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CompassionRise

I began CompassionRise as a daily blog about compassion. I wrote for one to two hours and published each day for the first 30 days of 2009. I could summarize it as “30 essays in 30 days totaling 25,000 words, on scientific compassion and civil society.” I also like the way Edinburgh’s Mark James Adams described CompassionRise in a tweet: “@brianglanz says that progress in ethics and morality should be made experimentally.”

One of my inspirations in CompassionRise and in life has been Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States of America. Jefferson had a habit of writing every day. He rarely published, more often writing letters or writing for himself, such as annotating his designs and experiments. “Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight,” he wrote. Jefferson was as much a reader, writing in a letter once, “I cannot live without books.” When I studied at Cornell, I read thousands of pages of his writings (extracurricular :) in my favorite library (here and here). For a short stack, check out Peterson’s collection Thomas Jefferson, Writings or as a recent, readable shortcut for getting to know him, read Ellis’ biography American Sphinx.

As in this post’s graphic, the topics in CompassionRise have been far reaching. I have written on practical concerns like “Innovations, Expectations, and Change” with inspiration from Bill Gates and on “Experimentation” with inspiration from Carl Sagan. I wrote on the ethical implications of incredible but near future innovations like “Achieving Immortality” — through scientific and technological, not spiritual means — and discussed the “Sustainability of the Self” in a related article. I sought answers to questions both personal, as in “Compassion and Revenge” and social, as in “Developing the Human Family” while seeking scientific ethics to bridge divisions in global civil society.

My impetus to begin CompassionRise was a gift from my sister Melissa, brother in law Q! and nephew Michael: “Insight from the Dalai Lama” a 2009 daily calendar. Most of the quotations are short and all are inspirational; they are not religious. In CompassionRise, each essay has one, two, or three inspirational quotes. Based on those quotes and other research, I offer my own insight on compassion.

Roughly half of the essays are inspired by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Other wise people whom I point to: Dr. Hu Shih (胡適 or 胡适), Dr. Carl Sagan, Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish, Duwamish, and Allied Native American Tribes, Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi (મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), Bill Gates, Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Eddie Vedder, Sister Helen Prejean, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (نصرت فتح على خاں), and Pat Whatley Showell, President and CEO of Families First.

While writing the 31st, I found myself circling back to many earlier points. I was thinking more about what I had written than what I was writing, so CompassionRise came to a pause.

Below are the CompassionRise essays, last to first. Click an image to find associated essays in CompassionRise.

Experimentation
Feelings and Forgiveness
Eagle and Thicket
The Great Responsibility
Common Ground
Achieving Immortality
Good Intentions
Developing the Human Family
Compassion and Revenge
Innovations, Expectations, and Change
Pushing Our Human Boundaries
Everybody Can Be Great
A New Independence
A New Spirituality
Community and Inner Strength
Our Sense of Well-Being
Science and Humility
Respect and Responsibility
Our Face of Love
Face of Love
The Purpose of Meditation
Freedom and Creativity
Ignorance and Real Peace
Look On the Bright Side
The Seeds of Compassion
Nature v. Nurture
Resolving to Help Others
Sustainability of the Self
We Are the Makers
Old and New