Evolution, Compassion and The
New Spiritualities
Paul Gilbert PhD FBPsS
Mental Health Research Unit
Derby University
and Mental Health Trust
Kingsway Hospital
Derby
compassionatemind.co.uk
New Spiritual Focus
Alistair Hardy explored lived experiences
“Have you ever been aware of, or influenced by a power,
whether you call it God or not, which is different from your
everyday self”
Expansiveness - beyond the self or current reality
Connectedness - peacefulness
Environment and sensory cues
Reorganises self-values
Religion and Spiritualities
The word religion comes from the Latin religiere
meaning to reconnect
Religious schools and beliefs focus on forms of
connectedness and meaning
Forms of connectedness are shaped via innate
mechanisms for understanding social roles
God images shaped by socio-economic processes –e.g.,
help in warfare or nurture harvests.
What Shapes the forms for Religion
and Spiritualities?
Heath, Bell and Sternberg (2001) point out that to adopt a
belief system, like a belief in witchcraft, God, or the power
of compassion, the focus must be on something that is
relevant to a person and have certain qualities and
functions
Public engagement
Personal endorsement
Nature of threat (physical, isolation, meaning, control)
Religion and spiritualities
* Usually contains messages about types of threat and how
to deal with them (e.g., have to develop a relationship with
them to win them over)
* Is transpersonal (affects others)
* Must fit with the ecological needs of the group (e.g.,
developing beliefs in Gods of the sea are relevant to sea
farers but not land locked peoples)
* Guides social behaviours and informs rituals; it is
emotionally textured, and it provides a sense of group
coherence and belonging (believing in the same things)
Place in Historical and Cultural Contexts
Soul Concepts –Relational (Single or Multiple Gods)
Vadic tradition – Life as a journey - soul progresses/evolves via
learning via trails -- re-incarnation
Arabic tradition - World is where one is tested: Good go to
heaven and bad are punished
Greek/Roman - We are play things of the Gods: can aspire to
join the elite – nice and unpleasant places after death
Christianity - Introduces family and attachment psychology
Pantheism
God Consciousness pervades all - Material world (including
humans) are patterns of its form
God AS…..
God as beyond human reason and human understanding - the unknown
(as in Aristotle) versus God as human-like with feelings, passions and
desires - issue of projection vs empathy
God as awakening via the consciousness of humans (as in Jung) versus
God as already fully formed and conscious and in the process of
revealing himself to us
God as accessible only via deep mediation, intuition and mystical
knowledge versus God who relies on science, reason and philosophy to
reveal himself
God as a personal and available deity with whom we can personally
relate versus God as an impersonal, pantheistic force (as in Star Wars
movies; or Buddha consciousness)
God as a Performer of Functions
Social Regulator (social function)
Law giver/judge
Leader/protector
Ultimate authority/power to reward/punish
The more threatened groups feel the more submissive
behaviour and obedience dominates the forms
Personal Self/Object (personal function)
Father
Soother
Saviour
Blade Runner – kill the creator
Jung “save us from what”
Forms of Spirituality
Relational Spiritualities
Solutions to external threat –
meaning and safeness
Social mentalities/relational
mind, dialogical
Held in mind of a ‘powerful’
other - protection
Attachment, gratitude,
submissive, appeasement
devotion, group loyalty
Forgiveness (de-shame),
atonement, acceptance, love
meaning, re-union, coming
home
Internal Spiritualities
Solution to internal threats
(unruly mind, attachment to
desires)
Mind training (mediation) metacognitive mind, non-dialogical
Compassion - common
humanity
Enlightenment into the true
nature of consciousness and free
from the wheel of reincarnation
Evolution, Religion
and Spiritualities
Darwin
Darwin’s theories emerge in industrial age – influenced by
both Malthus and economic thought -Species are
transformed via the struggle for survival – not economic but natural selection
“Whatever the cause may be of each slight difference in the
offspring from their parents - and a cause for each must
exist – it is the steady accumulation, through natural
selection, of such differences, when beneficial to the
individual, that gives rise to all the more important
modifications of structure, by which the innumerable
beings on the face of the earth are enabled to struggle with
each other, and the best adapted to survive” (1859/1979, p.
203-4)
Innate and Acquired
(v) Genotype (v) Environment = (v) Phenotype
Genotypes are potential competencies for Examples: Language, attachment, defensive
behaviours
Phenotypes are the expressed or manifest
traits/outputs that are observable or measurable
Examples: Styles of language, attachment.
Evolution, religion and spiritualities
Evolution theory cannot be used to prove the existence or
non-existence of Gods or supernatural realms e.g., God as
designer can set whole system up (e.g. the material
universe) with laws that facilitates the emergence of forms
We can use evolution theory and ‘knowledge of our minds’
to study the emergence of forms and minds that try to
understand the emergence of forms
Our minds have evolved to cope with threats, acquire
resources and reproduce – We have become ‘meaningmaking’ ‘curious and seeking’ -- and we alone know that
we will die and maybe cease to exist -
Self-Protection
In species without attachment only 1-2% make it to
adulthood to reproduce. Threats come from
ecologies, food shortage, predation, injury, disease.
At birth individuals must be able to “go it alone” be
mobile and disperse
Mind evolved with a range of special systems for
self-defense that fuel raid onset emotions (fear,
anger disgust) and behaviour [fight flight, submit
expel].
Self-vs-others protection
In species without attachment only 1-2% make it to
adulthood to reproduce. Threats come from ecologies,
food shortage, predation, injury, disease. At birth
individuals must be able to “go it alone” be mobile and
disperse
Attachment as “looking after.” Individuals obtain
protection, food and care when ill. Seeking closeness
rather than dispersion. Few offspring but high survival
rate.
Co-operative and mutual support when ‘your’
prosperity impacts on mine
Overview of an Evolutionary
Journey
Attachment
Threat
Safeness
Compassion
Mutual support
Self -Regulation
Types of Affect Regulator Systems
Content, safe, connect
Drive, excite, vitality
Affiliative focused
Incentive/resource
focused
Soothing/safeness
Seeking and behaviour
activating
Opiates (?)
Dopamine (?)
Threat-focused
safety seeking
Activating/inhibiting
Serotonin (?)
Anger, anxiety disgust
Evolution, Brain and Social Roles
Evolution and Social Roles
Human
Symbolic thought and selfidentity, theory of mind,
metacognition
Mammalian
Caring, group, alliancebuilding, play, status
Reptilian
Territory, aggression,
sex, hunting
Four Evolved Processing Domains
Threat vs safe: All animals must decide this in their domain of
existence. Links to evolved, basic emotions of threat (anger,
anxiety, disgust) and basic emotions of safeness and reward
Role forming: mammals have specialised motivational and
processing systems that are role-focused (e.g. for attachment,
friendship, and sex, similarity)
Human cognitive systems: language, use symbols, use metacognition, imagine/fantasise and inwardly model –access to…
Self-regulating systems: Self-evaluation, self-identities and
self-to-self relating
Biosocial Goal and Social Mentality Theory
Animals must engage in various ‘social tasks’ to secure
their genes being represented in subsequent generations
Evolution enables animals to communicate with each
other and co-construct social roles for these tasks
Evolution provides mechanisms (motives, emotions
cognitive and behavior systems) for role creation and it
is the organization of these elements that are key for
competent social enactments
The (human) organisation of social mentalities is
choreographed via self-identity forming systems
Social Mentalities
Goals require attention directing and processing
systems that provide feedback for goal corrections
Social mentalities are thus the psychological steering
mechanisms for BioSocial Goals
Social Mentalities choreograph and pattern emotions
behaviours and cognitions according to how goal
seeking has been successful, failed or punished
In constant process of blending and internal coregulating and give rise to ‘States of Mind’
Biosocial Goals and Social Mentalities
Biosocial goals motivate movement towards co-creations
Care seeking
Goal to obtain inputs from others that enhance
prosperity
Care giving
Goal is to engage with others that foster prosperity in
‘the other ‘
Cooperation
Goal is to share, building reciprocal alliances, make a
contribution and have a sense of belonging and
connectedness with others
Competing
Obtain and defend resources and control conducive to
prosperity
Sexual
Attract and be attracted to others for sexual
engagement
Social mentalities
Are role focused and thus always include self-to-other and
other-to-self -- we use each other for goal securing
Seek to co-construct roles via interactional ‘dances’
Pattern and choreograph social motives, emotions and
fantasies
Mature with the unfolding of developmental abilities
Pattern and choreograph physiological activity
Blend together or conflict as self-identities emerge
Self-Other Role Co-Creations
Self As
Other AS
Care-seeking
Needing
seeking
Providing
alleviating
Care-giving
Providing
alleviating
Needing
seeking
Co-operating
Sharing
belonging
Sharing
belonging
Competing
Power
comparing
Power
comparing
Sexual
Attracting
attracted
Attracting
attracted
Monitoring
Threat/safeness
Availability
access
Distress in other
empathy
Similarity
cheating
Relative power
talents abilities
Attractiveness
Innate motivational (seeking) systems with range of emotional and
cognitive processing systems that link to a ‘sense of self’’ A Self As……
Self-vs-others protection
In species without attachment only 1-2% make it to
adulthood to reproduce. Threats come from ecologies,
food shortage, predation, injury, disease. At birth
individuals must be able to “go it alone” be mobile and
disperse
Caring and Attachment as “looking after.” Individuals
obtain protection, food and care when ill. Seeking
closeness rather than dispersion. Few offspring but high
survival rate.
Co-operative and mutual support when ‘your’
prosperity impacts on mine
Care eliciting
This aspect of our nature is activated when we see ourselves in a state
of need; a need that cannot (in the first instance) be satisfied by
recourse to our own selves or human social relationships. When care
eliciting motivates the religious relationship to God, God is
constructed as a superior other, sometimes in the form of a parent
(Father or Mother figure) to whom we turn for love, help and
understanding. Our ideal is for unconditional love. There is a yearning
for closeness, union, protection and rescue, and a fear of
abandonment. We are rescued from the oblivion of death by the fact of
God. The upside is that we may indeed find a way to create these
feelings and satisfy our need for care and love; we open ourselves up to
‘receive’. In prayer we ask for things (love, knowledge, wisdom,
strength etc.) The down side is that we can remain dependent on the
external deity.
Care-giving
One cannot elicit love and investment from another unless
the other is prepared to give it. So God is created as a
limitless source of love, care and wisdom. The caring
mentality also invites us to be caring to others; to develop
our basic compassion for others and to utilise our altruistic
strategies in relationships.
We believe that God has our best interests at heart (is not
indifferent) and wants to see us mature, grow and prosper,
to come into a closer relationship with him/her.
Co-operation
Here the relationship is seen more as a transaction; God
gives us something in exchange for something, and we are
aware of this trade. It is not unconditional love but love
that is conditional - if you behave ‘this way’ you are
accepted, if you don't, you are not.
Cooperation also tends towards the desire for conformity;
that is religion is used to subdue intra-group conflicts and
to harmonies values and beliefs. We are invited to think we
are all the same, of one tribe and group, with one leader
Jung, in his book Answer to Job, came up with the idea
that God needs us as much as we need God
Competitive and rank-focused
Beliefs and experiences of the spiritual are textured by
complex hierarchical, leader-follower relationships. Then
arises all the questions of the powers of the leader to
ordain and order, to punish disobedience, to make special
and offer prestige. The themes of inferior-superior,
dominate-subordinate, shame and pride, weave their plots.
Today the strife that arises as religions `compete' for the
minds of people is enormous and some fear that religion
will be used as a focus for yet more major wars. Sometimes
people within such social structures are into crusades, to
win converts to the armies of God. Often certain
individuals will give themselves status and prestige, and
there is a ladder or highly ranked structure to God, with
the priests and popes etc. at the top.
God as experienced vai our social
mentalities or archetypes
We cannot experience the mind of the other directly but
only through their emitted behaviours and our
interpretation of those behaviours
We will use archetypal forms to impose meaning and cocreate roles
Role enactments create powerful emotional experiences
that can be interpreted in spiritual ways
Dark Side
Often linked to feelings of threat and injustice –
easily manipulated by leaders
Revert to basic threat system solutions
Strong in-group ties
Needs for specialness (not common humanity)
submission obedience – rigidity creates safeness
(Cults)
Spiritualities must therefore consider issues of
social justice and the creation of safeness
Therapy
We are all seekers, confronting fears and challenges of ‘finding
ourselves here’
So spirituality is often fundamental to mental health and not a
decontextualised process
We have yearnings for social connectedness, to be valued by others
and for life to be meaningful
These yearnings can lead us into practice and insights, compassion
and healing – but also into dangers and destructiveness
Spirituality can be explored in regard to basic human psychology
and the nature of our short, and for many, harsh existence
To feel safe and valued and loved changes our
journey into the spiritual
Compassion
Long history to the idea that compassion relates to
the integration of various of our qualities of mind
It is a way of seeing an experience the world
It requires training
It organise the brain into new patterns that give
rise to certain types of experience
Definitions of Compassion
Buddhist As loving kindness; open heartedness
‘deep feeling and understanding of the suffering of others
associated with a deep commitment and responsibility to try
to alleviate it’
Ethical Behaviour
Generosity
Wisdom
Patience
Compassion
Concentration
Effort
Develop the Perfections (Paramitas - to carry across –oceans
of suffering to enlightenment)
Other Views of Compassion
Definitions stretch back to Buddhism and Aristotle: suffering as nontrivial; non-deserved. and one can have empathy
McKay & Fanning (1992)
understanding, acceptance and forgiveness
Neff (2003)
Kindness-warmth
Common humanity
Mindfulness-Non-judgemental
Gilbert (1989, 2000, 2005)
A mental orientation that combines various, care focused
qualities of mind and is dependent on those qualities
Components of compassion
from the care giving mentality
Sympathy
Distress sensitive
Care for well
being
Non-judgement
Compassion
Distress tolerant
Empathy
Create opportunities for growth and change
With Warmth
Compassion Practice
Mindful compassion involves learning to direct one’s
attention in a nonjudgmental fashion in order train one’s
mind to organize itself via compassion and activate soothing
system as a key affect regulator.
It involves mindful practice of compassion focusing via
attention, thinking, behaviour and feeling that involves:
Process
Imagery
Goals
Compassion Practice
Insight, Practice and Development
Process
Therapeutic relationship, formulation, basic view of evolution
and personhood
Imagery
From memory and fantasy
Tasks/exercises
Motivation, attention, thinking, behaviour and feelings
Compassionate dialogues
Compassionate letters/paintings/pictures/poetry
Compassion Focus
Empathy and sympathy for one’s own distress
Awareness with out-judgement or blame
De-shame and focus on common humanity
Key focus is “finding what is experienced as
helpful, kind and supportive in this moment”
“Having compassion for myself means I feel so much more at peace
with myself. Knowing that it is a normal way of life to have
compassion for myself and it’s not an abnormal way of thinking, but a
very healthy way of thinking. It felt like I was training my mind to
switch to this mode when I start to feel bad about myself or life
situations were starting to get on top of me”
Conclusion
Compassion is a potential mind/brain organising
system
We can train our minds to develop it’s qualities
It has healing properties – via soothing system
It is a focus for a link between old-new
spiritualities, psychotherapy and a way for
organising social values
Biosocial Goals Social Mentalities
and Interpersonal Schema
Motivated role enactments (BSGs)
Social Mentalities
Emitted behaviours
Responses of others
Threatening or safe
Role matching
Interpersonal schemas
Self As Other as
e.,g. Attachment IWMs;
Trust, Power, Agency,
Identity
Self-to-other-to-self
Evolution of cognitive systems for
interpersonal behaviour
Type of role
Signal sensitive
Self
Inter-subjectivity
Theory of mind
Self as object/subject
Pretend, imagine fantasise
Rumination
Meta-cognition
Multiple processing
systems
Other
Co-constructed
Role (mis)match
