a new kind of empathy

newkindofempathy

After listening to the TED Talk, “Can a Divided America Heal”, I did a brief exploration of the three basic principles of moral psychology

  1. Generally we influenced by intuition and then use that which “feels right” to justify our moral judgments.
  2. The underlying motivation in moral reasoning and communication is directed more towards manipulation or persuasion than exploration of truth.
  3. Morality is a crucial element of tribalism which is the building block for the development of large, cooperative societies.

A bit of personal reflection opens a window of understanding of how I’m more often than not influence by what feels right and yes, the importance I place in intuition over reasoning.  Often a movement towards “spiritual” reasoning occurs after a period of solitude and contemplation.

There is also an awareness that I do enjoy the rhythmic power of football tribalism while being perplexed by a religious leader’s comment about limiting compassion to one’s own tribe.

Then finally…do I acknowledge the possibility of some hidden agenda to persuade you to join me in what feels right over someone else’s sense of right?  Ugh, I think I’ll close this window for a bit and open one that has us explore a new empathy.

…we have an existential threat on our hands..we need a new kind of empathy…if you want to escape from this [the anger and worry of the last year], read Buddha, read Jesus, read Marcus Aurelius. They have all kinds of great advice for how to drop the fear, reframe things, stop seeing the other people as your enemy. There’s a lot of guidance in ancient wisdom…(Jonathan Haidt)

Ancient wisdom guiding us to “a new kind of empathy.”  I believe that the on-the-ground community response to Harvey is a living example of an ancient empathy that has the potential to heal.

I invite you to listen to the TED talk below in which social psychologists Jonathan Haidt and TED Curator Chris Anderson explore the sharp divisions of today and then discuss how we may be able to move forward.   _()_

8 thoughts on “a new kind of empathy”

      1. Exactly! He is a model for how I facilitate class discussions. Sociology has become somewhat of discipline focused on promoting left wing politics. This is a complaint I hear from students who don’t fit the typical political orientation of students in the social sciences.

      2. I can see their point…sociology for me was the “gateway” class from theory to social injustice and then to social work.

  2. Being of another nationality I can’t be really aware of the actual problems of your country ….. I read news papers , sometimes one if it weren’t for the everyday’s news I read on thewhat I

  3. Sorry for the mess I made…
    I was correcting my text when the comment started alone.

    Well, we are often told fake news , and I feel guilty for not finding the time to deepen what I read…
    The press is influenced by politics and in turn , influences the readers….
    I’ll go and look for some article of Haidt and Anderson, just to know more about the matters we’re dealing with…
    Thanks for this post, Brenda!

    1. Thank you for sharing your perspective. I think that fake news was once called propaganda and politicians have used the news to influence public opinion since…forever. I think the last time the US was this divided was during our Civil War where brothers were known to fight brothers. I hope you find their discussion to be worth your time.

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