Kindness
September 9, 2009 –
I am constantly blown away by the kindness of my gents. Look at you with your total kindness to me! Kindness is not about giving to charity, it’s not even about feeling sorry for someone.
No, I think it is about recognising another human being and treating them with the same respect that you deserve yourself. I hope I am a kind person and if I am not, then I expect my friends to tell me. I think it is inherent, I don’t think you learn it from your parents or teachers – maybe you do – I didn’t.
Anyway, it’s a beautiful thing and I got to thinking about this and decided to find out what other thoughts were out there besides my own, you know, about kindness. Please add your comments to any of this. When you do that you will come across a foxy capture which says ‘what colour is an orange?’ – it is designed to shut those naughty and annoying spammy bots out and keep you, precious one, clasped firmly to my bosom – do not be foxed my lovely, it is not a trick, just say ‘orange’ :) x
Ahh Kindness….
Kindness is the act or the state of being kind and marked by charitable behaviour, marked by mild disposition, pleasantness, tenderness and concern for others. It is a recognized value in many cultures and religions. (wikopedia)
In Philosophy, kindness is interpreted as;
- According to book two of Aristotle‘s “Rhetoric” it is one of the emotions (see list of emotions), which is defined as being “helpfulness towards some one in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped”.
- Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued that kindness and love are the “most curative herbs and agents in human intercourse“.
- Kindness is considered to be one of the Knightly Virtues.
In Religon;
- It is considered to be one of the seven virtues, specifically the one of the Seven Contrary Virtues (direct opposites of the seven deadly sins) that is the direct opposite to envy.
- The Talmud claims that “deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments.”
- Paul of Tarsus defines love as being “patient and kind…” (I Corinthians).
- In Buddhism, one of the Ten Perfections (Paramitas) is Mettā, which is usually translated into English as “loving-kindness”. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama wrote “my religion is kindness” and authored a book entitled “Kindness, Clarity, and Insight”.
- Confucius urges his followers to “recompense kindness with kindness.”
In Psychology:
In a study of 37 cultures around the world, 16000 subjects were asked about their most desired traits in a mate. For both sexes, the first preference was kindness (the second was intelligence).
