Abstract | A compassionate overhaul in higher education is long overdue, but it is still relatively unclear what it can learn from an educational and applied contemplative neuroscience perspective. In this chapter I will paint an evolutionary, developmental, and social cognitive neuroscience picture of how a compassionate mind can be cultivated once the developmental building blocks have been put in place. I will elaborate on how our two hemispheres, while always collaborating, attend to the world differently, and what the implications of this division of labour strategy of ‘eat and not be eaten’ are for cultivating an empathic and compassionate mind. I will discuss the development of social cognitive precursors of empathy and compassion, in particular ‘pre-concern’, self-other differentiation, and Theory of Mind (ToM). I will argue that looking at these fundamental processes makes it evident that the essence of building a compassionate mind lies in (the forming of) relationships. I further emphasize the importance of the connection between emotion and learning, specifically when it comes to compassion training. |
---|