There Must Be No Coercion In Matters

Religions Have Found That If You Behave In A Certain Way, If You Sort Of Perform Certain Rituals That Expand Your Mind And Make You Realize That Will Make You Realize And Help You To Seguey Into Transcendence And Perform Certain Acts, Adopt A Certain Lifestyle, You Develop New Capacities Of Mind And Heart, Just Like The Dancer, Or The Athlete That Make You Into A Whole Human Being And Principle After One Of These Disciplines Right Across The Board In All Of The Faiths Is Compassion, The Ability To Feel With The Other Person.

Compassion Is Not An Option. It's The Key To Our Survival.

Even Before 9/11 I Was Gripped By A Sense Of Dread: Our Lack Of Criticism About What We Were Doing In The Middle East - The Slagging Off Of A Whole Religious Tradition.

I Left The Convent And That Was Because I Wasn't A Very Good Nun. I Could See That I Wasn't Going To Make It. It's Very Difficult To Be A Nun, Or To Live A Religious Life. It's Very Difficult To Live A Life Of Total Celibacy Or A Life Without Any Possessions Or Material Responsibilities At All, Or In Total Obedience To Somebody Else, And Remain A Mature Whole Human Being, And I Knew That I Wasn't Going To Be One Of Those.

Compassion Doesn't, Of Course, Mean Feeling Sorry For People, Or Pity, Which Is How The Word Has Become Emasculated In A Way.