Theos-Talk Archives (April 1997 Message tl00007)

At 01:51 PM 4/2/97 -0500, you wrote:
>>I am wondering if ethics and compassion are to be developed 
>>concurrently and if they could be treated as separate. 
>
>Doss, they have to be in this order: ethics, and then
>comapssion.  It won't work together or the other way
>around, because compassion is just a word to a
>person without ethics, and with compassion, ethics
>become automatic and spantaneous.  Ethics, IMHO,
>are only important as a foundation for compassion.
>By themselves they are useful in keeping society
>together, but not much help on the spiritual path.
>However, compassion is absolutely essential on 
>the spiritual path.  Ethics are relatively easy to get,
>and most of us get this growing up.  Compassion,
>a sincere and honest concern for others, is a lot
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>more rare.  The only real difference between the
>White Brotherhood and the Black Brotherhood
>(I wish they would invent new names for these!)
>is that White Brothers have compassion, while
>Black Brothers don't.  There is no other difference.
>
>Jerry S.
>Member, TI
>

You may be right. You hit the right chord when you said "a sincere and
honest concern for others". Can we imagine what the world would be if we had
more individuals who are atleast trying sincerely and honestly concern for
others. I am a novice still trying my best on this issue and improving
moment by moment.

Thanks for sharing.

..doss