Animals show empathy, humans do not

[Catherine]

This is a blog post that makes interesting reading. The author makes a point about the natural empathy of non human animals and the glaring lack of empathy in many humans.

We don't look too good.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

I think we need to look at ourselves and try to do better. I don't know if we are worse than before or do we now have the ability to do worse things.
As a species we need to clean up our act. The sooner we do t the better. It is embarrassing to be human these days. I want to tell animals out there that I am not like the cruel people they encounter. It is pretty sad when you would like to disown your own species.  I know we are not all cold and unfeeling, but sometimes it feels like many people are that way. Maybe we need to disown them.

[Tobi]

I feel that most of us are capable of empathy. But the trouble with humans is they often live in their heads. They have so many distractions, thoughts, busy-ness in life to make money (sometimes merely to survive, not because they are greedy.) They are easily swayed by mind-numbing things such as smartphones, texting, television, etc. It seems their mind-space and their days are crammed full of all these things. Sometimes we may meet with friends, and talk and talk, yet have no mindfulness of really having connected with them, and vice-versa!
Animals don't have all this.

There is a solution! Just to find time each day to slow down, to open the Heart and let the mind be more still. It's amazing how easy that can be to do, once one gets used to the new routine. It doesn't have to involve any special meditation (though it can)....just realising we are more than all these busy things and these rushing thoughts which we are used to controlling us!

Empathy is simply 'waiting in the wings' to be allowed time to open up.

[LPC]

Yes, of course you are right, Tobi. But it is also sadly true that some humans have simply lost (or more probably, never ever had) much sense of empathy - at least towards any creatures other than humans. This section from the article Catherine cited deserves quoting for stress:

"And that, is perhaps what sickens me, and saddens me most. That “man” can torture and kill innocent animals who were living their lives just moments before, and be snide about it, celebrate it, relish it, or poke fun at it.

To me that is a psychosis. It demonstrates the very opposite of empathy. It is mechanistic, inhumane, and disrespectful. It is a very dangerous lesson to teach our children."

Some humans do not even feel empathy with other humans.....

[Tobi]

Yes, those people who do such things have no empathy. They are psychologically sick. Whether they were born like that, or whether they have been moulded like that by the course of their lives, I don't know. I also wonder if such disorders are on the increase....or is it that we are more likely to hear about them nowadays, because of the internet?

[Catherine]

You both hit it dead on.

We need to slow down and let empathy have a chance in our lives.  We need to take the time to connect with other people. Some of our over activity is just meaningless busyness. Take time to smell the flowers and watch the butterflies.

You are both right that there are people out there who are sick and show no empathy.
Are they born that way or do they learn it? Some people from good healthy backgrounds grow up sick and some people from sick background grow up healthy. The question is whether they were actually born that way. Can they be fixed. What is lacking that they grow up with little or no empathy.

Are there more people like that now or do we just hear about them more. We certainly do hear about them more because we have so many ways of getting the information out there. I don't know if there are more sick people than before. We have no clear records. Certainly as we move towards a more compassionate world these people are going to stand out.  That could mean that all these horrible incidents that we read about are actually a sign that things are getting better. In an earlier time such incidents would not have been noticed.

Some of us are more naturally empathic by nature, but I think empathy can be taught. One way is educational programs that expose children to animals and teaches them to respect them. That is why I take my snakes to local street festivals and let people see and touch them. I am teaching them to be kind to snakes. I talk about them as creatures with feelings and likes and friends. I am trying to create a feeling in them that snakes have a right to live and be treated with respect.   I find people with empathy still sometimes fail when it comes to snakes.
You know you truly love all nature and have empathy towards it when there is no creature that repulses you.