signing (and doing our best to live) the Charter for Compassion.

Charter For 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.

Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women

• to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion;
• to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate;
• to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures;
• to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity;
• to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.”