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One big, huge philosophical, but also relationships-related question I have always potentially wondered about, and pondered quite a bit in my own mind, is what can we do as a society to have people truly love each other more, in general? (and not necessarily romantically either). In other words: to have people, actually and genuinely *care*, emotionally, about one another -- the same way you might love your mother or father or brother, for example.
If science could ever manufacture a medical drug that could do this, it could work wonders, even miracles. For instance, I for one would love to see war as we know it become entirely obsolete..no more killing, violence, and no more suffering. (When you truly love someone, naturally you would not want to end his or her life.) IMO, in the 21st century, war should have been obsolete a long time ago already.
Love means accepting the good with the bad. Humanity is just like everything else on this earth. There must be balance for levity. There must be struggle to gain strength. Conflict is only a step in love before acceptance and understanding.
So how would we make it better? By removing fear,hunger, disease, religion, race, money, ego, ignorance, and property lines.
All those item do make the brain signal off love though too. So perhaps its not about fixing the world but just looking for loving places while keeping yourself in order.
Studies have shown that people treat others badly because they lack empathy and compassion. Some people simply don't have the ability to feel these emotions, and they are usually the sociopaths and psychopaths of society and history. However, most people can and do feel these emotions, but lack the training or education to apply them more consistently.
So, I think if people are educated more in empathy and compassion, the world may improve a little. However, given the large philosophical and political divides that exist, I think that goal may be very difficult to achieve. Considering also that acting on feelings of empathy and compassion may cost both individuals and societies money (through gov't programs, for instance), the debate will quickly turn to costs and values. On an individual level, though, being kind to others often costs nothing, and results in greater well-being for all concerned.
Studies have shown that people treat others badly because they lack empathy and compassion. Some people simply don't have the ability to feel these emotions, and they are usually the sociopaths and psychopaths of society and history.
And we put a lot of these people in charge of governing our society.
Some would say such a thing already exists in nature.
I agree with you, 100% -- and ideally, that is exactly where it would come from
Lol...I guess the main reason I used the medical drug analogy was, it could potentially be useful to counteract the kinds of other, much more negative feelings that might lead someone to do things completely antithetical to the idea of love, such as murder, violence, theft, harm, etc. Stuff like that
Studies have shown that people treat others badly because they lack empathy and compassion. Some people simply don't have the ability to feel these emotions, and they are usually the sociopaths and psychopaths of society and history. However, most people can and do feel these emotions, but lack the training or education to apply them more consistently.
So, I think if people are educated more in empathy and compassion, the world may improve a little. However, given the large philosophical and political divides that exist, I think that goal may be very difficult to achieve. Considering also that acting on feelings of empathy and compassion may cost both individuals and societies money (through gov't programs, for instance), the debate will quickly turn to costs and values. On an individual level, though, being kind to others often costs nothing, and results in greater well-being for all concerned.
Large-scale long-term changes of people's attitudes and morals in relation to others through education (intellectually) and encouragement of good acts (taking action to help others). No drug is necessary. People have to stop being so self-centered and think beyond me me me and there's no way for that to change instantaneously, nor should it. We have to stop seeing the differences and start seeing the similarities in others. And if you're talking world-wide change, there has to be greater sharing of resources. It would of course be of great benefit, in the long-run, if our population declined...there's too many people on this planet for things to be all lovey-dovey; survival comes before love.
Of course, a simple start to begin with before you get anywhere near society-level changes is for individuals to just focus on loving a few other individuals more. i.e. develop a greater number of close relationships with quality people. In our generation though, relationships are devolving and decreasing in number instead. For all our social "networking" we have half as many close friendships now as we did a few decades ago. Not a good sign. Eventually though we need to move beyond the love we have for those close to us and somehow develop a similar love for all others, ignoring our bias towards close friends and family. How exactly that will be accomplished I do not know.
Or maybe we just need aliens to come visit and then everything will change, like in Star Trek: First Contact
Btw,you might be interested in reading the Dalai Lama's short piece called The Ethic of Compassion.
A very intriguiging line of thought there...thx for your comments!
Honesty. Honesty as in about our opinions, our actions, etc. I used to be dishonest about silly stuff, like where I wanted to eat etc. I'd just say things like "I don't know. I don't care." when really I did. By not communicating my feelings honestly, others do not know who we really are. If others do not know the "real us" then there is no intimacy and no true communication. Therefore no deep love.
By allowing others, appropriate "others", to see who we truly are, we become vulnerable. It is a risk. Some may reject us, and if they do, then they are not the right person. I know this all may sound silly, but I'm going through a lot right now and have been asking myself this very same question.
From now on, my number one rule is to just be honest about everything. If it is a situation where I question whether or not to be honest, then what I am really questioning is whether or not I'm willing to take a risk on MYSELF. Trusting MYSELF. Honesty is not only being true to others but also to ourselves. From there I think we can actually develop the love we seek.
As long as this world is about the money and greed, there will be wars, envy and lack of love between people. I don't think people are capable of loving each other with that kind of selfless and caring love. Does anyone really love "thy neighbor as you love yourself"?
I try my very best, to apply this to my actions, every day. It honestly does really makes me feel good and very happy, when I succeed at doing this
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Just like you, I would love to see the world without hunger, where people just selflessly give to poorer and bring up someone else emotionally. It starts with ourselves though. We cannot change anyone else, all we can do is try to be better as people.
Agreed 100% with what you mentioned above
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