Edited transcript:
“So we want to talk a little bit about kindness.
Now kindness is something that is thought of by some people as a weakness. It is thought of as something that may be the wool can be pulled over the kind person’s eyes, this kind of thing, and it is not really something that is thought very highly of in modern society. However, we would like to say that kindness, we believe, is one of the great virtues, but employing it can be one of the great challenges. So, we believe it is one of the greatest virtues, but to actually do it is one of the greatest challenges, why?
There are several reasons why we believe this. To be kind to somebody who is in some situation of distress, that is very easy, because you can really feel the emotion, and in feeling the emotion you realise that they are need of help. You automatically feel kind. When there is famine in other countries and there is a call to donate money, this type of thing, everybody feels this rush of kindness, this rush of feeling. What is happening is that their level of emotion, their level of distress is so great that all around the world, once it is known, many people can also feel it and so almost automatically their response to that is kindness, and they dig deep into their pockets and they give money and that makes them feel very good…. and then it is…. gone, right? Then it is forgotten. But they have been kind for that point and that is to be applauded, but then it is ‘gone’.
And that is why we say it is one of the greatest challenges, and one of the greater virtues because
“to employ kindness, even when it is not required through some emotional exchange or through some desire to help somebody or feel good about yourself, that you actually employ kindness in all of your dealings, all of the time, with all of the people, and all of the situations that you come into contact with, that is really a challenge…”
… to be able to do that, to really be able to put yourself in that person’s position and feel their emotions, feel the way they are feeling, all the time. This does not mean you diminish yourself, and that you cannot distinguish yourself from them, but what it is doing, what you are doing, is reaching out to this individual, drawing them out so that the two of you can meet, whether it is this situation, or whether it is country-to-country it does not matter, but there is this connection and kindness is one of the only things that can actually get that connection all the time.
People will say it is “love”, and yes love is one thing, but love is very intimate and even though we should ‘love one another like you would like to be loved’, as the saying goes, we consider love to be a very intimate thing, you really have to know the person, you really have to have find some ‘like’ within them that is like you, so you can find this point of love. With kindness it’s not like that.
Actually with kindness you have to go forth and really feel the other person, you might not find there is anything in them to like that is like you, but to really go forth and to expand them to the point where you can feel their need, feel their desires, feel their wants and their inabilities, that is kindness.
Do you see in your reaching out to them, and in this drawing out you are giving something of yourself, which is kindness?
You see how the challenge is there, it is a great challenge. It is actually much more challenging than loving somebody or liking somebody, because even when you love or like somebody it is not necessary to be kind. But if you are living your life with this idea of kindness, you see the possibilities that can open up to you. If you are reaching out to somebody and really trying to draw them out, their feelings and their desires, all of the things we mentioned before, and then you are wanting to be kind to them because you have done that, do you see what you are doing? You are nourishing them, body, emotion, mind, soul and spirit.
If everybody was doing this, there would actually be no need for this idea of love in this respect, because it would be everywhere. It would not be something different, something that is special for some and not for others, it’s just there. And this is why we find it so interesting, that people find kindness something that is weak, or something that is a special occasion thing. If people can employ kindness with all of its challenges, and with all of the gifts that it brings, then you can see the possibilities for the whole of the universe, not just for humankind, but the whole of the universe because it expands, it propels, it makes more!”
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