Читать книгу Circle of Compassion - Gail Straub - Страница 6

The time for contemplation is the spring that feeds our action, and our action will be as deep as the spring. We need time to allow the spirit to clear the obstacles—the clinging debris and mud—that keeps the spring from flowing freely from its clear, deep source. And we need time for the spring to overflow into insightful and compassionate action.

–Thomas Merton

Part 1, “Learning to Follow Your Rhythm of Compassion,” lays the foundation for the rest of the book to build upon. The first set of meditations, “Nurturing Your Spiritual Practice,” focuses on daily spiritual practice as the strongest foundation for compassion. It is in the stillness of your practice—be it meditation, prayer, yoga, or time in nature—that you can hear your rhythm breathing in and out, and find the spaciousness to hold the complexity of suffering. To further build a solid foundation for compassion the next meditations, “Confronting the Trickster Busyness” and “Belonging to Your Place,” guide you to clear away the busyness and unneeded aspects of your life to make room for what really matters, and to create a strong sense of place where you live as the literal grounding for your rhythm of compassion. Finally, in the last section of this part, you are introduced to the friends of compassion—imagination, discipline, and support—to help make compassion real in your daily life.