Rev. David McArthur
The Force Of Compassion
In Unity I found the beautiful universal truths of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. “The scriptures of all the nations of the world testify to the existence of an invisible FORCE moving men and nature in their various activities. Not all agree as to the character of this omnipresent FORCE, universal Spirit, but it serves the purpose of being their god under whatever name it may appear.” (Chas. Fillmore, “Atom-Smashing Power Of Mind”) Many of us call it “love”.
Stacy Smith, an American woman, found it difficult to comprehend Mother Theresa’s level of experience. Inspired, and to confront her own fears, she went to India. There she entered a concrete room filled with rows of cots with ill and dying women. Stacy noticed a woman struggling to breath and in great pain. She felt deep compassion. She had such a different experience from hers. She didn’t even know the woman’s language. All she could think to do was sing to her. She noticed the woman’s breathing was better. The woman opened her eyes and “looked with clarity into my eyes.” Two women, bound together in need, sharing their deep soul. “The moment slipped away. I continued to sing. In a short while the woman took her final breath.” That force of compassion can reach beyond.
In Hindu scripture, Krishna instructs Arjuna to be compassionate to friend and enemy alike, to “see yourself in others” to know this beautiful force. Jesus instructed, “love your enemies… Feed the hungry, clothe the naked…for whatever you do for one… of mine, you do for me.” In the scripture of Islam, it is expressed as “God is compassion.” And from the Jewish scripture, “Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless…for ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’
Many years ago I was in a Palestinian refugee camp in a room with a mother and her four children. The window had a hole where the father had been shot. We were totally different. I was a “rich” white man; she was a poor woman in a culture dominated by white men, a single mother confined by that culture. I told her, “I lost a spouse and I’m sorry you have, too.” Her response as it was translated to me, was “You don’t understand. Was your spouse killed by a gun?” I said, “Yes.” I saw her face change. She looked me in the eye. This is a culture in which a woman does not look in the eyes of any man but her husband’s; she had changed to do this. I looked in her eyes and saw her soul. I saw tremendous pain, loneliness, fear for her children, and a yearning for a husband to care for her. She saw into my soul; she saw my journey. The force of compassion took down impossible barriers and we were just two people, soul-to-soul, understanding. In our culture there is a commitment to separation and the belief in our differences. It is my belief the force of compassion cuts it down.
This week hold your friends in the compassion of your heart when they feel separate. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I promise every time you reach for it, the FORCE will be with you!
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