21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S

20. Derive Ethics from

Relationships

‘Compassion is the working out of our interconnectedness; it is the praxis of interconnectedness.’

Hildegard of Bingen

Participation is called ‘at-one-ment’ by D.H. Lawrence and called grace by theologians. Set against this, the word for devil in Hebrew — Shatan — literally means ‘no response’.

Compassion is often now taken to simply mean mercy — and mercy is something of a sentimental thing. It can be a condescension to people in need, which, whilst sometimes very welcome, nonetheless maintains the ‘power over’ dynamic that is so insidious in our culture. In this work, put simply, compassion is taken to mean justice and celebration.

Because of its aspiration to transcendence, spirituality tends to view compassion, justice and love as ideals. They are seen as timeless qualities that exist outside the realm of human interaction and which we simply appropriate or fail to appropriate. Almost unwittingly,

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