Love Your Enemies

Love Your Enemies

Twelve Steps to A Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong Step 12, Part One – Love Your Enemies “Love Your Enemies”.  I have remained in contemplation with these words, “Love Your Enemies” for a long time.  I searched for what it is saying to me. ...

Recognition

Step 11: Part Two – RecognitionRecognition ~ Reconciler ~ Reconciliation After I completed several readings of Step 11, I was walking around repeating the word recognition to myself, then I heard myself saying reconciliation and then saying reconciler. I paused and...

Recognition

Step 11 – Part 1, by Sara Neall Karen Armstrong launched The Charter for Compassion on November 12, 2009 with the simple rule, “Always treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.”  This golden rule is at the center of her book The Twelve Steps to a...

Knowledge

Step 10, Part 2~ by Sara Neall The book The Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, is an active guide to develop compassion towards self and towards others.  Each step requires us to dig deep into our own hearts and minds in order to build the world in which we...

Step 10, Part 1: Knowledge*

May our loving thoughts fill the whole world,above, below, across— without limit;our love will know no obstacles—a boundless goodwill toward the whole world,unrestricted, free of hatred or enmity.Whether we are standing or walking, sitting orlying down, as long as we...

Concern for Everybody

Step 9 – Part 2, by Sara Neall The 9th step to living a compassionate life is cultivating a concern for everybody. Karen Armstrong defines this concern as, “understanding different national, cultural and religious traditions.”  She goes on to say, “we cannot...