Sufi Heart with Omid Safi Ep. 19 – Expanding Our Circle of Compassion
Jun 3, 2020
A reflective talk on widening our circle of compassion to include all sentient beings. A call to redefine success as communal transformation rather than personal accumulation. A critique of the culture of constant busyness and guidance to recharge the heart. An affirmation that love, grounded in care, is inseparable from social justice.
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Starting At Colgate With 125 Boxes Of Books
- Omid recounts moving to Colgate broke with 125 boxes of books and one child, which grounded his connection to the campus.
- He contrasts his early teaching struggles with admiration for excellent teachers whose classes felt like artful narratives.
Be Patient With Your Becoming
- Do be patient with your timeline and avoid rushing to 'become' your idealized self overnight.
- Omid Safi reminds graduates that major spiritual figures matured in their 30s–40s and urges kindness toward early-career stumbles.
Fail Better And Learn To Bounce Back
- When you fail, try again and 'fail better' by learning to fall, break, and heal more gracefully.
- Omid cites Samuel Beckett and Leonard Cohen to emphasize resilience as the core of learning and love.