Actualidad y futuro del constructivismo piagetiano

Many studies point to the fact that, somewhat contrary to popular

From “I” to “We”

173 Fischbacher 2003; Lewis, Amini, and Lannon 2000). We clearly possess inherent drives toward cooperation and affiliation that go beyond simple self-interest (doing things because they will benefit you), or even enlight-ened self-interest (doing things that are good for others because you know doing good for others will benefit you as well).

This phenomenon of loving those outside our tribe is just beginning to be explored by scientists. By this point in the book, you won’t be surprised to learn that transformative practice traditions have long incorporated many of the factors that science is just now starting to uncover—factors that nurture compassion, not only for those we love, but even for those whom we perceive to be different from us.

Researchers Phil Shaver at the University of California, Davis, and Mario Mikulincer in Israel study how we relate to people we know and love as opposed to strangers we perceive as outside our kinship circle (Mikulincer and Shaver 2005). Their work is based in attachment theory. Developed pri-marily by psychiatrist John Bowlby, attachment theory proposes that our relationships with the primary caregivers of our early life determine our attachment style, or pattern of relating to ourselves and others—a pattern that is carried into our adulthood (1988). Empirical research on attachment theory by Mary Ainsworth and colleagues (1978) and Mary Main (1996) found, moreover, that attachment styles are often transmitted intergenera-tionally, with a mother’s attachment style predicting the attachment style of her child.

Typically, someone with attachment difficulties due to faulty attune-ment or lack of responsiveness from their caregivers will show patterns of insecurity, avoidance, or anxiety in their relationships later in life. Shaver and Mikulincer’s recent research (2005) has revealed that individuals with chronic attachment insecurity score lower on measures of many of the self-transcendent values—such as love, compassion, and generosity—that we’ve described in this book. They’re more likely to feel threatened by out-group members (people who seem different) and more likely to react to them with hostility. On the other hand, individuals with secure attachment styles tend to show greater kindness and openness to other people.

Even if your attachment pattern is insecure or anxious, your pattern isn’t necessarily set in stone. As we’re learning, consciousness is mallea-ble and transformation is always possimallea-ble. When security of attachment

is manipulated in the laboratory—for example, by asking someone to do something as simple as think of a caring loved one, or even just sublimi-nally (outside of conscious awareness) exposing an individual to the name of a caring loved one—reactions to others, even out-group members, are significantly more positive. Being reminded of a safe and loving figure was found to actually increase compassion, even toward strangers (Mikulincer et al. 2005). Here again, we see that it is often your perspective rather than the situation at hand that determines your thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Shaver and Mikulincer hypothesize that priming a person’s conscious-ness with the memory of a caring and safe person temporarily activates the person’s secure base schema, or their thoughts and feelings of being comforted, safe, and reassured. It also increases their scores on the transcendent values mentioned earlier, in this case benevolence and univer-salism (a measure of the values of fairness and egalitarianism). This kind of research could go a long way toward helping us understand the internal and external conditions needed to foster an altruistic and compassionate love that transcends kinship circles. Many elements of transformative practice may promote the development of a more secure adult attachment style. For many, a congregation, synagogue, sangha, or other transformative practice community is a secure base. For some, a guru becomes a secure attachment figure. For others, God or a sense of an unchanging ground of being or uni-versal energy is a secure starting point from which to explore the world.

SUMMARY

Across our focus groups, interviews, and survey studies, we’ve repeatedly heard that profound transpersonal experiences of oneness or interconnec-tion can lead to significant shifts in your perspective. As a result, your ideas about yourself, your place in the universe, and your relationship to others may change. Transformative practices can help you integrate those changes into your everyday life and way of being.

In this chapter, we focused on how these experiences and practices can lead you to deep and long-lasting changes, moving you into transpersonal

From “I” to “We”

175 interconnections between yourself, others, and the world itself. For many people, this triggers a natural emergence of compassion and altruism. As Trappist monk Thomas Merton said: “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another” (Fox 1983, 25). Think of this as coming home to yourself and your own true nature. As Albert Einstein described:

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us “universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest … a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. (1977, 60)

In the next chapter, we’ll explore this idea more fully as we consider another theme that emerged from our research: in the course of positive consciousness transformation, life becomes filled with meaning and every-thing becomes sacred, from the soil to our souls.

For now, take a few moments to consider the art and practice of compassion.

Experiencing Transformation: