#compass

Who are we to make such a decision? To allow another living being - any living being - to die, when ours is the power to prevent it? - Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) ↗

— John Byrne

#death #life #power-of-life-and-death #sanctity-of-life #death

In a time so filled with methods and techniques designed to change people, to influence their behavior, and to make them do new things and think new thoughts, we have lost the simple but difficult gift of being present to each other. (p. 11-12) ↗

— Henri J. M. Nouwen Donald P. McNeill Douglas A. Morrison

#presence #change

Your truest spiritual path will lead you to yourself for it is devoted to becoming. ↗

— Mollie Marti

#compassion #life-design #reflection #design

You are mad!" she snapped, her chest heaving. "And you are a devil!" "And you, my dear," Royce imperturbably replied, "are a bitch." With that, he turned to the horrified friar and unhesitatingly announced, "The lady and I wish to be wed. ↗

— Judith McNaught

#compassion #dreams

No culture has yet solved the dilemma each has faced with the growth of a conscious mind: how to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in all life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s own culture but within oneself. ↗

— Barry Lopez

#dreams

Defensiveness is usually someone silently screaming that they need you to value and respect them in disguise. When you look for deeper meanings behind someone’s pain you can then begin to heal not only yourself but others. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#compassion #defensiveness #emotional-pain #forgiveness #anger

I am grateful to realize that my desires do not entitle me to add to another's suffering. ↗

— Zoe Weil

#educational #good #humane #mogo #suffering

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. ↗

— Pema Chödrön

#equality

I made the choice to be vegan because I will not eat (or wear, or use) anything that could have an emotional response to its death or captivity. I can well imagine what that must feel like for our non-human friends - the fear, the terror, the pain - and I will not cause such suffering to a fellow living being. ↗

— Rai Aren

#animals #compassion #equality #ethical-vegan #kindness

Know that the same spark of life that is within you, is within all of our animal friends, the desire to live is the same within all of us... ↗

— Rai Aren

#compassion #equality #kindness #life #life-affirming