We constantly have ideas and experiences that go beyond what we can say or know. Most often these are expressed in art, in painting, in music. Music, everyday confronts us with a form of knowing that doesn't depend on words.

Here in America, religious people often prefer to be right rather than compassionate. They've lost the Axial Age vision of concern for everybody.

We should probably all pause to confront our past from time to time, because it changes its meaning as our circumstances alter.

It is not difficult to find a religious justification for killing.

All religions are designed to teach us how to live, joyfully, serenely, and kindly, in the midst of suffering.

Compassion doesn't, of course, mean feeling sorry for people, or pity, which is how the word has become emasculated in a way.

Compassion is a practically acquired knowledge, like dancing. You must do it and practice diligently day by day.