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Cluster 3:

Social Ecology of Compassion

The natural, cultural, structural and spiritual basis for nurturing compassion. 

How do we respond to a world of all kinds of suffering? Do we feel the need to care and reach out to people in distress and are suffering? How do we make sense of compassion at the self and public levels? Has globalisation affected compassion? Is it just a sentiment that we should not take seriously? Is compassion also cruel? Is compassion, empathy? How political is compassion? Are there misuses of compassion in politics? What are the ways human communities have responded to human suffering? How do we recognise and recover compassionate knowledge and practice in society? How do we recover and nurture other-directedness and Inclusivity? How do we ensure that no one is left behind in an increasingly wealth and power-skewed world? How do we institutionalise an ethic of care?  Does compassion offer an antidote to ego and human-centric-ness, displacing us from the centre of the world? Can compassion be salvaged from sentimentalisation, religionisation, politicisation, bureaucratisation and commercialisation?  Can compassion be taught? Is a fully-bloomed compassionate society and future possible or is it an unrealitics utopia? (A multimedia, transmedia and non-linear document. It will grow over time.)

Compassion and Hope 

Cluster of Topics

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Proposed Core Topics

  • Understanding Compassion, its Varieties and Cultures  

  • Key Thinkers / Practitioners

  • Key Concepts/ Theories of Compassion

  • Exploring Humanity: Virtues, Values and Meaning Structures

  • Exploring Humanity: Contemplation, Meditation and Mindfulness

  • Beyond TINA/Rethinking Development: Alternative Narratives/Post-Development/Post- Growth/Post Materialism

  • Global Charters and Our Collective Futures

  • Exploring Social Teachings of World Religions

  • Compassion in World Religious/Spiritual Traditions

  • Compassion in Contemplative/Humanist Traditions

  • Six Models of Compassionate Practice

All Topics

Section A: Introduction and Overviews

  • Understanding Compassion, its Varieties and Cultures  

  • Key Thinkers / Practitioners

  • Key Concepts/ Theories of Compassion

  • Virtues, Values and Meaning Structures

  • Contemplation, Meditation and Mindfulness

  • Beyond TINA/Rethinking Development: Alternative Narratives/Post-Development/Post- Growth/Post Materialism

  • Global Charters and Our Collective Futures

  • Exploring Social Teachings of World Religions

  • Compassion in World Religious/Spiritual Traditions

  • Compassion in Contemplative/Humanist Traditions

  • Six Models of Compassionate Practice

 

Section B: The Structures  of Compassion

  • Alternative Economic Theories and Practice/Degrowth/Public and Common Good (One

  • Civil Society Movements, Youth Movements, Civil Disobedience, and Humanitarian Intervention

  • Educational Movements, The Global Education Project, Global Citizenship and Social Justice

  • Urbanisation and the Architecture of Compassion

  • Peace, Reconciliation, Trust, Mutuality and Inclusive Coexistence

  • Sustainable Cultures and Socially Engaged Spirituality

  • Femininity, Indigeneity and Ethics of Care

  • Discipleship, Critical Followership and Leadership  

  • International Days, Compassion, Democracy, Citizenship, Governance, Policy Environment and Global Institutions

  • Media, Public Sphere, and Responding to Distant Suffering

  • Global Charters and Our Futures

 

Section C: Art, Humanist and Spiritual Traditions

and The Future of Compassion

 

  • New Glossaries and Compassion

  • Creative Arts, Meaningful Art and Compassion

  • The Age Culture and Grounding Compassion

  • Exploring Social Teachings of World Religions

  • Compassion in World Religious/Spiritual Traditions

  • Compassion in Contemplative Humanist Traditions

  • Six Models of Compassionate Practice

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