BEYOND THE BRAIN IXUniversity of Winchester, August 26th–28th 2011

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The Science of Empathyand the Spirit of

Compassion

BEYOND THE BRAIN IX

Speakers:Karen ArmstrongProf. Paul GilbertDr. Valeria GazzolaGeshe Tashi TseringDr. Iain McGilchrist

Chairs: Dr. Peter Fenwick, David Lorimer, Dr. Andrew Powell

26-28 August 2011

University ofWinchester

The Scientific and Medical Networkin association with

Royal College of PsychiatristsSpirituality and Psychiatry Group

THE ORGANISERSTHE SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL NETWORK

The Scientific and Medical Network was founded in 1973 by George Blaker, Dr. PatrickShackleton, Dr. Peter Leggett and Sir Kelvin Spencer. The founders believed thatneither orthodox religion nor conventional science was sufficient to answer pressingquestions about human existence and the cosmos, and that new ways of thinkingwere needed.The Network provides interdisciplinary education exploring the frontiers of science,

consciousness and spirituality. It draws on a worldwide community of scientists,doctors, psychologists, engineers, philosophers and theologians to provide events,publications, and courses that link insights from the spiritual traditions and the arts,with the study and application of science and medicine.

The Network assumes that there are many ways of knowing the world andourselves, of which science is just one, albeit one highly effective and reliable, way ofgaining knowledge. In order to do justice to the full spectrum of human experienceand the complexity of the cosmos, it encourages dialogue and interaction betweenthe spiritual, the scientific, the philosophical and the arts in open-minded enquiry. Seewww.scimednet.org

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS SPIRITUALITYAND PSYCHIATRY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

The Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group was founded in 1999 to providea forum for psychiatrists to explore the influence of the major religions, which shapethe cultural values and aspirations of psychiatrist and patient alike. The spiritualaspirations of persons not identifying with any one particular faith are held to be ofno less importance, as well as the viewpoint of those who hold that spirituality isindependent of religion. The meetings are designed to enable colleagues toinvestigate and share without fear of censure the relevance of spirituality to clinicalpractice. The Group now has over 2,600 members. See See www.rcpsych.ac.uk/spirit

CHAIRS:Dr. Peter Fenwick is EmeritusConsultant Neuropsychiatrist,Maudsley Hospital andHonorary ConsultantNeurophysiologist, St.

Thomas’s Hospital. He is a President ofthe Scientific and Medical Network andPresident of the Horizon Foundation.

David Lorimer is ProgrammeDirector of the Scientific andMedical Network andPresident of Wrekin Trust. Heis editor of Thinking Beyond

the Brain, Science, Consciousness andUltimate Reality and co-editor of A NewRenaissance. He is author of RadicalPrince, which has been translated intoFrench, Spanish and Dutch.

Dr. Andrew Powell isFounding Chair of theSpirituality and PsychiatrySpecial Interest Group of theRoyal College of Psychiatrists.

He is co-author with Dr. Bisong Guo ofListen to your Body – the Wisdom of theDao and co-editor of Spirituality andPsychiatry.

Armstrong won the TED Prize and thewish associated with her prize was forhelp in creating, launching andpropagating the Charter for Compassion,which is supported by the FetzerInstitute. www.charterforcompassion.org

Dr Iain McGilchrist - Erasmusor Machiavelli: Empathy andthe Brain

Empathy begins to arise inhigher mammals and is, by

some accounts, a surprising developmentin evolution. It is also the basis of thesocial brain, a defining humancharacteristic. However it is inextricablybound up with the a version of the worldfurnished to us by the right hemisphereof the brain, and this in turn is essentiallyincompatible with, but needs nonethelessto be combined with, the version our lefthemisphere yields. Over the course ofWestern civilisation, this uneasycompromise has resulted in variations inthe way in which we see ourselves inrelation to one another and the planet.Are we today the empathic society webelieve ourselves to be?

Dr Iain McGilchrist is a former Fellow ofAll Souls College, Oxford, a Fellow of theRoyal College of Psychiatrists, and formerConsultant Psychiatrist and ClinicalDirector at the Bethlem Royal &Maudsley Hospital, London. He nowworks privately in London. He was aResearch Fellow in neuroimaging atJohns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Hehas published original articles in a widerange of papers and journals on topics inliterature, medicine and psychiatry, haspublished research on neuroimaging inschizophrenia, the phenomenology ofschizophrenia, and other topics, andcontributed to TV documentaries. Hislatest book, published by Yale inNovember 2009, is The Master and hisEmissary: The Divided Brain and theMaking of the Western World.

Geshe Tashi Tsering - TheSpirit of Compassion inTibetan Buddhism

The Buddhist tradition ofTibet has developed manytechniques to enhance

empathy, compassion, and love. Thesecome under the general heading of'Mind Training' and they form a key partof the Buddhist approach to personaltransformation. In this tradition positivemental states are not just developed inthe solitude of meditation but alsothrough the way the practitioner dealswith everyday life. The aim of thepractitioner is to completely turn his orher attitudes around. Instead of focusingon themselves they aim to focus on thewelfare of others. The Buddhist approachis to undermine the self-centred mindthat is seen as a fundamental barrier to atrue understanding of the nature of self.

Geshe Tashi Tsering was born in Purang,Tibet in 1958, and his parents escaped toIndia in 1959. He entered Sera MeyMonastic University in South India whenhe was 13 years old, and graduated with aLharampa (the highest possible level)Geshe degree 16 years later. Geshe Tashitaught in Nepal and India before comingto France and then to Jamyang BuddhistCentre, London, where he is the residentGeshe. Geshe Tashi teaches in English andis renowned for the warmth, clarity andhumour with which he makes complexsubjects accessible to Western students.Besides teaching at Jamyang, he is aregular guest lecturer at other Buddhistcentres in the UK and around the world.He is also the creator and teacher of theFoundation of Buddhist Thought, the two-year FPMT correspondence and campuscourse on the basics of Tibetan Buddhism.Many of Geshe-la’s teachings can be foundon www.talkingbuddhism.com

SUNDAY 29TH AUGUST

Prof. Paul Gilbert – ‘Benefitsand Fears of Compassion:future directions incompassion research

There is increasing evidencethat helping people develop

compassion for themselves and othershas powerful impacts on negativefeelings and promotes positive feelings.However, clinical observations suggestthat some individuals, particularly thosehigh in self-criticism, can find self-

FRIDAY 26TH AUGUST

The evening will begin with a winereception, followed by dinner. AfterwardsDavid Lorimer will introduce theconference with a talk on EmpatheticResonance and the Ethic ofInterconnectedness, and the speakers willintroduce themselves.

SATURDAY 27TH AUGUSTKaren Armstrong - TheCharter for Compassion:Wishing for a Better World

The Charter of Compassion isa cooperative effort to

restore not only compassionate thinkingbut, more importantly, compassionateaction to the centre of religious, moraland political life. Compassion is theprincipled determination to put ourselvesin the shoes of the other, and lies at theheart of all religious and ethical systems.One of the most urgent tasks of ourgeneration is to build a globalcommunity where men and women of allraces, nations and ideologies can livetogether in peace. In our globalisedworld, everybody has become ourneighbour, and the Golden Rule hasbecome an urgent necessity. The Charter

seeks to change the conversation so thatcompassion becomes a key word in publicand private discourse, making it clearthat any ideology that breeds hatred orcontempt ~ be it religious or secular ~has failed the test of our time. It is notsimply a statement of principle; it isabove all a summons to creative, practicaland sustained action to meet thepolitical, moral, religious, social andcultural problems of our time.

Karen Armstrong is one of the mostprovocative and original thinkers on therole of religion in the modern world.Armstrong is a former Roman Catholicnun who left a British convent to pursuea degree in modern literature at Oxford.She has written more than 20 booksaround the ideas of what Islam, Judaismand Christianity have in common, andaround their effect on world events,including the magisterial A History ofGod and Holy War: The Crusades andTheir Impact on Today’s World. Her latestbook is Twelve Steps towards aCompassionate Life. Her meditations onpersonal faith and religion (she callsherself a freelance monotheist) sparkdiscussion — especially her take onfundamentalism, which she sees in ahistorical context, as an outgrowth ofmodern culture. In February 2008, Karen

Beyond the Brain IX This is the 9th in our series of Beyond the Brain conferencesinitiated in Cambridge in 1995. This year we will be focusing on empathy andcompassion through the lens of the emerging science of empathy, which isdemonstrating that we are actually wired for empathy and compassion. Rather thanseeing human beings as an outcome of the selfish gene, knowing that empathypotential exists at a neurophysiological level gives us a completely differentunderstanding of human nature. To explore this reality we have brought together adistinguished panel of presenters. The well-known writer Karen Armstrong has beena leading proponent of the Charter for Compassion, which she will introduce. IainMcGilchrist will explore the neurophysiology underpinning empathy –the socialbrain - and its association with the right hemisphere. Geshe Tashi Tsering will speakabout the spirit of compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, and following his very well-received talk at our 2010 conference Paul Gilbert will explain new psychologicalresearch on fear of compassion rooted in self-criticism. Valeria Gazzola is travellingfrom the Netherlands to share her insights into the workings of mirror neurons inour social interactions. This promises to be a rich exchange and we greatly lookforward to your participation at Winchester.

Speakers and Programme

compassion and receiving compassiondifficult. Fear of compassion for self waslinked to fear of compassion from others,and both are associated with self-coldness,self-criticism, insecure attachment, anddepression, anxiety, and stress. Self-criticism is the major predictor ofdepression, which suggests theimportance of exploring how and whysome people may actively resist engagingin compassionate experiences orbehaviours. This has importantimplications for therapeutic interventionsand the therapeutic relationship becauseaffiliative emotions are major regulatorsof threat-based emotions.

Prof. Paul Gilbert is Professor of ClinicalPsychology at the University of Derby andConsultant Psychologist at DerbyshireMental Health Services NHS Trust. He hasa visiting Professorship at the Universityof Fribourg (Switzerland) and Coimbria(Portugal). He has authored over 100academic papers and book chapters andauthored/edited 16 books. He hasresearched and written extensively in theareas of mood disorder, social anxietyand psychosis. His Overcoming Depressionself-help book is now a book onprescription scheme in General Practice.20 years ago he began to explore thevalue of developing compassion,especially self compassion, for peoplefrom troubled backgrounds, who havehigh shame and self-criticism. With hispatients, and from a variety of influencesfrom standard psychotherapies,Buddhism and other compassion focusedpractices he has developed an approachto therapy called Compassion FocusedTherapy. To help advance compassionateapproaches to psychological and otherhuman problems he established a charitycall the compassionate mind foundation.www.compassionate mind.co.uk. Hismost recent book is The CompassionateMind.

Dr. Valeria Gazzola – MirrorNeurons: the Role of theMotor and Somatosensorysystem in Social Perception

Social interactions aresometimes described as ‘touching’. It hasbeen demonstrated in a number of

experiments that the somatosensorycortices - which are thought to processonly touch on our own body - and thepremotor cortices - which are thought toprogramme only our own actions - becomein effect vicariously active when weobserve what other people feel or do. Thisdiscovery is relevant to our understandingof how we process our perception of otherpeople’s sensations and actions. Valeria willshow that when we are touched, or whenwe see others being touched, we activateoverlapping regions of our secondarysomatosensory cortex and when we moveour hands and arms or see others doingthe same, we activate overlapping regionsof our primary somatosensory (SI) cortex. Ittherefore seems that when we see thetactile and proprioceptive experiences ofothers, we activate our own somatosensorycortex as if we had been touched ormoved ourselves. Furthermore if we havespecial positive feelings for a person, thatwill influence the way SI processes anaffectionate gesture from that person. Inshort, neuroscience is discovering theidiomatic truth that social stimuli can be‘touching’ indeed.

Dr Valeria Gazzola is Italian. She studiedBiology and started her scientific carrier inthe lab of Giacomo Rizzolatti, studyingthe somatosensory components of theMirror Neuron System using fMRI. Shefinished her PhD with Christian Keysers inGroningen in 2007 on the neural bases ofthe mirror neuron system in understandinghuman action. She is now a senior scientistat the Netherlands Institute forNeuroscience in Amsterdam. She iscurrently investigating how thesomatosensory and motor components ofthe mirror neuron system “talk” to eachother to give us this intuitive, pre-reflective, understanding of the actions ofother people, by combining differentneuroscience techniques. Her work hasbeen published in leading journals,including Nature Reviews in Neuroscience,Neuron, Trends inCognitive Sciencesand Current Biologyand has been citednearly 600 times.