Baha'i

Baha’i / Karen Armstrong

The Karen Armstrong video provided some very simplistic and valid points in regards to humans showing compassion to one another. The different perspectives shape the video quite effectively and I really connected with her message.

 I hate to sound too generic here, but with the world the way it is today, tolerance and unity are two essential pieces to productive and civil relationships in the world arena.  Taking a step back, compassion is something we could all use more in our daily lives, no matter what the circumstances.

 The Baha’i ideal of unity definitely can be closely related to the message in the video. In my opinion, the Baha’i faith is quite reflective of Karen Armstrong’s vision of compassion that was projected in the video.  Unity and humanity are two key aspects of the Baha’i teachings. Building off this, things that restrict these aspects such as prejudice and inhumane actions are thought of as a roadblock to unity and acting humanely. As a result, compassion is arguably one of the driving forces behind the Baha’i teaching, as it must be practiced in order for unity and humanistic conditions to exist.  On a person to person level, the emphasis “equality” of human beings regardless of ones beliefs and social standing is also key to achieving unity. Applying this to daily life, these points are essential in acting with compassion on a daily basis, and with the different stories shared over the course of the video, this was exemplified. Looking past ethnicity, skin color, social status, and religious beliefs the Baha’i stance on human co-existence and relationship is quite encouraging, encompassing this with the video, the two were alike and reading between the lines two similar messages could be read