Templeton TEDTalk (Part Two)

2024 Templeton Annual Meeting in Dublin, Ireland 

You may be wondering why compassion is a force that can bring about sweeping change on the individual, interpersonal, and systemic levels…

First, compassion builds trust and connection, the critical ingredients for cooperation, safety, and well-being. There is a growing consensus in both the contemplative and scientific traditions that, from an evolutionary perspective, compassion isn’t just something that feels nice; it’s essential for survival and, ultimately, for human flourishing. Our ancestors who formed strong social bonds were more likely to endure in difficult times. While external resources are always critical, inner resources that promote reciprocity and a sense of belonging are indispensable for human development.

It is clear that in today’s increasingly polarized and disconnected world, love and compassion are more important than ever. As His Holiness says, they are not luxuries, but necessities, without which humanity will not survive. But how do we catalyze a compassion revolution?

At Emory, we are committed to advancing a global culture of compassion by developing the Compassion Shift, an initiative to foster, infuse, and scale compassion across society. By disseminating our compassion training programs for both children and adults, we are making compassion more accessible and demonstrating its value to all areas of human activity.

We’re already seeing ripples — take for example the District Hospital in Sitamarhi in Bihar, one of India’s largest and most impoverished states. The Piramal Foundation, a nonprofit organization working in education and healthcare in India, implemented our compassion training program at this hospital beginning in 2022. I had the opportunity to visit the hospital and meet the staff and patients. I was told that—before compassion training—the atmosphere at the hospital was toxic. Interactions among colleagues were marked by incivility. Patients would complain and fight, leaving everyone from doctors to janitors feeling hopeless and disempowered. They dreaded going to work and left as soon as they could. 

After compassion training, the hospital culture shifted. With tears in their eyes, the staff explained to me that they were now eager to go to work and even sought opportunities to stay longer. They began to respect each other. They still witness constant suffering, but now they have tools to support their resiliency. Changes on the individual level began to expand outward… the benefits of compassion training carried over into interactions with family, friends, coworkers and neighbors… The patients, after receiving more compassionate care, are experiencing better health outcomes and feel motivated to extend the same warmth they received to others, creating even more extensive ripples of compassion. 

This is the transformative power of compassion. When compassion is valued, when it is recognized as fundamental for human flourishing, and most importantly, when it is practiced, individuals, communities, and systems will change. Conflict will be reduced. Resources will be shared more evenly. Suffering will lessen.

I urge you to embrace this movement and join the Compassion Shift.  Let us reimagine a future shaped by cooperation rather than competition, where compassion is upheld as a fundamental human right.  Join us in this compassion revolution. Together, we can transform our world into a place where our children and grandchildren will thrive in an environment of mutual respect and compassion.