Compassionate action -- balanced by wisdom -- is a very important component of spiritual life. It opens our heart and puts us in touch with the happiness that illuminates existence and gives us the strength and courage to continue on the path.
There is life without love. It is not worth a bent penny, or a scuffed shoe...When you hear, a mile away and still out of sight, the churn of the water as it begins to swirl and roil, fretting around the sharp rocks—when you hear that unmistakable pounding—when you feel the mist on your mouth and sense ahead the embattlement, the long fall plunging and steaming—then row, row for your life toward it.