Dinner Challenge!

So here's a 'challenge' for you!

Who would you invite to dinner?
Choose 6 people, living or dead, that you'd like to invite over for dinner. Choose freely, they can be friends and/or family, famous or infamous ;) people.

'All' I want from you is a motivation as to why you've chosen these people, both on a personal level as well as what you think the individuals might add to the group.

Tag as many or as few people as you like.

Don't forget to let me know in the comments when you're done with the challenge! :) :) :)

If you've read this post you've been tagged for the challenge! :)

A special 'honourary tag' goes to DMG, Cora, Gumbo Soul and Kelly who I'll 'personally' hunt down and tag on their blogs! ;p

Edited to add: OhOhOh! Why not add a little note of what would be on the dinner table too?? :D That'd be fun to read about too. :)

Image is linked and borrowed from pinkofperfection.com

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I'm inviting:
Khalil Gibran
Jesus (as in Christ)
Paulo Coelho
Cora
Muhammed (as in founder of Islam)
Dalai Lama (as in the 14th)

This was not an easy choice...I could easily have added another 3-4 people to the table! OR invite a whole new group of 6 people. (I would have loved an all-girls-table! ;)) Sure, I guess I could have changed the rules too to suit ;) but my reason for 'only' inviting 6 people is so that we'll all have time to have a good chat with each other before the night is through. (Cora's an overnight guest just so ya'll know! ;)).

The reason for inviting these people over is, if you haven't already figured it out, to talk about religion, spirituality and faith. I'm curious to meet and discuss with each individual his/her point of view on these things but I'd also think it'd be sooo cool to see Muhammad chatting with Jesus and the Dalai Lama talking with Gibran etc. and so on. :) I think that the group conversations at the table would be very interesting too and I'd like to believe that they're all 'well-behaved' and wouldn't start a fight. ;)

Added after editing: I'm not a very good cook so I don't have a ready recipe in mind but I'd serve something vegetarian for sure. I think it'd be the best option considering the guest. A nice stew of some sort perhaps and definately a soul soothing sweet-something for dessert! ;)

So, tell me! Who would you invite to dinner?? :)

Golden Rule Day

"Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion."
- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

What have you been up to today? :) I've not been up to much. Only been interacting with the family and unfortunately not really showing of the most compassionate side of myself. :/ The little people, especially little miss is trowing herself head first into the most awesome power struggles with me/us/any grown up at the moment and she just. doesn't. give. in! 'Unfortunately' she gets the stubborn streak from both her mum and dad and it isn't easy peasy for her either, 'cause she soooo badly wants to get her way, with everything. She needs compassion, I know this! I've done the theory and passed :D but theory and practise isn't so 'easy' when it comes to ones own offspring. *blushes* It's a struggle when she pushes aaaall my buttons at once and nothing I try to do for her is good enough... *breathe!* Let's say it's a work in progress, ok? ;p

I have been torturing (?) my facebook pals with Golden Rule-quotes all day and perhaps/maybe/hopefully brought compassion into light for some...? :)

Hope you have a day full of compassion,
♥

"That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it."
- Rabbi Hillel,
Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Tenzin Gyatso - 14th Dalai Lama

"The time has come to educate people, to cease all quarrels in the name of religion, culture, countries, different political or economic systems. Fighting is useless. Suicide." - Dalai Lama

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." - Dalai Lama

"All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness..." - Dalai Lama

"I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion and elimination of ignorance, selfishness and greed.

The problems we face today, violent conflicts, destruction of nature, poverty, hunger, and so on, are human-created problems which can be resolved through human effort, understanding and the development of a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share. Although I have found my own Buddhist religion helpful in generating love and compassion, even for those we consider our enemies, I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion."
- The 14th Dalai Lama's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1989
Kindness is my religion too, even if I'm not a buddhist. This man has so many ideas so similar to my own. Truly someone to draw inspiration from, whatever faith you belong to or renounce yourself from...

I speak not of unknown things.

♥ Compassion ♥

Watch this spectacular video produced for the one-year anniversary of the Charter for Compassion. Featuring voice of Rainn Wilson.



Learn. Act. Share.

More compassion.

I know I keep coming back to this topic but it is something I feel that we can't have too much of. I follow the facebook group of the Charter for Compassion and which give me interesting updates. Today I was informed that "Karen Armstrong will appear on CNN this morning at 8:30 am ET on Faces of Faith. Karen was part of a panel on Interfaith leadership." and I truly hope that CNN is CNN all over the world 'cause then I'll tune in on the right program *fingers crossed* when I've finished writing this blog post. :)

I had a quick search on cnn.com to see if there was any more info about Karen or the Charter to be found there but I sort of got lost a bit. I did find this article (follow link or read it further down) though... It confirms the conviction I feel for the Charter. It is just what I've been feeling in my gut since like forever...! I'm not alone in thinking/feeling this way... :)

Which Karen Armstrong and Desmond Tutu express in the article - "Each [religion] has its own particular genius and each its particular flaws. Every single one of the faiths regards compassion and the Golden Rule as the litmus test of true spirituality and sees it as one of the main ways in which we come into relation with the transcendence that we call God, Nirvana, Brahman or Tao."

***
From cnn.com by Karen Armstrong and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, November 10, 2009
We have called on the world to sign up to a Charter for Compassion.

Compassion is the principled determination to put ourselves into the place of the other and it lies at the heart of all truly religious and ethical systems.

The charter, which will be unveiled Thursday, November 12, has been composed by leading thinkers in many different faiths. Thousands of people have contributed to it online. It is a cooperative effort to restore compassion to the center of religious, moral and political life. Why is this so important?

One of the most urgent tasks of our generation is to build a global community, where men and women of all races, nations and ideologies can live together in peace.

Religion, which should be making a major contribution to this endeavor, is often seen as part of the problem. All too often the voices of extremism seem to drown those that speak of kindness, forbearance and mutual respect. Yet the founders of every single one of the great traditions recoiled from the violence of their time and tried to replace it with an ethic of compassion.

The great sages who promoted the Golden Rule were nearly all living during periods of history like our own. They argued that a truly compassionate ethic served people's best interests and made good practical sense.

When the Bible commands that we "love" the foreigner, it was not speaking of emotional tenderness: in Leviticus, "love" was a legal term: It was used in international treaties, when two kings would promise to give each other practical support, help and loyalty, and look out for each other's best interests. In our global world, everybody has become our neighbor, and the Golden Rule has become an urgent necessity.

When asked by a pagan to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg, Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, replied: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah -- and everything else is only commentary." His Holiness the Dalai Lama put it even more succinctly when he said: "My religion is kindness."

These traditions have also pointed out that it is not sufficient to confine our benevolence to those we find congenial -- to our own ethnic, national or ideological group. We must have what one of the Chinese sages called jian ai, "concern for everybody." If practiced assiduously -- "all day and every day," as Confucius enjoined -- we begin to appreciate our profound interdependence and become fully humane.

We come at this issue from different perspectives. I, Karen, was a Roman Catholic nun for seven years, from the age of 17 to 24. After that, I turned away from religion but came back to it after a series of career disasters -- when I was invited to make some TV programs for Channel 4, which was just opening up in the United Kingdom. The more I studied religious traditions that were different from my own, the more I had to revise my views on faith in general.

I started to study Judaism and Islam, and found that these faiths both offered a perspective on religion that was different from the somewhat parochial Catholicism of my childhood but which really resonated with me. I no longer see any of the great faith traditions, eastern and western, as superior to any of the others.

Each has its own particular genius and each its particular flaws. Every single one of the faiths regards compassion and the Golden Rule as the litmus test of true spirituality and sees it as one of the main ways in which we come into relation with the transcendence that we call God, Nirvana, Brahman or Tao.

In 2008, I was honored to receive the TED Prize, which consists of money, but more importantly, a wish for a better world the TED organization will help you to realize. I knew at once what I wanted to do and TED helped refine it. The result was a Charter that would restore compassion to its central place in religious and moral life.

If we wish to create a viable world order, we must try to implement the Golden Rule globally, treating all peoples, even those who seem far removed from us, as we would wish to be treated ourselves. We must strive for a global democracy, in which everybody, not only the rich and powerful, has a voice and which takes everybody's needs and aspirations with the utmost seriousness and respect.

Today we are all bound together, electronically, economically and politically, as never before. Our financial markets are inextricably connected: When one falls, there is a ripple effect worldwide. What happens in Afghanistan or Iraq today may well have repercussions tomorrow in New York or London.

Our world has become dangerously polarized and many of our policies -- political, economic, financial and environmental -- seem no longer sustainable. We have a choice. We can either choose the aggressive and exclusive tendencies that have developed in practically all religious and secular traditions or we can cultivate those that speak of compassion, empathy, respect and an impartial "concern for everybody."

The Charter for Compassion is not simply a statement of principle. It is above all a summons to creative, practical and sustained action to meet the political, moral, religious, social and cultural problems of our time. You can find out how you and your community can participate in the launch and in the ongoing effort to build a fair, just and compassionate world on our Web site: charterforcompassion.org.

We cannot afford to be paralyzed by global suffering. We have the power to work together energetically for the well-being of humanity, and counter the despairing extremism of our time. Many of us have experienced the power of compassion in our own lives. We know how a single act of kindness and empathy can turn a life around. History also shows that the action of just a few individuals can make all the difference. In a world that seems spinning out of control, we need such action now.

The Charter is a summons to action and includes directives about how to implement the Golden Rule. There can be no detailed directives; everybody will have to see how to do this in his or her particular sphere: in the media, in study, teaching, parenting, business, or politics.

The launch is only the beginning of the journey -- not the end.

"...the litmus test of true spirituality..." I LOVE it!! :)