+ One important way to learn how to relate to others with compassion and appreciation is to seek wisdom from other cultures and traditions. For example, Ubuuntu is a wonderful way to build and sustain compassionate community:
In our country, we speak of something called ubuuntu. When I want to praise you, the highest praise I can give you is to say, you have ubuuntu — this person has what it takes to be a human being. This is a person who recognizes that he exists only because others exist: a person is a person through other persons. When we say you have ubuuntu, we mean that you are gentle, you are compassionate, you are hospitable, you want to share, and you care about the welfare of others. This is because my humanity is caught up in your humanity. So when I dehumanize others, whether I like it or not, inexorably, I dehumanize myself. For we can only by human, we can only be free, together. To forgive is actually the best form of self-interest. — Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu is a retired Anglican ArchBishop who played an important part in ending apartheid in South Africa. He made Ubuuntu come alive when he led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was a process of healing after the apartheid finally ended and the long oppressed black majority took power. We would all gain so much by learning and applying this process. Healing from centuries of oppression is needed by much of humanity in many places. The healing is needed by those who have
oppressed as well as those who have been oppressed. The world needs ubuuntu.
+ The Style of Relationships is one of the 12 spiritual styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian which are are listed in SE206. We are all different and need to find our own paths.
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