“ If we begin to connect the dots in such a way that literally thousands of people , tens of thousands , hundreds of thousands of people are connecting with each other around the globe , looking at the world through the lens of common humanity and interdependence , then we can begin to really make an incredible shift in the way that systems are designed and carried out with greater equity .”
don ’ t have to engage in this right now . I don ’ t have to engage in the anger ; I can recognize that the anger is there , and I ’ m feeling it , and it ’ ll go away .”
“ From a different angle , if we ’ re looking at it from the core foundational ideas , I think there are four ,” said CIT Co-Founder Dr . Michael Karlin , who ’ s now the Director of Research and Development . “ The first is that we all have compassion at our core . We all are fundamentally good and want good relationships , want to be compassionate and to be kind . That ’ s limited , though , so that gets to the second principle , which is that we can all expand on that core of compassion through practice . Third is the reality that we often obscure , that all human beings wish for greater wellbeing and less difficulty . Fourth and last would be interdependence , that we are all inextricably linked and inextricably bound for our own wellbeing and our own survival to everybody else on this planet . In some ways , I think the other 10 are kind of in service to getting people to grasp those four concepts , because if you grasp those four , the other 10 become more natural .”
The CIT program has skyrocketed in popularity since its development , going from small-scale local groups taking its courses to now being all over the United States and the world through partnerships with groups such as the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization ’ s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development ( UNESCO MGIEP ); Charter for Compassion ; Karanga ; and the City of San Antonio , among others . In 2021 , the government of India recommended that all university students take CIT .
“ We ’ ve moved beyond proof of concept ,” Dr . Karlin said . “ We ’ ve done this with enough people to know that it has impact . It sounds overly dramatic , but it can change lives for the better . We ’ ve seen that , and I think we are at an inflection point . Now it ’ s about building out the infrastructure and the internal systems that we need so that we can take on the growth that ’ s coming our way .”
“ We are currently looking at our Strategic Plan for 2022 , 2023 and 2024 — what do we want to do next year and then looking a few years out ,” Valtos said . “ Where do we want to go , and who do we want to be partnering with ? Where are we going ? One of the things , obviously , is that education is extremely important to CIT , and we want to be able to share
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