Session summary written by Catherine Harrington
This session explored self-care and empathy, through physical exercises and readings – and a focus on elevating our approach to each other, through using compassion:
We started off with an exercise set by Colleen of experiencing the space we were each in – heightening our senses physically, mentally.
Candy took us through some of the thinking of Dutch historian, Rutger Bregman – We discussed extracts of his book Humankind: A Hopeful History and we shared our comments with each other using our What’sApp group voice recording.
The extracts involved:
- “Assume the best of people” Reflections – we need to consider self protection of our ideas and our personal safety/ but yes, it is good to trust
- “Avoid the news” – manipulation of different news feeds and the need to decipher the news we receive; also – where can news be detached from data collection? The Correspondent was discussed, and its sad demise in Jan 2021.
Jimena introduced the important differences between empathy and compassion – responding to the readings of “Against Empathy” by Paul Bloom:
- Tainia Singer and her book Bridging Practice and Science
- Empathy is more focused on feelings – like a spotlight it can leave much left out. Empathy can be narrow, linking people who are like-minded, with same race, same cultural background. We shared experiences of this happening to ourselves.
- Proposed shift from empathy to compassion is wanting to help others and to listen more. Compassion can be holding a space for another and closing the experience gap; we can recognise the distress of another – listening and responding to others’ needs.
- We agreed that being compassionate is different – we can avoid being overwhelmed. We discussed how – by maintaining our distance but closing the gap between ourselves and others – we can expand our moral imagination and create motivation and feel more powerful.
- Art can do this too – (there was a callout for more art examples):
- Case Study 1 – CARNE Y ARENA – by artist Alejandro Gonzáles Iñarritu. film and installation – We experience compassion for refugees, in this immersive spectacle of an encounter between a caravan of refugees and the US Border Patrol.
- Art Case Study 2 A BRIDGE TOO FAR – by artist Tashi Iwaoka. Durational performance,
- Resource – Centre for Empathy and the Arts Univ of Minneapolis https://new.artsmia.org/empathy/
Colleen facilitated an amazing session based on Authentic Movement, an experience of movement, drawing and observation – where the group, in pairs, took turns enacting roles of Mover and Witness – and made drawings – improving our ability to observe each other, and to make emotional connections through movement and drawing.
