In a recent interview, Neurologist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran spoke to livemint.com about mirror neurons and their influence on empathy. He even calls one type of mirror neuron a “Gandhi neuron.” Reading the article and watching the video, I’m reminded of the varying understandings of empathy that exist today. One notion, as expressed in this interview, is the ability to “put oneself in another’s shoes” which allows us to have some sense of how another person is experiencing their life. For others, empathy involves a sense of caring for another. Empathy can also be simply an unconditional presence to receive the presence of another human being. I experience this kind of empathy as a quality of openness and receptivity that makes no demands and has no agenda.
The main concern I have about this research is that empathy might be reduced to simply mirror neurons firing in response to a stimulus. Reductionism is the unfortunate tendency of “hard” science, reducing inner experiential phenomena to outer observable objects. In this perspective, some people necessarily have more empathic ability because they have more Gandhi neurons. In my experience, empathy can be learned. I have learned and developed empathic skills that continue to grow over time, and I have seen the same happen for others in the circles in which I travel. I guess I just don’t want to confuse correlation with cause.
About Jori Manske
