Sharing a post from Mindful.org as a way to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on this day.
MLK was a pioneer in nonviolence. Help cultivate his vision of a compassionate world with this loving-kindness practice.
“Martin Luther King Jr. was a powerful voice for compassion. He was a bold example of loving-kindness in action. To him, unconditional love was not passive acceptance, but a moral imperative to act—to speak out and stand up for those without a voice.
MLK’s message of tolerance centered around the idea of nonviolence. It’s not enough to avoid physical violence—one must avoid emotional violence as well. MLK once said: “You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” At the heart of this message is love:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Let’s carry his message into the world every day by cultivating compassion through mindfulness.
You don’t have to like everybody, or agree with everything they do—but you can open up to the possibility of caring for them, because our lives are inextricably linked. Here’s a loving-kindness practice from world-renowned compassion teacher Sharon Salzberg.” – Mindful Staff