The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness

The acclaimed book that helped launch am international compassion movement. With unfailing curiosity, Barasch poses vital questions: What can we learn from exceptionally empathic people? Can we increase our compassion quotient? How do we open our hearts to those who do us harm? What if the great driving force of our evolution were actually survival of the kindest?Drawing on science and spirituality, history a d popular culture, button-down business and a high-sense of fun, here is a star, provocative argument that a simple shift in consciousness can change pretty much everything. With a keen balance of hope and realism, Marc Barasch set out on a journey to the heart of compassion, discovering its power to change who we are and the society we might become. He describes his own encounters with primates who demonstrate the roots of human empathy, and with Buddhist monks whose brain scans show how the practice of kindness actually resculpts our neural pathways. He vividly profiles his moving encounters with a man who donated his kidney to a stranger, and a man who forgave his daughter's murderer; with teenage Palestinian and Israeli girls learning to wage peace; even with astronomers trying to devise a missive to E.T. that we're not only clever, but kind. An argument for compassion that is balanced yet persuasive--and long overdue. This book ought to be a compulsory read for all;(Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate) An essential guide for anyone who cares deeply about the human condition, and how we can help each other through with loves and guts. (Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence). Cultivating the virtue of compassion is a requirement for optimum health, as well as for improving the state of the world. This book will help you do both--it is good medicine for our time.(Andrew Weil, MD, author of Spontaneous Healing) This book is a marvelous act of generosity: a wise, beautiful, triumphant reminder of our human goodness. (Jack, Kornfield, PhD, author of A Path with Heart and No Time Like the Present) Makes a powerful case for a world of kindness, generosity, and love. Barasch develops sophisticated social theory that challenges the paralyzing cynicism that is the 'common sense' of our age;(Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun, author of The Left Hand of God) ;Refreshingly real, beyond left or right, just straight to the center of the human heart. If you want to help save the world today, then give someone--anyone--this startling, truthful, and passionate book.(Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post) Describing how compassion unfolds in ordinary lives and transforms them is Barasch's great gift. Elegant, erudite, and profoundly gentle: this book is a shimmering jewel (Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words) ;I have read the book twice--once from an intellectual perspective and the second time from my heart--and I was doubly rewarded by its wisdom. I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to understand why the compassionate life is the answer--and who wants to learn how to live it. (Bernie Siegel, MD, author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles)