Those of you who are familiar with the idea of compersion will see this reflected in how the empathy works neurologically. The idea to empathize or resonate with others seems to be basic to our emotional makeup, and one of the first things damaged in childhood. Some people seem to have a lot of empathy and others do not have so much — though we can check out how that came to be and what we might do about it. I am eager to hear your responses to this presentation.
Jeremy Rifkin, the author and narrator, is a well known philosopher in the field of ethics, as well as an economist. His ideas are considered controversial.
If you’re having trouble getting this video to play, here is the direct link to YouTube and here is a Facebook version at the top of my profile.
This is really cool and fascinating! Thanks for sharing this Eric!
That is, not to question “whether we can” but to believe “that we can” is a given and that the answer to look for each day is “what”.
I’m only adding to what you said, BTW, it’s all symantics, I know. xo
Morgana,
It IS enough “in time” – remember, there i no such thing as time and all situations have resolution – it’s only a question of What We Manifest Next…..not that “next” will come.
So – the question today as all days is, “What will I manifest in my life today?”
That’s my perception of it – that is, not to question, but to accept this amazing opportunity we are in to create a different choice; our new reality and do my best to constantly shift old ways of being to make room – hold space – for different choice/s.
xo
A whiteboard, a non-permanent sharpie, a talent for quick illustration and some simple logic to bring us back to what all intuitively know. WE are all connected. Doesnt take a PHd to understand that.
A friend took her teenage nephew (I think he’s 14) to see Avatar back when it first came out, and when the movie was over, she turned to him and asked what he thought the lesson was. He immediately said, with no prompting: “we’re all connected.”
The message is getting out, one way or another, but will it be enough/in time?
Of course he’s considered controversial. These kinds of ideas are a threat to the practice of perpetual warfare and profit at any cost. Emperors, popes and CEO’s have worked very hard over the centuries to break this empathy to create obedient psychopaths willing to kill on command, to convert everything into money colored shit so as to control everything and everyone via the banks. Of course this is all words. They will only convince those who already grok. You need physical therapy like yoga, acupuncture, massage, internal martial arts and/or Reichian therapy as well as new concepts and definitions to undo the lack of empathy. Words are never enough by themselves. Emotional wounds are physical things.
My mother raised me for this. The world trained me for this. I have always known in the deepest part of me that I am a sister to the world and all her children and that we are all siblings. I hope that enough of us can realize this so that we can create more time to enjoy each other on this beautiful planet, our first friend.
Mr. Rifkin’s numerous book titles are intreguiing. I shall have to do some reading…
While the theory of empathy is not new to me, I hope to explore more about what it is that causes certain two-year-olds to NOT develop this trait. Most of us are connected – I can’t imagine we all don’t feel that often. Some of us are dynamically dis-connected. Why?
Sometimes it’s twinkies, sometimes it’s mom and dad.
Right now we seem to have given up control to those few who are dis-connected and must explore how to grow our group/global empathy factor such that it surcomceeds the disconnects.
I just began an experiment with the current nasty situation the “ex” just invoked. I discussed the situation with two friends whom I can trust to have EMPATHY with the situation. Rather than immediately feeling beaten or even challenged by the attack of the “ex”, my intention is to become EMPOWERED to rise above his crap and allow a feeling of unity-from-good-intentions to come out instead.
My idea is still in gobble-de-gook form as type here….but basically what I’m trying to do is evoke empathy to empower change at a different level of being-ness – which I perceive as a different response to attack than normal (which might be more along the lines of finding friends to sympathize, lend a shoulder or ear etc which does not change the level of vibrational communication one might say.)
BTW, Mr. Rifkin loses it for me part way through – I don’t connect with the idea that we are empathic because we realize we are all vulnerable to death – rather, I think we are empathetic simply because we are; that it is a “sense” that we all have access to just like sight or hearing.
Hm. Well, anyway – it’s all good.
xo
This is not about we got it made livin in the best country in the world. Our eyes our open now. It aint the fucking best… Its got deep deep problems that threaten the whole fabric of it.. Sorry strike three .. Im outta here….
blessed nite to all …..
USA is a teenager with a cancerian drive to nurture and and tenaciously protect.
But only its home.
It has become a superpower with no roots, no ancestry, no reason. Its constition, once a vibrant source of idealism,now dead. It abolished and wiped out its aboriginal source. It has proceeded like a spoiled brat to thumb its nose at everyone around saying “we are big and bad and beautiful” and dont you all want to be like us. But WhO is US. We havent grown up yet!! We are making huge mistakes.
Well, now is the time of reckoning. Time to grow up and look to our elders. Look at history. Have some empathy for our brothers and sisters. And instead of trying to control and force some lame politico-religious-philosoophy down others throats (one that we see is a complete and utter failure), maybe we should meditate on our standing… and take some lessons from our older brothers and sisters, our mothers and father, our grandparents, uncles and aunts and get off of this huge ego trip we are on….
A whiteboard, a non-permanent sharpie, a talent for quick illustration and some simple logic to bring us back to what all intuitively know. WE are all connected. Doesnt take a PHd to understand that.
xoxo
Awordedgewise:
My mom’s worst curse was to call someone “useless as tits on a boar”.
Aside from the fact that this reflected her winning formula for survival in childhood (she was the 9th born in a sod house on the Oklahoma plains), she also taught me to be useful no matter what kinda shit is goin’ down.
This conditioning has its own stupidities and I confess to erring too often on the side of being too practical in a crisis when a gentler hand would have been appropriate. But hey – we all learn best through experience.
Be gentle with yourself with this process of awakening – then you’ll know how to do be that for others.
(hug)
L
LindaGM.
“Every person is unique and has had their own journey.
I’ve found the best place to stand – no matter who I am with – is in respect for that.”
I find your current “occupation” to be a remarkable choice especially because I think you have just described to us just what it is that your actual occupation is, that is, balancing yourself with a balanced empathy for other/s with whom you are.
I effort at living by the idea behind your words quoted above….now is a good time for this reminder well stated. Thank you.
Thanks Eric. I’ve sent the link to catholics, buddhists, teens, engineers and business contacts because Rivkin’s overview speaks to ‘current thinking’ brilliantly.
Whatever provokes contemplation on compassion and its place in the ‘modern’ world is a good thing – not whether his theory is right.
Personal comment on compersion, speaking from my work as a funeral director:
When I am with families who have just had a death in their immediate circle, it’s a challenge to stay present (empathetically connected) with them in their emotional hot zone – be it grief, regret, shock, joy or relief – and simultaneously maintain my own presence of mind to be able to help them plan the practicalities of the funeral service (which is why they invited me).
And it’s such a complex mix! If too much empathy, you amplify the upset and little gets sorted – too little empathy and you injure their already fragile state through carelessness. The main point is to hold your ground in the moment. For this, my experience with meditation has been invaluable – staying spacious, alert and mindful with an open heart.
The rule is there are no rules. Every person is unique and has had their own journey.
I’ve found the best place to stand – no matter who I am with – is in respect for that.
This is pretty damn awesome. Adupe pupo. Thank-you very much.
“It requires full presence to what is alive in the other person.”
That final observation from Marshall Rosenberg in this video (thank you very much Nance) is the truth of the matter. Being awake, with both an open mind and open heart to the needs of the other, can definitely bring about the potential to heal.
I am so pleasantly surprised to see this video posted this morning, as I actually came upon it just last night, through the introduction to some other RSAnimate video and the site CognitiveMedia!!! I tried to watch it but my laptop was acting up and was all set to watch it this morning but found it first thing here on PlanetWaves…….;-)
Thank you Mystes for educating us as to the vast range of empathic responses and provocatively challenging the limiting angle of the video and for all of us to grow up and beyond our lizard brain reactions to the heavenly inner state of true compassion. Surely we are going to get there, en masse, sooner or later (the former being preferable to the later of course).
Thank the goddess for the “internets” and the connecting and the learning and the empowerment it affords us.
Yays.
This is EXCELLENT! Thanks for sharing.
I agree, Mystes, that his supposition that our empathy comes from awareness of death is a bit of a stretch. I’ll dump the ‘why are we empathic?’ part and just focus on the implications of awareness that we are empathic beings; it all connects in a bit better. And I don’t need the idea that we all came from original parents to help me empathize and connect with all humans.
I just finished reading ‘The Biology of Belief’ by Bruce Lipton – excellent read, with science and spirituality to deepen some of what Rifkin is getting at. We’re also watching a Stanford lecture series called ‘The Neurological Origins of Individuality’ taught by Robert Sapolsky. There is so much new understanding of how our brains and bodies function that validates this ability to mirror, empathize, and relate.
I’ve been learning and practicing non-violent communication for about 2 years. Learning the language of connection has been very powerful for me. The person in my life that responds to it the most is my 5 year-old. She easily understands it, and it helps us live more harmoniously. What excites me the most about Rifkin’s presentation is the concept that we can all connect in this way, and the idea that we are wired for this connection. This is where we need to go as a species – to be able to drop the programmed crap we all learned and RE-CONNECT!
Here is an interview with Marshall Rosenberg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dpk5Z7GIFs
I really love this piece! It is so beautifully stated and concise. Great posting! Definitely something to strive for in our meditations and or conscious work.
Dear goddess, have we completely forgotten how to *think* in these weird times?
Apparently.
There are so many things wrong with this theory I hardly know where to begin. He has marbled good science with crapulous philosophy, and like his mirror shadow, Creationism, will get them to stick together, come hell or redwater.
First, there are two completely distinct ranges of empathic response: one that releases dopamine, vasopressins and/or oxytocin, another that releases various adrenalins. There are admixtures of this in various empathic moments, but one set dominates, and presently it is the adrenals that call the shots.
Let that monkey try to get into a nut in a tree and there will be *no* mirror neuron/empathic activity to another species. Betcha the rent. When you place individuals in a dangerous/stressful environment, there is a survival empathy that has almost nothing to do with real compassion.
To stick *that* response to a bunch of nonsense about ‘human nature’ and ‘single life theory’ and ‘heaven as devoid of empathy’ is a crock. No wait, it’s most a trick – of a particular philosophical predisposition looking for a scientistic excuse.
***
I know from direct experience that ‘heaven’ ~where you are right now~ is ALL compassion. Empathic response? try empathic *stimulus,* taken beyond the adrenal-driven set of self-protective/camouflage (groupthink) responses. It’s a kind of empathy that includes everything the lizard brain can spit out and then some.
And it takes *real* intelligence to get there. A willingness to locate the lizard brain response in one’s OWN body while carefully measuring and offsetting its emergence in the social body. Tricky, but doable.
But rather more difficult if you have swallowed the BS that we are hard or softwired to empathy as a response to fear or death.
Seriously.
Absolutely genuine, clear, and here at the right time. Thanks for posting this!