Imagine: John Lennon, Pangea Day, and a Council of Compassion

Do Unto Others

Back to this business of The Golden Rule.  I awoke this morning, drenched in my senses, aroused in every aspect, smelling the unusually fragrant lilacs next to my bed. I needed to see TED, thirsty for the best minds to help me express my thoughts today.

Photo via Flickr’s —geisha—I didn’t go to TED for “confession” over recalling my peony-stealing caper but rather in a search for “rebirth”, a query that brought me to former nun Karen Armstrong, who is now “one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world.”

Karen Armstrong, formerly tagged “the runaway nun”,  is the author of the international best seller, The History of God. She believes that human-heartness defines the crucial core of religious principles. Authentic justice lies in compassion, perhaps even above the laws that govern us.

The author reminds us that our contemporary definition of belief as a set of unyielding principles grounded in rigid, rational argument is a recent religious enthusiasm.


According to Armstrong, the word belief originally mean to love, to prize, to hold dear. She argues that religious doctrines are only valid as a call to action … and this calling is not concerned with killing, but with compassion. Belief is not about retribution.

Global Awakening

Armstrong now seeks a new Council of Compassion that rejects the high jacking of the world’s major religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, by those who prefer to be right, rather than compassionate.  

This proposed Council of Compassion exists in sync with last weekend’s, May 10th Pangea Day. This global gathering was another in a growing constellation of events that unleash the power of ordinary individuals … creative, talented, expressive individuals with stories to tell, ideas to share.

The message of Pangea Day resonated with me all week. To paraphrase:

“In this age, images are powerful enough to divide, to spread fear, to remove hope.
Powerful enough to unite, to build trust, to inspire action.
Until now, the images of many have been in the hands of a few.

Finally, that is changing … millions of people around the world are telling their own stories.

For the first time in history, we have a chance to see the world differently, to see it through the eyes of the other.

Imagine if we could get inside each others’ heads for a day. What would we see?”

Catharsis Through Imagination

“Imagination”, says Remez Sasson, “is the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the senses. It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not exist, are not present or have happened in the past.”

Indeed, imagination involves all the five senses and feelings. Imagination, Sasson reminds us, is a great power that can change your whole life.

Creative Power and Pangea Day

This is the purpose of Pangea Day, a global offering of ordinary people’s creative power through film. Like Ted Talks, we can spend time with Pangea Day films at any hour, day or night. We have the opportunity to get inside each others’ heads for a short time, to reflect and consider what we find there.

The goal is to change one’s life, to discover compassion.

Photo via Flickr’s h.koppdelaney

We make gifts of our hearts, minds, and feelings to and for the benefit of each other … for joy, for hope, for understanding … and for peace of mind.

The world is our flower garden, and we must keep populating it … which is why I swiped Kathy Purdy’s snowdrops … to make a point of concern about global warming — that she dismisses — but many others do not.

I stick to my message that we cannot take small flowers for granted. Their existence lies at very core of compassion.

The rock in my rose garden says “Imagine”. Looking at the world through pink glasses is fundamental to my thinking. Indeed, I do not see Jersey City across my lower Manhattan marina. I see Portofino, and not only in erotic, sensual moments. I never see Jersey City, because Portofino inspires me.

Wearing rose-colored sunglasses would be a fundamental flaw in my daily life, if I ran from the reality around me.  I don’t; I just search for the best view, the most beauty. Looking at joisseyshowaa’s incredible photograph of a sensual, red-drenched, Central Park landscape, only underscores the fact that every reality has many different interpretations. I’m allowed mine, and it’s not all about blue skies. Nor is it dark.

Inspiration, hope, celebration, argument … these are the forces that carry us forward, connecting us to each other in today’s world … like it or not.  

Transgression is fundamental to our 21st century world.  We cannot wind up tightly in our own cocoons, impervious to each other. Hammocks remain a wonderful respite, as long as we get out of them regularly, our imaginations on fire with expressive solutions to everyday life problems.

I leave you with a powerful song, one that has inspired millions. I’m very certain that this modern, heart-felt man would embrace Pangea Day and Armstrong’s Council of Compassion.

As for me … will I give up my pruning sheers, renouncing my life as nature’s kleptomaniac? I doubt it … I have too much work to do and way too big a garden to tend.  

While my tendency is to go after the lush, erotic blooms of life, I have a long history of looking out for small buds as well. At the end of the day, I will just have to suck it in, take my licks, and move forward … my privately-held lilac memory now tainted by my relentless caring for nature’s little people.

Love,
Anne