For years I've been feeling frustrated, because as a religious historian, I've become acutely aware of the centrality of compassion in all the major world faiths. Every single one of them has evolved their own version of what's been called the Golden Rule. Sometimes it comes in a positive version -- "Always treat all others as you'd like to be treated yourself." And equally important is the negative version -- "Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you." Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.
Godinama se osećam frustrirano jer sam, kao istoričar religije, postala bolno svesna centralnog mesta saosećanja u svim većim svetskim verama. Svaka od njih je razvila sopstvenu verziju onoga što se naziva zlatno pravilo. Ponekad bude u pozitivnoj verziji: „Uvek se ophodite prema svima ostalima kao što želite da se ophode prema vama.“ Podjednako je važna i negativna verzija: „Ne činite drugima ono što ne biste želeli da oni čine vama.“ Pogledajte u svoje srce, otkrijte šta je to što vam zadaje bol i zatim odbijte da, pod bilo kojim okolnostima, nanesete taj bol bilo kome drugom.
And people have emphasized the importance of compassion, not just because it sounds good, but because it works. People have found that when they have implemented the Golden Rule as Confucius said, "all day and every day," not just a question of doing your good deed for the day and then returning to a life of greed and egotism, but to do it all day and every day, you dethrone yourself from the center of your world, put another there, and you transcend yourself. And it brings you into the presence of what's been called God, Nirvana, Rama, Tao. Something that goes beyond what we know in our ego-bound existence.
Ljudi su naglašavali značaj saosećanja ne samo zato što zvuči dobro, već zato što deluje. Ljudi su shvatili da, kada primenjuju zlatno pravilo onako kako je Konfučije rekao, „ceo dan i svaki dan“, a ne samo da učine dobro delo tog dana i zatim se vrate životu pohlepe i egotizma, već kada to činite ceo dan i svaki dan, svrgavate sebe sa prestola u centru svog sveta, postavljate tamo drugu osobu i nadilazite sebe. To vas dovodi u prisustvo onoga što se naziva bog, nirvana, Rama, Tao. To je nešto što prevazilazi ono što nam je poznato u našem postojanju ograničenom egom.
But you know you'd never know it a lot of the time, that this was so central to the religious life. Because with a few wonderful exceptions, very often when religious people come together, religious leaders come together, they're arguing about abstruse doctrines or uttering a council of hatred or inveighing against homosexuality or something of that sort. Often people don't really want to be compassionate. I sometimes see when I'm speaking to a congregation of religious people a sort of mutinous expression crossing their faces because people often want to be right instead. And that of course defeats the object of the exercise.
Međutim, često nećete primetiti da je ovo tako važno u religioznom životu zato što, pored nekoliko divnih izuzetaka, vrlo često, kada se religiozni ljudi, religijski predvodnici okupe, oni raspravljaju o nejasnim doktrinama, koriste govor mržnje u svojim odborima, osuđuju homoseksualnost ili nešto poput toga. Ljudi često ne žele da budu saosećajni. Ponekad vidim, kada govorim pred kongregacijama religioznih ljudi, nešto poput buntovnog izraza lica jer bi ljudi često radije da budu u pravu, a to, naravno, poništava svrhu sprovođenja.
Now why was I so grateful to TED? Because they took me very gently from my book-lined study and brought me into the 21st century, enabling me to speak to a much, much wider audience than I could have ever conceived. Because I feel an urgency about this. If we don't manage to implement the Golden Rule globally, so that we treat all peoples, wherever and whoever they may be, as though they were as important as ourselves, I doubt that we'll have a viable world to hand on to the next generation.
Zašto sam tako zahvalna TED-u? Zato što me je nežno otrgnuo od mog knjiškog izučavanja i doveo me u 21. vek, omogućivši mi da se obratim mnogo, mnogo široj publici nego što sam ikada mogla da zamislim, jer osećam da ovo iziskuje brzo reagovanje. Ako ne uspemo da globalno primenimo zlatno pravilo tako da tretiramo sve ljude, gde god i ko god da su, kao da su važni kao i mi sami, sumnjam da ćemo imati održivi svet koji ćemo predati narednoj generaciji.
The task of our time, one of the great tasks of our time, is to build a global society, as I said, where people can live together in peace. And the religions that should be making a major contribution are instead seen as part of the problem. And of course it's not just religious people who believe in the Golden Rule. This is the source of all morality, this imaginative act of empathy, putting yourself in the place of another.
Zadatak našeg vremena, jedan od velikih zadataka našeg vremena, jeste da izgradimo globalno gruštvo, kao što sam rekla, u kome ljudi mogu da žive zajedno u miru. A religije, koje bi trebalo da dosta tome doprinose, umesto toga se doživljavaju kao deo problema. Naravno, u zlatno pravilo ne veruju samo religiozni ljudi. To je izvor celokupne moralnosti, maštovitog čina empatije, postavljanja sebe na mesto druge osobe.
And so we have a choice, it seems to me. We can either go on bringing out or emphasizing the dogmatic and intolerant aspects of our faith, or we can go back to the rabbis. Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, who, when asked by a pagan to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg, said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah and everything else is only commentary."
Imamo izbor, čini mi se. Možemo ili da nastavimo sa sprovođenjem ili naglašavanjem dogmatičnih i netolerantnih aspekata naše vere, ili se možemo vratiti rabinima. Rabin Hilel, stariji Isusov savremenik, koji je, kada mu je pagan zatražio da sumira celokupno jevrejsko učenje dok stoji na jednoj nozi, rekao: „Ono što ti je mrsko, nemoj činiti svom bližnjem. To je Tora, a ostalo su samo komentari.“
And the rabbis and the early fathers of the church who said that any interpretation of scripture that bred hatred and disdain was illegitimate. And we need to revive that spirit. And it's not just going to happen because a spirit of love wafts us down. We have to make this happen, and we can do it with the modern communications that TED has introduced. Already I've been tremendously heartened at the response of all our partners.
Rabini i prvi crkveni oci govorili su da je svako tumačenje svetih spisa koje rađa mržnju i prezir nedopustivo. Moramo da oživimo taj duh. To se neće tek tako dogoditi zato što nas ponese duh ljubavi. Moramo učiniti da se to dogodi, a to možemo učiniti savremenom komunikacijom koju je TED uveo. Već su me neverovatno ohrabrili odgovori svih naših partnera.
In Singapore, we have a group going to use the Charter to heal divisions recently that have sprung up in Singaporean society, and some members of the parliament want to implement it politically. In Malaysia, there is going to be an art exhibition in which leading artists are going to be taking people, young people, and showing them that compassion also lies at the root of all art. Throughout Europe, the Muslim communities are holding events and discussions, are discussing the centrality of compassion in Islam and in all faiths.
U Singapuru imamo grupu koja će koristiti Povelju da pomiri podeljene strane koje su nedavno nastale u singapurskom društvu, a neki narodni poslanici žele da je primene politički. U Maleziji će biti održana umetnička izložba u kojoj će vodeći umetnici voditi ljude, mlade ljude, i pokazati im da saosećanje takođe leži u osnovi celokupne umetnosti. Širom Evrope, muslimanske zajednice organizuju događaje i diskusije, razmatraju središnju ulogu saosećanja u islamu i svim verama.
But it can't stop there. It can't stop with the launch. Religious teaching, this is where we've gone so wrong, concentrating solely on believing abstruse doctrines. Religious teaching must always lead to action. And I intend to work on this till my dying day. And I want to continue with our partners to do two things -- educate and stimulate compassionate thinking. Education because we've so dropped out of compassion. People often think it simply means feeling sorry for somebody. But of course you don't understand compassion if you're just going to think about it. You also have to do it.
Međutim, to ne sme stati na tome. Ne sme se stati na početku. Religijska učenja - na tom smo mestu toliko pogrešili, isključivo usmereni na verovanje u nejasne doktrine. Religijska učenja moraju uvek voditi akciji. Nameravam da radim na ovome do svoje smrti i želim da nastavim sa našim partnerima sa radom na dvema stvarima - na obrazovanju i podsticanju saosećajnog razmišljanja. Na obrazovanju, jer smo toliko napustili saosećanje. Ljudi često misle da to jednostavno znači sažaljevati nekoga. Naravno da ne razumete saosećajnost ako samo mislite o tome. Morate to i da uradite.
I want them to get the media involved because the media are crucial in helping to dissolve some of the stereotypical views we have of other people, which are dividing us from one another. The same applies to educators. I'd like youth to get a sense of the dynamism, the dynamic and challenge of a compassionate lifestyle. And also see that it demands acute intelligence, not just a gooey feeling.
Želim da se mediji uključe jer su oni od suštinskog značaja za zaustavljanje nekih stereotipnih gledišta koja imamo o drugim ljudima, koji nas međusobno razdvajaju. Isto se odnosi i na nastavnike. Volela bih da mladi steknu osećaj dinamičnosti, dinamike i izazova saosećajnog životnog stila, a takođe i da vide da to zahteva jaku inteligenciju, ne samo osećaj raspilavljenosti.
I'd like to call upon scholars to explore the compassionate theme in their own and in other people's traditions. And perhaps above all, to encourage a sensitivity about uncompassionate speaking, so that because people have this Charter, whatever their beliefs or lack of them, they feel empowered to challenge uncompassionate speech, disdainful remarks from their religious leaders, their political leaders, from the captains of industry. Because we can change the world, we have the ability.
Htela bih da pozovem učene ljude da istraže temu saosećanja u sopstvenoj tradiciji i tradicijama drugih ljudi, a možda prvenstveno želim da podstaknem osetljivost na nesaosećajan govor, pa da se ljudi, zato što imaju ovu Povelju, kakva god da su im verovanja ili njihov nedostatak, osećaju osnaženo da se suprotstave nesaosećajnom govoru, prezrivim primedbama njihovih verskih i političkih vođa, predvodnika industrije. Zato što možemo promeniti svet. Imamo tu sposobnost.
I would never have thought of putting the Charter online. I was still stuck in the old world of a whole bunch of boffins sitting together in a room and issuing yet another arcane statement. And TED introduced me to a whole new way of thinking and presenting ideas. Because that is what is so wonderful about TED. In this room, all this expertise, if we joined it all together, we could change the world. And of course the problems sometimes seem insuperable.
Nikad se ne bih setila da postavim Povelju na internet. Još sam bila zatočena u starom svetu u kome gomila učenjaka sedi u sobi i donosi još jedan tajanstveni iskaz. TED me je upoznao sa potpuno novim načinom razmišljanja i predstavljanja ideja. To je ono što je tako divno kod TED-a. U ovoj prostoriji, ovo celokupno stručno znanje, ako bismo to ujedinili, mogli bismo promeniti svet. Naravno, problem se ponekad čini nesavladivim.
But I'd just like to quote, finish at the end with a reference to a British author, an Oxford author whom I don't quote very often, C.S. Lewis. But he wrote one thing that stuck in my mind ever since I read it when I was a schoolgirl. It's in his book "The Four Loves." He said that he distinguished between erotic love, when two people gaze, spellbound, into each other's eyes. And then he compared that to friendship, when two people stand side by side, as it were, shoulder to shoulder, with their eyes fixed on a common goal.
Htela bih još samo da citiram, da završim pozivajući se na britanskog, oksfordskog autora kojeg ne citiram baš često, K.S. Luisa. Napisao je nešto što mi je ostalo u mislima otkad sam to pročitala kad sam bila učenica. To je iz njegove knjige „Četiri ljubavi“. Rekao je da razlikuje erotsku ljubav, kada dvoje opčinjeno gledaju jedno drugom u oči. To je uporedio sa prijateljstvom, kada dvoje ljudi stoje jedno uz drugo, rame uz rame, dok su im oči fiksirane na zajedničkom cilju.
We don't have to fall in love with each other, but we can become friends. And I am convinced. I felt it very strongly during our little deliberations at Vevey, that when people of all different persuasions come together, working side by side for a common goal, differences melt away. And we learn amity. And we learn to live together and to get to know one another. Thank you very much. (Applause)
Ne moramo se zaljubiti jedni u druge, ali možemo postati prijatelji. Ubeđena sam. Osetila sam to vrlo snažno tokom našeg malog razmatranja u Veveu, da, kada se ljudi različitih uverenja okupe, radeći rame uz rame na zajedničkom cilju, razlike nestaju i učimo se prijateljstvu. Učimo da živimo zajedno i da upoznajemo jedni druge. Mnogo vam hvala. (Aplauz)