On Loving Kindness

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     The Biblical Old Testament contains accounts of loving kindness shown by God, and in the Quran, Allah declares that humans must treat each other with loving kindness. Both of these holy books, however, often portray God and Allah as spiteful and vengeful toward the imputed nonbelieving enemies of the people of those books. This kind of selectivity and exclusivity cannot be called true loving kindness.

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     The expression of loving kindness does not necessarily require that we perform acts of kindness, given that acts of kindness may result from religious coercion or from social etiquette rather than from loving kindness. Although every act of kindness is laudable, not every act of kindness proceeds from loving kindness, and the essence of loving kindness may be more passive than active.

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     If not by overt acts of kindness, how then does one demonstrate loving kindness?

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By recognizing, acknowledging, and connecting with the human-ness of every person one meets.

By accepting others as they present themselves, without passing judgment on them.

By greeting every person as a fellow traveler on a trip that none of us bought a ticket for.

By forgiving ourselves for our shortcomings, and forgiving others for their shortcomings.

 

May we live lives of loving kindness.

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John Barstow