“An argument for compassion that is balanced yet persuasive, and
long overdue. This book ought to be a compulsory read for all.”
—ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
When the fury of a South Asian tsunami snuffed out a hundred and fifty thousand lives, the world responded with a torrent of compassion. How can we understand, Marc Barasch asks, this quality, “at once fundamental and fugitive, emerging in crisis as our natural endowment, yet too often crowded out by our pressing little agendas.”
What exactly is compassion? How can tapping into this single trait transform not only individual lives but the world at large? Marc Ian Barasch set out to answer these questions, exploring what he calls “the x-factor that every faith…exalts as a supreme virtue.” What he discovered is recounted in fascinating detail in FIELD NOTES ON THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE: A Search for the Soul of Kindness (Rodale Hardcover; March 28, 2005; $24.95).
Barasch ventured forth with an open mind, a healthy dose of skepticism, and an unfailing curiosity about the possibilities of what he might find—and their implications. Drawing from science and spirituality, history and popular culture, button-down business and a high sense of fun, Barasch has created a smart, provocative argument that a simple shift in consciousness can change who we are and the society we have become.
His hands-on fieldwork took him from his friends’ kitchen tables to a maximum-security prison in Georgia; from the streets of Denver (where he lived homeless for a week) to a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—the first major gathering of cutting edge Western brain science and ancient Eastern mind science. In FIELD NOTES ON THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE, Barasch vividly recounts what he uncovered, including:
- At the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Georgia, zoologists have observed compassionate behavior among chimps—smiling, hugging, kissing, offering comfort—which suggests that empathy is a thirty-million-year-old trait.
- Researchers at the Institute of HeartMath, whose board is an impressive roster of leading medical professionals, are studying the heart’s influence on the brain. They have already found that states of mind having to do with caring and compassion have positive effects on the immune and autonomic nervous systems.
- The organization Seeking Common Ground has a unique approach to helping resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Young women are brought from the eternal war zone to a lakeside retreat in rural New Jersey for two weeks, where the lines of communication are opened. Their relationships are a microcosm of the region’s strife and a litmus for any hope of resolving it.
- Eight-year-old Cassieand other children with the rare genetic disorder known as Williams’ Syndrome are unlikely ambassadors in the quest for compassion, and may help scientists determine how the trait is hardwired into the brain. Despite mild retardation and health problems due to a missing chromosome, Williams’ kids often show not only pronounced musical ability and deft verbal facility, but also an extraordinary level of empathy.
FIELD NOTES ON THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE, says Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, is “an essential guide for anyone who cares deeply about the human condition.” Barasch, an astute chronicler of our deepest potentials, proves our future may well depend on one thing: “a regime change of the heart.” Says Kirkus Reviews: “The more who read Barasch, the better the world will be.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marc Ian Barasch’s most recent book, the award-winning Healing Dreams, was hailed by the Washington Post as “courageous…trailblazing.” Previous works include The Healing Path and the bestselling Remarkable Recovery. He has been an editor at Psychology Today, Natural Health, and New Age Journal. He has appeared on Good Morning America, Today, and NPR’s All Things Considered, and has conducted workshops at the Omega and Esalen Institutes. He has also produced and written films for the Discovery Channel and Turner Broadcasting System. Interview magazine once called him “ one of today’s coolest grown-ups.” He lives in Boulder, Colorado. Visit him online at www.compassionatelife.com.
FIELD NOTES ON THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE
A Search for the Soul of Kindness
By Marc Ian Barasch
Rodale Hardcover
Publication Date: March 28, 2005
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 1-57954-711-7