Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still.
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) Poet, Essayist and
author of Ash Wednesday: Six Poems
“I’ve thought about these two lines many times. Right there we have the combination of compassion and equanimity. Teach us to care. Teach us to be brave enough to care, teach us to have the courage to care, and to put our caring out into the world. And please teach us not to care, not as apathy, or indifference, or privilege, or neglect, but as a fundamental equanimity. A fundamental inner peace that is underneath, in effect, the streaming hurly burly of the world.”
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Psychologist and author of
Making Great Relationships: Simple Practices
for Solving Conflicts, Building Connections, and Fostering Love
