JS: Part of your book is a call for research. PE: Materialism, competition, self-centeredness, poor education-those are all things that get in the way. JS: If so many spiritual traditions encourage distal compassion, why is there not more of it? Not everyone thinks thatвЂ™s what lifeвЂ™s about but thatвЂ™s what I believe. Distal compassion gives you the sense that youвЂ™re leading a good life, that youвЂ™re doing what you should be doing with your life, which is to help prevent suffering in the world. When I say вЂњspiritual,вЂќ I use the term broadly to mean that you are concerned with something other than your own particular welfare-something thatвЂ™s not based on getting ahead or getting a promotion or a new car. I think distal compassion is very widespread in terms of its recognition, but not terribly widespread in terms of its practice. Every organized religion, every spiritual practice I know of, emphasizes compassion, and, for most of them, distal compassion. PE: Distal compassion is clearly a more intellectual process but itвЂ™s ethically based. JS: Many researchers believe that our inborn capacity to feel what others feel is what drives compassion-that we first have to вЂњcare.вЂќ If you think thatвЂ™s not critical, what other capacities do we possess that could move us toward more distal compassion? ThatвЂ™s not my view.Д«ut, being able to take the perspective of another person is critical to developing what I am calling distal compassion-in which you feel concern in trying to prevent harm or suffering from occurring. Some people would say that unless I feel it, IвЂ™m not going to care. When I see somebody fall down in the street, I donвЂ™t have to feel their hurt in order to be motivated to help them. ItвЂ™s an accompaniment to some forms of proximal compassion, but I donвЂ™t think itвЂ™s a prerequisite. If you mean вЂњto feel what the other person feels,вЂќ I donвЂ™t think empathy is a prerequisite for any type of compassion. JS: Do you think that having empathy is critical to distal compassion? Distal compassion is much more amenable to educational influences, I think, and itвЂ™s our real hope. And that requires a different set of skills: It requires social forecasting, anticipating harm before it occurs, and trying to prevent it. But, when I used to tell my kids, вЂњWear a helmet,вЂќ thatвЂ™s distal compassion: trying to prevent harm before it occurs. ThatвЂ™s proximal compassion: where we see someone in need and we help them. WeвЂ™re all familiar with proximal compassion: Someone falls down in the street, and we help him get up. PE: IвЂ™m making a distinction that I donвЂ™t think has been made before, and I think itвЂ™s an important one, because it has implications in terms of how we go about encouraging compassion. Can you explain what you mean by those terms? JS: You write in the book that there are two types of compassion-proximal and distal. I donвЂ™t think thereвЂ™s enough common interest in compassion-maybe in Buddhist circles and in some parts of Christianity and Judaism-but itвЂ™s really not on the front burner for people. Paul Ekman: This book grew out of my friendship with the Dalai Lama, which made me feel like I should do what I can to make people concerned with global compassion-compassion for more than those with whom we share ethnicity or language or culture. Jill Suttie: Why did you want to write this book now? I spoke with him recently about his new book and what he hopes it will accomplish. Ekman wrote Knowing Our Emotions, Improving Our World,В and was featured in Daniel GolemanвЂs Wired to Connectand The Brain and Emotional Intelligence.From the GGSC to your bookshelf: 30 science-backed tools for well-being. Ekman has earned many honors, ranging from the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association in 1991 to an honorary doctor of humane letters from the University of Chicago in 1994.ДЄt Key Step Media, Dr. Ekman has been working on translating his work to make them more widely available, as well as shifting his focus slightly onto emotions and the motivation behind concealing emotions and interpersonal deception.Дr. Friesen in 1978, which remains the go-to system for identifying any movement a face can make. He developed the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) with W. His studies started out with a focus on hand movements and gestures and cross cultural studies in nonverbal behavior. He served two years as First Lieutenant and chief psychologist at Fort Dix, New Jersey before returning to Langley Porter (UCSF) to begin a three year postdoctoral research fellowship. He got his doctorate in clinical psychology at Adelphi University after an internship at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCSF. Paul Ekman was a professor of psychology for 32 years in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco.

Paul ekman