In the Handbook On Being Human, vol. I, the Mysterious Dr. M. stresses that the needs, desires, instincts, emotions, and fears that he discusses are innate forces in every human being. It is the commonality of these characteristics that allows us to empathize with each other and to demonstrate compassion. Haiti is just the current heart-wrenching case in point, isn't it? There have been major disasters in the recent past (Katrina, Indonesia, China) and according to Dr. M. and the Enia there will be major and mega disasters in the not so distant future. If we really understood our fragile nature and were focused on meeting the basic survival and self-preservation mandates of our species, we would be much less vulnerable to these kinds of disasters and much better prepared to deal with the aftermath when they do impact members of our global family.
Dr. M. discusses the Desires for New Experiences, Security, a Response, and Recognition. If you recognize the power of these desires in yourself and how your everyday life is built around their fulfillment, then you can empathize with our Haitian brothers and sisters with a deeper level of understanding. These are some of the innate forces erupting behind the faces that you see on the television. "Oh God! This is not something that I every wanted to experience. Was I ungrateful for the little that I had?" Isn't is amazing how a simple curtain across a doorway can give you a relative sense of security? You know what it feels like to have that degree of security violated. So you can truly imagine the level of anxiety and fear that is a part of the Quantum Entity that is now emerging among our brothers and sisters in Haiti. "Mommy, mommy!!!" Have you seen the anguished face of a child who got lost in you local supermarket or Mall? Or maybe, you were one of those children. By touching your own experiences and memories you can identify with the suffering of others. The Haitian children's faces full of tears and void of comprehension.
Empathy and compassion are nurtured by making these kinds of connections and by recognizing and accepting our common nature. We are all The People. Tens of thousands of people, millions praying, hoping, and waiting for a response. And each face in the crowd praying, hoping, and waiting for their moment of recognition. You don't have to reach far, not very deep into your heart or your past to make the connection and feel their pain. It is from that connection with their pain that the Peaceful Space Response emerges in you in the form of Compassion.
The Prime Directive calls each of us to care about the other for in the larger scheme of things we are all part of a single organism and Entity. Make the connection.
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Dr. M makes an interesting point when he shares that our innate forces allow us to empathize and express compassion, especially in the recent crisis in Haiti. Schachter and Singer (1962) in defining their ‘Two Factor theory’ state that there is some element in a situation that triggers a general, nonspecific arousal (emotion) as evident by increased heart rate, tightening of the stomach, and rapid breathing. Thus, people search the situation/environment for cues that tell them what has caused the emotion. With this in mind, I feel very touched by your written expression of the innate forces of desire (i.e., new experience, security, attention, responses) among the people in Haiti and their consequential emotions emerging of anxiety and fear. I believe their cries for empathetic attention and response or quantum entity as you mention are being felt world-wide via technology. Edith Stein (as cited by Schachter and Singer, 1962) proposes that empathy is perceiving 'sui generis' the experience of foreign consciousness or the way "man grasps the psychic life of his fellow man".
As terrible as the situation is for all Haitians, just thinking about the crisis from a gender perspective stirs a feeling inside me that is overwhelming. In addition to the vulnerability to rape and sexual assault and the needs related to personal hygiene and privacy (as you bring out in the blog) women/girls face the additional burdens of trauma that can complicate pregnancy, motherhood and the nursing of children. My Peaceful Space Response, in the form of compassion, can indeed connect with their pain!
You mention the Prime Directive calls each of us to make the connection to care about the other as we all are part of a single organism and Entity. I think this is so important to remember. If group behavior is to function in an organized way toward survival-related actions on a worldwide basis, I think that there must be a unifying ‘empathic signaling’ of emotion. As Allott (1991) states: "Our consciousness flows into and out from the societies to which we belong....The survival of our societies becomes as important to us as the survival of our selves because our societies are part of ourselves" (57-58).
References:
Allott, Robin (1991) Objective Morality. Journal of Social and Biological Structures, 14: 455-471.
Schachter, S. & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, Social, and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State. Psychological Review, 69(5), 379-399.
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