Compassion and a here2here perspective

This week Karen Armstrong will speak on “The State of the Charter for Compassion”. Having completed her book “The Spiral Staircase A Memoir” last night, I got to thinking again about the Golden Rule and the need for compassion in the world today. 

Deciding to participate in an edit activity on Instagram this morning, I was inspired to try to convey these thoughts through an image.  The photograph to be edited was of the city of Honfleur in France.  

Recently I had come up with two edited photographs combining the cities of Dubai and Cape Town. I decided to attempt a similar edit with the photograph at hand as I suddenly realized that in a sense a theme was developing in these edits.  

Bringing cities together in an image was a reminder of the need to take the perspective of others no matter where they may live, no matter what they believe, and no matter how different we might think they are. 

Compassion does not mean feeling pity but “feeling with”.  It is a stepping into the shoes of the other until the self is totally suspended and we are able to see the world with the eyes of the other and feel with them their joy and suffering.

Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity - Charter for Compassion. 

The image is a powerful tool and one that I believe can assist in an opening of the heart to compassion. (taken from “Linda in Wonderland”). 

As I worked on this edit, fusing as it were Dubai with Honfleur I was reminded again of the wonders of technology, but at the same time was overwhelmed by the opportunities it offers to meet others and bridge gaps.  With the aid of social media apps we are catapulted into the here2here, where we meet people from all walks of life.  And the other we soon discover is not as different as we thought them to be.  In fact we have more similarities than differences. 

I was born in South Africa, have lived for almost ten years in Europe and am now living in the Middle East. The whole experience has encouraged me to take different perspectives and widen my embrace. 

Aware of the value this has brought to my life, it has been my wish when using Instagram that my photographs will encourage the taking of different perspectives. I was honored this weekend to have two of my photographs exhibited at an Instagram exhibition in Padova, Italy, and this wish formed part of the short biography which appeared next to my work.  

And so, my love of writing is beginning to come together with my love of architecture and photography. What exact path this will take I am unsure of as yet. I write of it now to put it out into the world and to express my willingness to step out into the unknown.