posted March 29, 2007 11:04 PM         

"What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart."

-- Marshall B. Rosenberg

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another."

-- Thomas Merton

"When we experience the pain of another person, we instinctively want to take away that pain. But by taking away the other person’s pain, we also take away his or her opportunity to grow. To be truly compassionate, we must be able to share another person’s suffering and pain -- knowing there is nothing we can do to relieve it and that we are not responsible for it, and yet knowing and understanding what that pain feels like."

-- John Gray

Compassion is a quality of soul.