Richard Davidson: Contemplative Practices and Neurophenomenology: Varela International Symposium 2022 (4 of 8)

In this talk on contemplative practices and neurophenomenology, Professor Richie Davidson issues a call to action. According to research, 15% of the population in Western countries regards transforming their minds as possible and has engaged in some practice to that end. 85% of people in Western countries have not engaged in transformative practices and vary in stages of readiness. All of us, Richie suggests, are to various degrees suffering (with the possible exceptions of the few awakened beings on this planet). Some of the 85% likely don’t recognize their own suffering, and those people, says Richie, most in need of contemplative strategies and practices. The question then is how do we speak to the 85%? If we don’t speak to the 85%, we’ll continue on a social, political, environmental trajectory that is not a healthy one. Richie insists that practitioners and scholar-practitioners of contemplative practices have a moral obligation to do everything in their power to reach the 85%. And Richie reminds us: if you’re listening to or watching this program, you are very likely in the 15%! In the lead up to his exhortation, Richie talks about: the differences between declarative and procedural knowledge; his well-known experiments with experienced meditators; the cultivation of compassion through meditation as preparation to act the moment suffering is encountered; and the importance of “coherence” between biological changes, namely stress responses, and one’s awareness of these changes. Richie also tells a story about Buddhist monks in Dharamsala laughing at Franciso Varela and him for using neurotransmitters to try to locate compassion in the brain rather than the heart. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Varela International Symposium 2022