The Empathic Civilisation

[Tynan Elder Oak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFR ... ure=relmfu

I like and use mind maps... this presentation is excellent and i really enjoyed it and others on the list

[Dendrias]

I enjoyed it as well, although I use mind-maps very seldom to never. And this kind of mind-map is more an illustration of a "narrative" than a proper mind-map.
Now, Tynan Elder Oak, what do You think about it?
Can we and how can we achieve an empathic civilisation? Is an "empathic civilisation" the solution to most of the problems we have?

[Tynan Elder Oak]

lol don't get me started! I belive we all have empathy, but our culture, particulalry the Western materialistic culture minimalises this aptitude.

For example; our education system teaches us to think or process thought in one, socially acceptable way and frowns upon creative and intuitive thinking.

But,where you see people who have been encouraged in nurturing and accepting social structure, you also see empathetic individuals.

We CAN self train empathy, and we can develop empathetic skills,but it is easier if you are supported.

If it is the answer to civilisations problems? Well let us say it certainly could be part of it. Only a fool would see or say that there is just one answer. But surely empathy helps?

[envelope]

I'm very interested in this idea. I think finding not only the roots of empathy as it naturely develops, but the key to developing empathy in individuals who have already entered their adulthood (often unfortunately interpretted as the mental wasteland years, the territory where no man returns to the state of 'viable pupil' for whatever reason and is therefore abandoned for lost) would be immensely valuable to societies around the world (even if they don't get why at first ).

It seems to me that empathy has several aspects that can be nurtured. One is the physiological aspect - the tools at hand in the brain and body that predispose an individual towards correctly reading and digesting subtle bodily cues and can foster positive, emotionally healthy states of mind. Another appears to be a sense of security - I believe many people are more comfortable and willing to submit to, and allow to flourish, their sense of empathy if they are not personally putting themselves at risk or in immediate danger, mentally or physically. Once this instinct for empathy has developed, I think the need for a sense of security will be less critical, as an empathetic individual feels a moral imperative to continue this behaviour, knowing full well the risk not only for him or herself, but also for the other guy. I also think greater awareness and education on the factual connections and similarities between individuals uses the evolutionary traits to build that sense of empathy further in a way that will simply feel natural to the person - suddenly you aren't just empathizing with a stranger, you're telling someone you see as just like you, almost a friend even, "Hey, pal, yeah, I feel ya." A sense of community, even a long distance one, significantly increases a tendency towards empathy in my experiences. Finally, I think a balance between the functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain will provide a broader range of emotional and logical mobility, creating the capacity to both feel deeply, think creatively, and match patterns and logical sequences, all very useful in fully-developed empathy.

I just wonder how we can achieve these things (or whatever else the magic formula will turn out to be) on a personal, local, and global level. Any ideas on what you and I can directly do today to begin or act on this?

[Tynan Elder Oak]

well the first ting IMO is to allow empathy to play a part in ones life! Be a model of what you want to see and expect in life.

[envelope]

Mm, yeah, definitely. And then what else can we do?

[Tynan Elder Oak]

then we encourage the development/teaching of emotional intelligence

[envelope]

then we encourage the development/teaching of emotional intelligence

Ah, yeah, that sounds like an excellent idea. How can we do that? I suspect it will be tougher in practice than in theory, especially since something like emotional intelligence is so very unique to an individual, and the matter of communicating perception (even in attempting to teach someone a higher degree of EQ) would probably heavily rely on our written and spoken communication skills (wait a minute... isn't there something about bards and communicating... ). How can we teach greater emotional skills in a reliable, repeatable fashion, and in such a way as to allow one great teacher to create two more, and those two to create four more, and so on? I've met some really excellent teachers in my short time that have been fantastic at molding and developing a person directly, but (it seemed to me) maybe found it far more difficult to impart the wisdom of teaching itself. If we could not only develop and hone our own emotional intelligence and teach it to others, but also create more teachers (maybe this is an idea behind druidry in general, and I'm just being redundant here), I think we could create a lasting structure. The only issue I would see with that would be that if it comes in a wrapper like druidry, or any other highly personal affiliation, then it may be less effective at reaching a wide audience. What do you think? Am I off on the thought that we need "teacher-teachers" of EQ and related interpersonal skills, or do you think this would be a genuinely useful and efficient approach to creating a larger network of emotionally mature and increasingly empathetic individuals? I only have my one tiny perspective, but I really want to help work on something like this! So very glad you posted it.

[Tynan Elder Oak]

Found this synchronous link today

http://www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticle ... Tip30.html

[envelope]

Hmm, interesting link. I wonder if a sort of primer on behaviors encouraging empathy could be developed from best practices like that (though perhaps something more suited to adults as well as children).