Abstract
The thesis of this essay is that while the world shapes our emotions, we can shape our emotions to shape a better world. Antonio Damasio understands emotions as ‘action programs’ in contrast to feelings, which are the inner experiences of these programs. Natural selection and early human development shape connections in our brains called the ‘social brain network.’ Because of variations in our genes, our brains and our life experience, each of us is different in the ways we express emotions and especially empathy. This is illustrated by the Hare psychopathy check list, the screening version. However, experimental work in the lab of Christian Keysers suggests that even psychopaths can show empathy when instructed to do so. In the light of this finding, we suggest that emotions can be trained by working with our feelings. Four kinds of religious practice are briefly summarized: Mindfulness Meditation, Compassion Meditation, Centering Prayer, and Hesychia. Each enables entering into a silent, calm, centered state. We then outline how the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach to psychotherapy can provide a model of the person that enables one who is centered in Self Leadership to work with her or his inner family system of ‘Managers,’ ‘Exiles,’ and ‘Firefighters.’ This work enables healing of troublesome feelings whose source is often early child experiences such as rape, legacy burdens from ancestors, or the legacies of particular cultural views. We conclude by presenting four cases and a scientific study of how IFS meditative work with feelings facilitates healing so that lives and relationships are improved to shape a better world.
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Appendix
Appendix
The internal system (Mullen 2001–2002)
Text adapted from Richard C. Schwartz, Internal Family Systems Theory (1995): graphic by Janet R. Mullen
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Davis, M.H., Peters, K.E. (2016). Shaping Emotions That Shape the World. In: Evers, D., Fuller, M., Runehov, A., Sæther, KW. (eds) Issues in Science and Theology: Do Emotions Shape the World?. Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26769-2_4
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