REPOST–Cabaret Church: Why Compassion?

The second commitment of Cabaret Church is compassion—for all beings and without limit:

•  Compassion for self
• Compassion for our communities
• Compassion for the stranger
• Compassion for our enemies
• Compassion for all

If you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that the wording of this commitment has changed over the months. It began as “community,” became “connection” and grew into compassion. Each time the word changed, the commitment became larger and more challenging.

Cabaret Church is a community of people who believe that compassion is powerful and necessary. We are well aware that we are human and that means we make mistakes. We fuck up. We hurt people. In our commitment to art and resistance, we push boundaries and break rules. Sometimes we struggle to live up to our commitments and instead stay silent when we should have spoken up. We need compassion.

We know that in order to live in a compassionate world, we have to practice compassion. We understand that our heroes, our friends, and even our enemies are human. While that doesn’t keep us from feeling angry and calling out mistakes and demanding change, we try to do so without adding more insult and hatred to the world. And when we are the ones who screwed up, we not only respond to whomever we hurt with compassion, we extend that compassion to ourselves as well.

Compassion is, in a very real way, the thing that makes both art and resistance possible. We can explore art freely, express ideas and feelings, experiment with form and content, confront injustice and engage deeply with each other when we trust that we will be met with compassion. We can build the compassionate community that we long for and that inspires us. We can be Cabaret Church.