Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Thoughts on Kindness

I have been writing about the five virtues that befit human dignity--the five virtues that world leaders must display, if the world is going to move closer to the realization of world wide peace.
Tonight I am writing about the fifth virtue, that of loving kindness.

First, I want to present a quote about kindness. It is taken from page 3 of the book with this title: Selections of the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha. Here is what Abdu'l-Baha had to say about kindness:

"Be ye sicncerely kind, not in appearance only. Let each one of God's loved ones center his attention on this: to be the Lord's mercy to man;to be the Lord's grace. Let him do some good to every person whose path he crosses, and be of some benefit to him."

In order to better define loving kindness, I have studied the definition of love. In the book titled
The Virtues Guide I have found these definitions for love:
"Love is caring for someone...wanting to share with them."
"Love is treating other people just like you would like them to treat you..."
"When you are being loving you help others to feel important."
"Being loving is showing compassion for other people and wishing for them what you wish for yourself."

An examination of all the above statements, those found in quotes, should point out the meaning of the phrase "loving kindness."

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