The iACT offices are located near the heart of East Austin – in the pecan-dotted bottom land bordering Boggy Creek just a few blocks north of the Colorado River. Our offices are pretty humble, we are tenants in a building that used to be a bread factory but is now shared by a variety of other non-profits – there are also artist and design studios, carpentry workshops, book binders, and a start-up tech company that designs cell phone microphones.  It feels like a tiny cross section of Austin set in the middle of a Latino neighborhood where ice cream trucks roam and roosters crow from back yards.

Our space is cramped, and we are looking for larger quarters, but this place feels like home to our small and dedicated team. Every space occupied by humans has its “hearth” or heart and, here at iACT, that is our break room / kitchen / conference room / copy and storage room. Hanging on one of its walls is a large canvas painted with symbols representing about a dozen of the worlds faith traditions… a menorah, the crescent moon and star of Islam, a cross, a Buddhist wheel,  and many more. These symbols serve as the background to texts from each of the different traditions… each text a variant of the “Golden Rule” :

“This is the sum of all duty: do nothing to others which, if it were done to you, would cause you pain.”
Hinduism

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Christianity

“What is hateful to you, do not do to others. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary.”
Judaism

“Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.”
Confucianism

“None of you is a believer until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself.”
Islam

When visitors come to our office, they often marvel at this simple painting – expressing surprise at the similarity of these profound words – each from a different time and from different parts of the globe, but each perfectly encapsulating what lies at the heart of all the great faith traditions:  compassion.

Compassion is at the heart of our work too. It is what sustains our efforts to provide opportunities for all of the different traditions of Central Texas to join together in dialogue, service and celebration.

Compassion is a good thing to hold close to one’s heart… we hope that you will join your compassion to ours as we grow the heart of Austin. Please support our work.

Thank you, Tom

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While we are on the subject of compassion, here is the TED video of Karen Armstrong making her appeal for the “Charter for Compassion”:

The Charter for Compassion