Books

Power & Care

Toward Balance for Our Common Future?Science, Society, and Spirituality

Authors:Singer, Tania & Ricard, Matthieu, with Kate Karius (eds.)

ISBN-10: 978-0262039529

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For more than thirty years, the Dalai Lama has been in dialogue with thinkers from a range of disciplines, helping to support pathways for knowledge to increase human wellbeing and compassion. These conversations, which began as private meetings, are now part of the Mind & Life Institute and Mind & Life Europe. This book documents a recent Mind & Life Institute dialogue with the Dalai Lama and others on two fundamental forces: power and care?power over and care for others in human societies.

The notion of power is essentially neutral; power can be used to benefit others or to harm them, to build or to destroy. Care, on the other hand, is not a neutral force; it aims at increasing the wellbeing of others. Power and care are not incompatible: power, imbued with care, can achieve more than a powerless motivation to care; power, without the intention to benefit others, can be ruthless. The contributors?who include such celebrated figures as Frans B. M. de Waal, Olafur Eliasson, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, and Jody Williams?discuss topics including the interaction of power and care among our closest relatives, the chimpanzees; the effect of meditation and mental training practices on the brain; the role of religion in promoting peace and compassion; and the new field of Caring Economics.

Contributors: Paul Collier, Brother Thierry-Marie Courau, Frans B. M. de Waal, Olafur Eliasson, Scilla Elworthy, Alexandra M. Freund, Tenzin Gyatso (His Holiness the Dalai Lama), Markus Heinrichs, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Frédéric Laloux, Alaa Murabit, Matthieu Ricard, Johan Rockström, Richard Schwartz, Tania Singer, Dennis J. Snower, Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, Theo Sowa, Pauline Tangiora, Jody William.

?At a time when humanity is rethinking the very nature of our being, this book is a powerful reminder of an age-old truth?that our most important quality is our innate ability to empathize with and show compassion to our fellow human beings and fellow creatures that co-habit this small oasis in the universe.? ? Jeremy Rifkin, Author of The Empathic Civilization

?Meditation or prayer alone cannot solve the problems we face on our planet. We must act. This book offers valuable insights on the powers at play, especially with regard to power and care, and how we can?though education and the cultivation of our inner values?effect change for the benefit of all sentient beings.? ? Richard Gere

?From the natural sciences to psychology and from economics to the contemplative traditions, this remarkable volume will prove far-reaching as it strives to bridge the divide between the power inherent in scientific knowledge and the care we must extend to each other and our beleaguered planet if humanity is to flourish in the decades ahead.? ? Arthur Zajonc

THE EDITORS

TANIA SINGER is scientific head of the Social Neuroscience Lab of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Germany.

MATTHIEU RICARD, a Buddhist monk, trained as a molecular biologist before moving to Nepal to study Buddhism. He is the author of The Monk and the Philosopher (with his father, Jean-François Revel); The Quantum and the Lotus (with Trinh Thuan); Happiness; The Art of Meditation; Altruism: The Power of Compassion; A Plea for the Animals; and Beyond the Self: Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience (with Wolf Singer). He has published several books of photography, including Motionless Journey and Tibet: An Inner Journey, and is the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.

KATE KARIUS serves to make the world a healthier, more beautiful place by supporting luminaries and mission-driven organizations in bringing their messages out into the world.