The Art Of Collaboration - Growing Compassion

This evening I had a little bit of time to follow up on a link to a Huffington Post blogger which eventually lead me to this interesting project in...Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. Now then, just where abouts is that?


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And in Appleton a very interesting project has been underway and is now pouring the waters of compassion on all who visit this interesting exhibition. A mosaic of compassion.

The Appleton Compassion Project is a community art project involving 10,436 Appleton Area School District K-12 art students. In Fall 2010, participating students received a 6-inch-by-6-inch art panel to draw or paint their idea of compassion.

The inspiration behind the project came from Richard Davidson, PhD — a University of Wisconsin-Madison brain researcher who has found that those who practice compassion have measurably healthier brains. What's more, Davidson's research shows that compassion can be learned, and should be practiced, as a skill. "A little more joy might be within everyone's reach," says Davidson.

My thought and pondering is on the process of this project. That's the involvement of a community in a collaborative endeavour. Could it be that working together can in itself be an expression of compassion? Certainly so if one thinks of compassion as acceptance . In my experience there needs to be lots of exercising acceptance when working with others on a project. Living in community, monastic community in my case, is a huge expression of compassion now I think about it....

Enjoy the show and thanks to the person who lead me to this most interesting effort. After my own heart.

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