Oct 23, 2012-- "As human beings, we will inevitably encounter suffering at some point in our lives. However, we also have evolved very specific social mechanisms to relieve that pain: altruism and compassion. It is not just receiving compassion that relieves our pain...The act of experiencing compassion and helping others actually leads to tremendous mental and physical well-being for us as well. It is our ability to stand together as a group, to support each other, to help each other, to communicate for mutual understanding, and to cooperate, that has taken our species this far." Dr. James R. Doty, the Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, describes the scientific underpinnings of compassion in this piece. (16631 reads)