Inspirational Quotes & Stories about Compassion

When brothers or sisters attack you they are subconsciously asking for love. They might not ever believe this, but I know in your heart you understand what it is I am sharing with you. This is one of the reasons you and those living in the light should try to be more patient with angry brothers or sisters. These angry brothers or sisters are lost. They are feeling bad about themselves and taking it out on you. They take it out on you because they believe that you are the easier target. They could not take it out on God because lost brothers or sisters usually have a fear of God.

The next time a brother or sister who is ruled by the ego attacks you, consider that he or she is simply asking for love. He or she is a lost soul asking you for direction. Would you lead him or her toward more darkness or toward the light? This is the choice you make every time you react to a lost brother or sister.

Understand that the choice you make will bring you closer to the place you send him or her. Lead him or her toward darkness, and you too shall experience the darkness. Lead him or her toward light, and you too shall experience the light.

- James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 37

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And so you see the homeless man on the street, and you pity him. Because you believe in separation you see him as less than you. You tell yourself that it is because he has not followed the laws of the ego that he is where he is. You might even be disgusted by or afraid of him, for the ego has taught you how to judge those who do not fit its mold. The ego tells you that those who do not follow its rules are dangerous more often than not. It tells you that they might want to take your possessions away or even hurt you, so you lock your doors and put up your windows in an effort to further separate yourself from your brother. As you do this, your heart silently begins to ache, for separating yourself from a brother is not a natural reaction. Your heart feels empty and you wonder why, for you are following the ego's laws, the laws that the ego swore would make you happy and whole. You feel as if you've missed an opportunity, and deep down in your spirit, you know you have. You pass by a homeless man and feel as if something stays with him, almost as if your spirit is reaching back trying to embrace your brother. Your body begins to walk away but your spirit holds on to your brother for as long as it can. It holds on while it tries to remind your mind of the truth within you both.

But the ego is watching, and you won't have others judge you for doing something out of the norm. So you walk away, and you dismiss your heart's appeal by rationalizing that whatever assistance you would have offered would have made no difference, or would have been misused. You think you would have made no difference, but out of six billion people, God chose you, be it for a moment in time, to be with your brother, to assist your brother. Out of six billion people, God chose you.

- James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 97

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"Compassion is not quantitative. Certainly it is true that behind every human being who cries out for help there may be a million or more equally entitled to attention. But this is the poorest of all reasons for not helping the person whose cries you hear. Where, then, does one begin or stop? How to choose? How to determine which one of a million sounds surrounding you is more deserving than the rest? Do not concern yourself in such speculations. You will never know; you will never need to know. Reach out and take hold of the one who happens to be nearest. If you are never able to help or save another, at least you will have saved one. To help put meaning into a single life may not produce universal regeneration, but it happens to represent the basic form of energy in a society. It also is the test of individual responsibility." ⁷

- Norman Cousins,  Human Options

Cited in You Have Chosen to Remember, p.98-99
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If illusions are by definition nothing, then different illusions can only be encountered through your attempt to separate nothingness into parts. Only the delusional mind can see different levels of nothingness as separate and real. You can stack up your hundreds and thousands of personal levels of illusions and still not come close to the height of an atom. Only a delusional mind can believe that it needs to fight through different levels of nothingness, with different levels of answers, to obtain peace. The ego supports the efforts of a delusional mind, for the ego is the father and creator of the delusional mind. And a creator will support his creations. Although there are countless levels of illusions that the ego supports, there are four main illusionary barriers that the average delusional mind passes through in order to find the truth about the subject of giving. I offer these four, not only because they are the ones I personally had to pass through, but also because I have seen many of my friends and family members experience them.

• If you give, you lose.

• If you give, you must get something of equal or greater physical value in return.

• If you give, you must at least get something of mental value in return.

• If you give, all situations must be judged as separate and given separate consideration with regard to getting something or anything in return.

- James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 117-118

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When your baby or young child cries, what is he or she asking for? What do you usually offer? What is the result of your behavior toward your child? Do you not offer your child comfort and love? Does your child not respond by becoming calm, feeling comforted, smiling, laughing and continuing his or her play? Can you not see that this result is absolutely possible with all your brothers and sisters if you offer love and comfort instead of confrontation and defense? My brother and sister, this offer of love and comfort is the Godself's answer any time you perceive, regardless of it's manifestation, a brother or sister attacking you. Thus, if you choose the Godself's way of reacting to a brother or sister's perceived attack, you will create a safe place where two or more individuals with different points of view can come together. In other words, they can come together in a place were people agree to speak and listen with an open mind, as non-judgmentally as possible, so that all points of view can be discussed, heard, understood and respected. In order to create this place, try the following five steps:

• Be quiet. Understand that the ego-self will try to answer first by attacking and defending. The less insane person in any argument takes control of it by being quiet.

• Bring your thoughts into your Godself. Understand that your brother or sister is simply asking for love in the best way he or she knows how in the moment.

• Send your brother or sister peaceful and loving thoughts. Surround yourself and them with light and invite God to enter the situation.
  Listen non-judgmentally to whatever your brother or sister believes he or she needs to express. Give them the time they need.

• Go to your Godself and ask it how you should deal with the situation, what you should say, and when and how you should say it.

- James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 164-165

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When you choose to act with compassion and forgive a brother or sister immediately after an immature action, you will receive peace as your gift. You can also choose not to forgive a brother or sister for an immature action for a lifetime, and your gift will be a lifetime of carrying in your heart and mind a lack of forgiveness for that action. This lack of forgiveness will weigh on you, for it is unnatural not to forgive. You can forgive a brother or sister and in doing so release yourself from that action, or you can choose not to forgive and carry that brother or sister and action with you until the end of time. In the end, it is you who has the power to resolve the issue. You have the power to react to every situation with or without peace. You have the power to carry it with you as long as you want. You have the power to release it as quickly as you want. It is your choice to be weighed down or released, to be right or to be happy, to live in pain or in peace, to react with condemnation or compassion.

- James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 169

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Footnotes / Acknowledgments

Every effort has been made to provide accurate source attribution. Should any attribution be found to be incorrect, the author welcomes written documentation supporting correction for subsequent printings. For material not in the public domain, selection was made according to generally accepted fair-use standards and practices.

7. Norman Cousins, Human Options, Copyright 1981 (W.W. Norton & Company).    >> back to quote
 

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