Leafing through a catalog by Shambhala Publications this morning, I came across the phase “Be Present With Compassion” and jotted it on an index card for my corkboard. It’s the way I want to live what’s left of my life. I just paged through the catalog again to see who said it so I could give proper attribution, but it is not the title of a book. Must have been copy summary. It’s the kind of thing Buddhists say all the time.
It struck me that being present with compassion is how my favorite writers are with their characters, too.
Maybe not all writers and all characters, just the kind of novels I like to read. Novels full of flawed people who you love and forgive because the writer, skillfully and carefully, is an every-moment compassionate witness. Whether the characters are acting out in anger, being stupidly stubborn, or rising above an impossible occassion, the writer is there, with her character in the moment, practicing endless compassion.
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