We can use science for research and the generation of new ideas to find new forms of sharing and caring that reaches humanity as a whole; keeping in mind that this was not the evolutionary context for caring and sharing. Evolution has handed us a mind that is capable of great compassion, but also in the context of large groups and storable and accumulable wealth, absolute demonic terror. Whether we follow spiritual beliefs or not, that is the battle that goes on in our individual minds, in our communities and our societies. It is not a battle between good and evil, it is a battle between two resource distribution strategies that are millions of years old. As we come to understand how we are programmed (against our awareness) and how our minds are emotionally and motivationally orchestrated by these strategies, we may decide enough is enough. We have a degree of intelligence and mindfulness and can decide to take control of the steering wheel.
So in creating a world of riches, rather than making us feel safer, it has a paradoxical effect of making us more threat focused, socially comparing to our local reference groups, and as a result, callous to the less well off (Piff et al., 2018; Basran et al., 2019). This is the degree to which people can be enticed to believe things that are not only untrue but are also against their own interests. While researchers believe that humans have capacities for identifying truth in messages (Mercier, 2017), it is also recognised that the modern media and ways in which leaders present themselves can easily overwhelm this competency. Some believe our ‘gullibility’ is one of the most serious challenges to democracy.
Across various spiritual traditions, compassion is revered as an essential virtue. In Buddhism, for example, compassion (Karuna) is central to the path of enlightenment. Practitioners are encouraged to cultivate compassion not only for friends and loved ones but also for strangers and even adversaries.
All to say I am not sure I am the best teacher for how to develop compassion. The good news is there are numerous excellent resources out there for anyone who recognizes this is an important area of growth. Under the influences of identity-grasping beliefs, the conceptual thoughts (VIKALPA) regarding the identities of self and others can influence the precuneus/PCC that may serve as the generator of thought (VITARKA). We point to the following ingenious animal study as a model to illustrate the three types of suffering.
Compassion In Conflict
Again, many researchers suggest that it was expanding group size (facilitated by agriculture) that created large(r) tribes who in turn began to encounter one another and covet each other’s land and resources; or at least their dominant elites did. Group on group violence has been the source of some of the worst atrocities and most extraordinary cruelties, particularly in how the vanquished are treated (Black, 2016; Hobfoll, 2018). It is also the source of what may eventually extinguish humanity if we do not control it. Today, truly vast resources are spent on maintaining and building local and national armies, weapons, and weapon research (including the horrific prospect of robot armies), far more than on medicine. Margaret Thatcher an archetypal ‘hold and control’ politician was a great advocate of the arms trade (Gilbert, 2018).
Eisler and Fry (2019) suggest similar, but with a different focus on what they call a domination system, with a four-component system that links evolved motive with cultural practices. Second is the tendency to see one group as superior to another and fair game for exploitation, suppression or even removal. This is close to the concept of SDO, which again is about control and hold strategies for resource competition (Sidanius et al., 2017).
Compassion In Times Of Conflict—a Conversation With Tara, Paul Gilbert, And Rick Hanson
According to Arya Asanga, PRAPAÑCA is a process that can proliferate and embody eight types of conceptual thoughts (VIKALPA) that are supported by three levels of substances, i.e., vehicles of conceptual thoughts (Asanga, 2016). Thus, because he loves to pacify the pains of others, He whose mind is attuned in this way, would enter even the deepest hell, just as a wild goose plunges into a lotus pond. We consider that our first hypothesis lies in the scope of the second Noble Truths, and our second hypothesis in the scope of the fourth Noble Truths. “I have enough suffering of my own, why would I want to imagine and take in others’ as well?” they counter. Miraculously, our hearts have an alchemical capacity to turn dark suffering (ours and others’) into the golden light of compassion and connection. “Seems to me both of you are feeling unsupported, frustrated, and in pain,” I offer. Finally, the two slow down and look at each other, nodding slightly.
One was that birth became dangerous and painful, and indeed hunter-gatherers had/have high mortality. Second, human infants require considerably longer parenting and socially interactive parenting that facilitates huge transformations during development. The way we adapted to these realities played a role in the shift toward our caring and sharing style of living.
It asks us to put aside our defenses, to see the humanity in others even when it’s obscured by anger or pain. In real conflicts like Gaza, Compassion is not a passive ideal but an active force. Most importantly, it redefines justice — not as retribution but as restoration. According to FEP, the development of an individual organism (ontogeny) is a dynamic process of individual-environment transactions that gradually embody the functional nodes of the Bayesian Engine. The embodiment of Bayesian Engine is probably corresponding to the notion of clinging to physical existence depending on conceptual imputation, i.e., dependent designation (PRAJÑAPTI UPNA). The embodiment of these nodes makes these primary and secondary transactions automatic, such that the agent subjectively experiences phenomena without any efforts.
He notes that businesses are now beginning to think about sustainability and also that profit should be ‘with purpose’ not for its own sake. These are fascinating and important discourses arising within the business world. However, economics tends to make the assumption that each individual’s brain is pretty similar without accounting for individual variation. One problem with these discourses then is that they tend to be detached from the processes of how economic and social conditions shape the kinds of brains we have – right down to our epigenetic profiles.
We are definitely not the masters of our own minds despite the illusions of being so (Bargh, 2017). For the most part, western philosophical and psychological traditions have endorsed two basic views to explain the dark side of human nature. One is a kind of Hobbesian view that humans are out for themselves and will do anything to advance themselves and can only be constrained by an authoritarian state. Others argue that we are hard-wired and born to be (and need) caring and sharing and that it is combinations of culture and perhaps poor early life experiences that deviate us off that path (Keltner, 2009; Narvaez, 2017, 2020). One is that we can be enticed into behaving harmfully because we are compliant and subservient to authority. In the 1960s, Milgram’s (1974) famous experiments enticed people to deliver painful and potentially dangerous shocks in learning experiments.
- For the most part, religions like Christianity also appeal to their followers to “love thy neighbor as thy self” and yet it was turned into a persecuting religion that was to see the Crusades, the Inquisition, and other wars in the name of Christ.
- We hereby propose a putative brain model of social cognition in the Bayesian framework, as depicted in Figure 4.
- Competitive cultures are fertile grounds for narcissistic and psychopathic personalities to prosper and gain power.
Concerning too is increasing evidence that epigenetic changes can be inherited and passed to subsequent generations (Cowan et al., 2016; O’Donnell and Meaney, 2020). The implications of this are profound and still to be fully acknowledged because it means that the societies that we have been creating since agriculture may well have been affecting our epigenetic profiles. We are faced with the possibility that different cultures create different phenotypic patterns in the individuals living within them.
Compassionate leadership involves modeling empathetic behaviors and promoting an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their needs and concerns. Forgiveness is a significant aspect of resolving conflicts and moving forward positively. Compassion encourages individuals to let go of grievances and choose forgiveness over resentment. By recognizing our shared humanity—flaws and all—we can find common ground that enables healing. This year, Slovic has been specifically applying psychology to genocide to try and tackle some of these issues.
In addition, one can see the theme of SDO as a form of social, cultural narcissism. Caring can be used for many non-sentient objects and beings, whereas compassion cannot. For example, we can talk about caring for our gardens, homes, cars or prized possessions, or our planet, but we do not use the term compassion for that type of caring because these are not sentient and do not experience suffering.
This approach is particularly relevant in holistic and wellness spaces where the focus is on balance, healing, and interconnectedness. Whether dealing with tensions in a business partnership, a personal relationship, or within a spiritual community, conflict resolution based in compassion helps maintain harmony and prevent long-term resentment or bitterness. When forgiving, we free ourselves in the first place from any negativity that occupies space in our minds and heart.
A few days ago, we finally broke past all the heart ache and pain to truly connect and see each other- recognizing and owning our strengths and weaknesses. For so long, I was unable to let go of being right and it was a battle I was committed to winning. Eventually and after lots of self work (yoga teacher training, therapy, etc.) I realized that winning/being right didn’t matter anymore.
Conversely, the impairment of hippocampus will compromise contextual frame processing, e.g., allocentric spatial framing, (Langston and Wood, 2010). In human twin studies, the weaker capacity of hippocampus-dependent allocentric framing is a dispositional risk factor for developing posttraumatic stress disorders (Gilbertson et al., 2007). We hereby propose a putative brain model of social cognition in the Bayesian framework, as depicted in Figure 4. To simplify the description, we will first parse the brain-based Bayesian Engine into three functional components, namely Relation-Modeling, Reality-Checking, and Conflict-Alarming.
This is sometimes egged on by the sections of the media (Mulgan, 2006; Sachs, 2012). Indeed, as Gilligan (2011) reveals, some politicians are ‘more dangerous’ than others. Many right https://linktr.ee/wingtalks wing policies, which are basically invigorated control and hold strategies, tend to increase mental health difficulties, crime, social inequalities and social division and increase a sense of threat.
Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) taught that a compassion meditation practitioner should focus on the friend, enemy, and those in between, thinking, ‘I’m going to help them’ (Gelek Rimpoche, 2014). After the prerequisites, a lojong practitioner is ready to cultivate a concentrated meditation on Awakening Mind (BODHICITTA), i.e., the intention to reach the complete, perfect enlightenment, in order to liberate all sentient beings in the universe from suffering. This goal is informed by the recognition of the nature of universal sufferings, as the targets to eliminate, and knowledge of the nature of the mind, as the basis of eventual success. We hereby introduce a technical feature of compassion meditation that is directly relevant to our second hypothesis and explain how it may counter PRAPAÑCA and VIKALPA that cause ego-preserving bias, as follows. Using this animal study as a metaphor, a person entrapped in VIKALPA and PRAPAÑCA is like the rats in the study described above.