Rev. David McArthur
“Compassion Connects Us All”
Our harmony with the Earth can be no better than our harmony with ourselves, as it goes from self to the outer world. There is a force within us: compassion. It creates harmony.
A lady came to a seminar I was teaching. Her marriage had become toxic and was ending. Quite depressed, she had only come to my seminar to get out of the house. I had stepped everyone through some HeartMath, having them remember the feeling of a time when the heart was full. That’s when Spirit is present. In that moment our heart is open and we are connected to Spirit. The beautiful wisdom of our divine self is there. That’s when she felt real compassion for her husband. She understood how he felt. He had lost a good job and was working since then in a job where he was not appreciated. She saw that he needed simple validation from her, and she saw that she could do that, and that they could heal. What that woman’s heart gave her was compassion. It has the power to overcome reaction and separation.
An uncomfortable teaching from Jesus, in Matthew, is, “Do not judge, or you too will …be judged, and with the measure you use. …Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? …You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Until we remove our judgment we cannot connect. We are separate.
I remember the story of the man who freed the whale trapped and dying in a huge net. Imagine dropping into the water with this huge creature. A slight movement could kill you. But there was a connection. For 5 hours the man sliced netting. When the diver needed to remove ropes embedded in the whale’s skin, he placed his hand on the whale and told him it would hurt, and the whale did not harm the diver! The man worked upon the tail, where one flip of it could kill him. There was a great connection. The whale understood!
Then the whale was free! It swam around and around, diving and jumping. It rose from the depth to within 6 inches of the diver’s face as he watched! On the surface it rolled to look at the man. They connected eye to eye.
On vacation in Italy a teenage boy fell overboard. He couldn’t swim. He was drowning. A dolphin appeared and lifted him enough to get his breath. The boy held on to the dolphin, which carried him to the boat and lifted him high enough for the father to grab him. We’re not the only ones with this divine spirit within!
Connection comes with compassion. This is the choice we have. I choose compassion! As we make it we are new. I choose compassion! It is an expression of the flow of the divine in and through our awareness. That’s why it is so powerful. I choose compassion! It is my belief that with our great challenges there is a way to get to balance and harmony. The way is compassion!