CULTIVATING LOVING KINDNESS: A TWO‐STAGE MODEL OF THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION ON EMPATHY, COMPASSION, AND ALTRUISM
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science June 2, 2005 Jean L. Kristeller, Thomas Johnson
Meditation can cultivate compassion, empathy, and altruism despite its association with solitary retreat and self-focused practice. A two-stage model explains this: first, disengagement from self-reinforcing, self-defeating, or self-indulgent behaviors and reactions; second, focused engagement with a universal human capacity for altruistic experience, love, and compassion. The article references limited research literature and clinical applications of loving kindness (metta) meditation in cultivating these processes.