When the Dalai Lama, the Seattle-based Kirlin Foundation, and many others teamed up to create a five day series of events called Seeds of Compassion, the dream was that those events literally would be seeds: seeds that would be carried home by participants and planted when the time was right. Seeds that would be nurtured. Seeds that would sprout. Seeds that would grow deep-rooted and wide-branched and would bear fruit for years to come.
WisdomCommons.org is one of those seeds that sprouted and is thriving. With over 3600 quotes, poems, stories and essays from around the world, the WisdomCommons celebrates the qualities we want to nurture in our children and ourselves. Visitors from as far away as India stop in to browse or perhaps to print a free poster of an inspiring quote. It might be about courage, generosity, patience, compassion or any of 96 other virtues that provide the structure for the site. Simply registering at WisdomCommons creates a personal Wisdom Page which lets you click beloved quotes or thought provoking essays into your own personal collection. Featured wisdom pages include Seeds of Compassion organizers Jamal Rahman and Andrew Himes.
In the last few months, over three hundred people have signed up for the “Daily Wisbit”—which sends one of the best quotes or poems on the site to your email box each morning.
Are you a parent or teacher or speaker looking for resources? Do you want to be more intentional about your spiritual journey? Do you need a little inspiration when you wake up in the morning? Do you want to expose yourself or your children to the insights of other traditions and cultures? That’s what WisdomCommons is about.
The purpose of the Wisdom Commons is to affirm, inspire, and shed light on humanity’s shared ethical core, meaning the convergence of our religious and secular wisdom traditions and emerging wisdom culture. Many times we define ourselves in terms of our differences. But the truth is that some of our deepest concerns and highest values transcend the boundaries of culture and tradition.
Early in childhood, before we even can walk and talk, the moral emotions, empathy, shame, and guilt begin to emerge. They guide us as we take our first steps toward living in community with each other. Around the world people recognize that the joy and pain of others are similar to their own joy and pain, and wisdom traditions express this through different forms of the golden rule. We also generally agree about what kind of qualities or virtues we seek in our friends, our leaders, and ourselves. These instincts, emotions, understandings and agreements form our moral core, sometimes this is called universal ethics. This moral core in turn serves the well-being of the intricate web of life around us and, foremost, the well-being of humans within that web.
Our differences may be many, but the WisdomCommons provides a virtual gathering place to share what we can agree on. It reflects the points of timeless convergence between those of us who are religious and nonreligious, Western and Eastern, old and young. It lets us learn from each other and those who have come before. Consider sharing the rich insights you have inherited, or even your own thoughts at this beautiful website which is already the work of many hands.
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