When I was going thro' the article, Suppressing Feelings of Compassion Makes People Feel Less Moral, it reminded my own dilemmas.
Around ten years ago, I started ignoring beggars completely. My reasons for it have evolved over time. However, during the initial days, I used to feel somewhat uneasy. I used to give a big amount of money to one or the other person just to make sure I haven't lost my compassion. But over time I have stopped it.
I guess a person is clearly aware of his/her diluting compassion whenever s/he takes such steps. However, the awareness wasn't articulated until now.
From the article:
Around ten years ago, I started ignoring beggars completely. My reasons for it have evolved over time. However, during the initial days, I used to feel somewhat uneasy. I used to give a big amount of money to one or the other person just to make sure I haven't lost my compassion. But over time I have stopped it.
I guess a person is clearly aware of his/her diluting compassion whenever s/he takes such steps. However, the awareness wasn't articulated until now.
From the article:
People who had suppressed compassion did, apparently, have a change in their sense of morality: they were much more likely to either care less about being moral or to say that it's all right to be flexible about following moral rules. Cameron thinks this is because suppressing feelings of compassion causes cognitive dissonance that people have to resolve by rearranging their attitudes or beliefs about morality.
3 comments:
Don't really know about your question or statement.
But experience tells me the fact is that people with flexible morals feign compassion.
Further, a study mentioned here suggests that dwelling on compassionate thoughts may render people less prone to depression.
Anil:
True. Since compassion is innate, it can be manipulated. As I said before, this makes morals primitive and in this case unreliable.
Seeker of Truth:
Not sure how to interpret that. Psychological diseases like depression is beyond my comprehension.
Now, compassionate thoughts as a utilitarian tool makes it rather phony.
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