Universal compassion (ICA)

This is a realization that not only does one care, but one cares for the whole world. Nothing escapes one's care; in fact, what one's life is all about is acting out one's endless care. John Wesley captured this reality when he announced that: "All the world is my parish". Perhaps Martin Luther King knew this when he declared to a congregation of civil rights activists that even their most despised enemies were part of the movement because without them there would be no solution to the problem they were out to deal with.

A dimension of this experience is a sense of awe, that is fear and fascination. From this perspective, an individual asks himself whether his particular response to life's demands is really going to make any difference; he easily becomes overwhelmed by the complexity of life and yet find himself relentlessly driven to respond to it, sensing that no-one else is in any better position, and that ultimately nothing could be more adequate than his response. Whether it is helping to teach a small child how to tie a shoe lace or throwing one's self into major international efforts, one sees that it's worth one's life.

In caring for the whole world, a person is tempted by the possibility of abandoning everything, finding himself continually responding to whatever comes along as though nothing is unworthy of his care. The decision to care is known to have effected a permanent change as he decides to not look back.

This state is number 38 in the ICA Other World in the midst of this World.