Intention and direction: Take-aways from the Wisdom 2.0 Summit

     There were a few concepts introduced to me during the Wisdom 2.0 summit that reinvigorated my spirit in terms of compassion research.  First of all, no one who works to learn about compassion or wisdom is alone in that search.  Many others have realized that it is time to invest in our culture by propagating practices that engender compassion and wisdom.   A few key elements that feed into this are the idea of “being before doing” and having a particular intention.    “Being” refers to feeling into your own body and emotions.  This has also been called checking in with yourself.  

     Having an intention, a scream it to the sky type of intention, is also very important.  So I am going to put it out there for all the world to see. I intend to make the world a more compassionate place through interactive digital media. I see this digital age as one that stands on a precipice between the analytical and a more foundational sense of humanity.  Each day we are further separating ourselves and differentiating ourselves from others with our achievements and uniqueness.  I am special, I am different, and I deserve more in this world than everyone else.  We don’t explicitly say this, of course, but we tend to behave in this manner. 

Picture 1. Brainstorming about compassion

     With every post, whatever the original intention behind it, we are further differentiating ourselves.  What if we could instead use a wider, more encompassing metric to judge our progress?  What if instead of being a team of one, we could belong to Team Being?  It could be as wide and as large as your imagination and consciousness could stretch.  If you can visualize that similarity between you and someone else on the other end of the world, then you can grow your Team.