Compassion

Two scientific teams, one led by Zoe Taylor at Purdue and the other by Jenny Stellar at UC Berkeley, have found that the answer may lie in the Vagus nerve.

That’s the cranial nerve in the body with the widest reach, influencing speech, head positioning, digestion, and—importantly for these two studies—the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system’s influence on the heart.

Students typically memorize the parasympathetic branch (PNS) as the “rest and digest” branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls bodily functions that we’re not aware of when we’re relaxed and feeling content.

The PNS is also called the “feed and breed” branch—and recently, social psychologist Barbara Fredrickson added the label “tend and befriend” to the PNS, suggesting that it also supports functions that enable social engagement and nurturing behaviors.

By Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas 

By Steven Swinford, 

Helping people escape a lifetime on benefits and so they can get back into work is "compassionate" Conservatism at its best, the Work and Pensions secretary will say today.Iain Duncan Smith is expected to tell a conference in Canada that for too long it has been assumed that compassion is "soft" and the "preserve of the left".

He will say that the Conservative Party has a "historic mission" to help the working poor and to give them "the right to hope and the chance to aspire".

He will say: "There is nothing compassionate about increasing dependency by spending more of taxpayers’ money to sustain someone in a lifetime on benefits.

Pope Francis concluded, saying that, if we would be imitators of Christ as St. Paul exhorts us to be in his 1st Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 1 Cor 11:1) before the poor or the sick, we should not be afraid to look the afflicted person in the eye, and be close to the suffering person with tenderness and compassion.

“If evil is contagious,” he said, “so is good: therefore, we must allow good to abound in us, more and more; let us be infected by goodness, and let us spread the good contagion.”

For too long in our country, the rhetoric in the War on Drugs has focused on representing drug users as the “other,” as the bad guys in this culture war.

Those who preach compassion and rehabilitation and harm reduction instead of criminalization are often dismissed as “bleeding heart liberals” willing to give anyone a free pass for bad behavior.

When those who advocate a compassionate approach to drug addiction point out users’ self-reported histories which often include abuse and trauma, those histories are met with skepticism at best and generally dismissed as unimportant.

Now, research is showing that those histories and the social stigma created by treating drug addicts as users are a substantial component of what keeps people addicted.

Practicing Compassion
Satyarthi told Epoch Times that compassion is needed “to ensure sustainability and peace” in the world, and that comes from a connection with ones self.

“A connection of everyone with her or his inside is what makes you a global citizen and helps you find solutions to persisting problems,” he said over the phone.

Especially in countries where corruption and mismanagement are common, “compassion could be a very strong element to be honest,” he said.

He practices compassion by connecting transparently, and honestly with others, he said, and maintaining his “child inside.” He also says that compassion for him is about action, and translates into his work for justice, equality, and peace.

“Let’s globalize compassion,” he said at the Constitution Club press conference. “Take it out—use it to protect children, to protect the environment.”

Kozo Hattori interviewed researchers and spiritual leaders about how to raise compassionate boys. This is what he discovered.

Searching for an answer, I read widely and sought out public figures who have dedicated their lives to exploring and advocating for the alleviation of suffering—Dr. Rick Hanson, Dr. Dacher Keltner, Dr. Dan Siegel, Thich Nhat Hanh, Father Richard Rohr, and others.

From this research, I concluded that cultivating compassion really is the best way to protect our boys from violence—or, as Hanh says, “Compassion protects you more than guns, bombs, and money.” From their combined scientific and spiritual perspectives, a four-fold process for cultivating this resource in boys emerged.

• Touch: When UC Berkeley professor and GGSC co-founder Dacher Keltner researched the power of touch for human development and relationships, he discovered a surprising gender difference: ....
• Push Gender Boundaries: In the trailer for the film, The Mask You Live In, former NFL player Joe Ehrman claims that “the three most destructive words that every man receives when he is a boy is when he is told to ‘Be A Man.’” ...
• Be a role model  -  Almost all the compassionate men I interviewed had a compassionate role model...
• Cultivate stillness - A recent paper from Timothy D. Wilson and colleagues at the University of Virginia and Harvard University revealed incredibly strong resistance in men to silence and stillness....

Health and social workers often choose their profession because they want to help people. But seeing trauma and suffering on a regular basis can have a deep impact on these workers. “Compassion fatigue” is a response to the stress of caring for people at times of crisis and is often referred to as the cost of caring.

Researchers first identified compassion fatigue in the 1970s when they recognised certain psychological symptoms among health care and social service workers. The term “compassion fatigue” was coined in the early 1990s to describe nurses who worked in emergency care and were experiencing symptoms similar to burnout.

Compassion training extends beyond merely invoking empathy and concern for others but seeks to infuse the strength to be present with suffering, the courage to take compassionate action, and the flexibility to prevent compassion fatigue.

These qualities, in turn, support a broad array of goals such as improving personal and professional relationships and making a positive difference in the world.

Compassion is not limited to the personal level of our individual relationships but can also permeate the interaction of societies and cultures with one another.

Television and radio personality Glenn Beck spoke with James Doty, clinical professor of neurosurgery, on Thursday night at Tresidder Memorial Union about the role of compassion in his life and its place in society. The dialogue was sponsored by Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), which Doty directs.

Beck spent time discussing the role that compassion has played in his personal edification and the apparent shortage of compassion in society today. The often contentious media personality spoke about his own personal struggles with drug and alcohol abuse and the vital role that his faith has played in guiding him.

by Sam Premutico

It is important, however, to distinguish between basic empathic and caring responses, and a more universal capacity for compassion.

It is possible that universal compassion is solely a human function. Empathy alone does not necessarily prompt prosocial behaviour. If you empathize with the suffering of another, for example, you may not necessarily help this person.

Empathy can also result in empathic distress that may even lead to withdrawal or aggressive behaviour.

by Tania Singer

Frank Rogers Jr’s book, Practicing Compassion, is a welcome addition to the field of books bringing the positive insights and wisdom of religious traditions to a wider audience. The book sets out with the premise that while compassion is much talked about in religious settings and ever more in popular psychology, not many people know how to cultivate or practice it (although the caveat is given that there are numerous Buddhist teachings on cultivating compassion).*

Rogers is a teacher of applied compassion at Triptykos and professor of spiritual formation and narrative pedagogy and program director of the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology, CA. His life of applying and teaching compassionate action shines through in every page of the book.


 by Justin Whitaker 

I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life. I can do no other than to have compassion for all that is called life. That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.  — Dr. Albert Schweitzer

As I contemplated this question, I found further questions flowed forth: What role does compassion play at the intersection of mind and morality? Are mind and morality connected through principled compassion? What is compassion? And why would one modify the word “compassion” with the word “principled”? ...

The Benedictine monk Thomas Merton said, “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” Merton’s profoundly moral and enactive perspective points to a vision of all of life as interdependent, entangled, and embedded. This vision orients one toward action that is fundamentally unselfish and selfless.

This is “principled compassion”; compassion with a clear moral foundation based on courage, love, and positive regard for and respect of all beings and things.  

by Joan Halifax

For many, compassion has often been considered an over indulgence in kindness – perhaps even foolish in times of mediation, negotiation, divorce or war.

It’s not been the first skill we call upon when we’re fighting for our jobs, our homes, or our freedom. However, times have shifted and we need a new set of skills to navigate the complexity in our everyday. I am most interested in the conversation we can have when we consider the recent neuroscience on how we can train our brains to be compassionate.

If compassion is a learned capability, can we align and elevate ourselves with Buddhist psychology – that compassion is a natural part of being human –a part of our best selves and something worth claiming?

What might our lives look like if we all practiced compassion?

Let’s consider together what is possible if we trained ourselves to be compassionate leaders in our places of business, our community, and the world. Read more about Mary.

Companionate love is shown “when colleagues who are together day in and day out, ask and care about each other’s work and even non-work issues,” Barsade says. “They are careful of each other’s feelings.

They show compassion when things don’t go well. And they also show affection and caring — and that can be about bringing somebody a cup of coffee when you go get your own, or just listening when a co-worker needs to talk.”-

by Knowledge@Wharton,