Compassion = Total-Person Empathy
The first (but not exclusive) dictionary meaning of compassion in the West is pity. I use Compassion to mean Total-Person Empathy, a far more accurate interpretation.
— In Eastern traditions, Compassion similarly aligns with Total-Person Empathy. I capitalize Compassion consistently to emphasize the inherent worth of the whole person. See also Compassion, Basically.
Total person
Encompassing body, mind, and ‘soul’ — the latter being the deeper mind. This ‘deeper mind’ is the vast network of mental-neuronal patterns, many of which remain beneath conscious awareness. This aligns with an expanding body of scientific evidence. Ignoring it is like denying the earth’s roundness or the universe’s vastness. Ignoring this reality never made sense and certainly doesn’t now.
The analogy of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)
In ANNs, too, we find networks in the ‘hidden layers.’ Though imperfect, this analogy offers insight into what resides beneath the surface (hidden layers) and their necessity for meaningful action. An ANN without hidden layers is useless. Without a deeper mind, a person would be like a zombie—a concept that doesn’t truly exist.
Ignoring ANNs’ deeper layers – of which, at present, there are frequently many in one ANN system – would regress us to the outdated era of purely conceptual A.I., risking another A.I. winter that could shake humanity to its core.
Mind-body connection
It’s nonsensical to believe we can consciously produce a placebo effect. Just try it. It doesn’t work, including in open placebo. Yet, the placebo effect is consistently proven in research and observable in brain fMRI scans.
Something must do it, and it is not purely conscious wishful thinking.
Ignoring the deeper mind renders vast scientific discoveries meaningless, a reality we can’t afford to overlook.
This is what’s inside Compassion to me.
It transcends pity.
It’s much more profound than mere friendliness.
It goes beyond empathy and sympathy.
It is far more than a simple emotional reaction.
It is fundamentally different from altruism.
It’s an integrated approach to understanding and connecting with ourselves and others on the deepest levels.
It is something that puts humanity in its rightful place.
It is a guiding force that keeps humanity grounded.
We need Compassion to remain truly human, particularly in a rapidly advancing technological world where super-A.I. will soon surpass our wildest imaginations.
We must discover who we are.
Related Posts
Compassion in Reinforcement Learning
Reinforcement learning is one of the most fundamental ways both organic and artificial intelligences learn. It is dynamic, flexible, and incredibly powerful. But with that power comes a deep responsibility. Without embedding Compassion directly into its heart, reinforcement learning risks becoming a tool for harm — not necessarily through bad intentions, but through blind optimization. Read the full article…
Towards Universal Empathy
Universal empathy is a moral stance that may solve the in-group >< out-group problem. [‘further on ‘In-Group Creates Out-Group?’] “How numerous the living beings may be, I pledge to liberate (from suffering) them all.” This is one of four Buddhist ‘vows of the Bodhisattva.’ Not being an adept of Buddhism, I find in it a Read the full article…
Small-Circle versus Broad-Circle Empathy
Humans are made for a local environment ― the village as our world, not the world as a village. Nature never knew we would need to empathize with the other side of the world one day. Yet there is increasingly this need. Not only to tackle global problems. Of course, these problems exist and need Read the full article…