I am working on a technical paper on compassion. So I am reading everything I can on the subject, including my own mind and heart.

Many of us think that compassion drains us, but I promise you it is something that truly enlivens us.

We in the "developed" world seem to have many auditory strategies that insulate us from the presence of silence, simplicity, and solitude. When I return to Western culture after time in desert, mountain or forest, I discover how we have filled our world with a multiplicity of noises, a symphony of forgetfulness that keeps our won thoughts and realizations, feelings and intuitions out of audible range.

Death can come at any moment. You could die this afternoon; you could die tomorrow morning; you could die on your way to work; you could die in your sleep. Most of us try to avoid the sense that death can come at any time, but its timing is unknown to us. Can we live each day as if it were our last? Can we relate to one another as if there were no tomorrow?

Compassionate action emerges from the sense of openness, connectedness, and discernment you have created.

I am working on a technical paper on compassion. So I am reading everything I can on the subject, including my own mind and heart.

[I'm inspired by ] courageous young people who take a stand and go into the field to serve; really old people who see that every minute of life is to be lived fully and compassionately; and so many between this world and that world.