Bob Schwartz

Do we really need organizations and initiatives to promote compassion? Aren’t our religious traditions doing enough?

Maybe not.

Charter for Compassion

Mission
Our mission is to promote and cultivate the principle of compassion and the Compassionate Way of Life as articulated by the Charter for Compassion so that the principle characterizes all human society and all relationships.

Vision
We envision a world in which the darkness of suffering is healed by the light of compassionate action; in which children and adults are literate and skilled in the transformative nature and power of compassion; and in which we treat ourselves, each other, and the natural world with dignity and respect, manifesting the Golden Rule in all relationships.

Our religious traditions include essential teachings about compassion. In some traditions like Buddhism, compassion is #1. In others, a more nuanced balancing may take place. Compassion is a stated ideal, but circumstances and situations raise other considerations: Sure compassion is important. But that is too absolutist, idealistic and simplistic in a complicated world.

When compassion moves out front and to the top for us, extraordinary things can and will happen.