Dr Doty is the author of Into The Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart (Avery, 2016) and is co-founder of the Center for Compassion & Altruism Research & Education (CCARE) at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA.

thumbnail_JamesDoty.jpg

JamesDoty.jpg

Dr James Doty

<h5>In Part 1, DR DOTY explored the evolutionary advantage of compassion in human beings and its relationship with our
  physiological responses. In Part 2, he takes us further into aspects of human behavior that relate to compassion and
  collective social issues. ...</h5>
<h5 class="text-center"><img class="has-img-center"
    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_1_992f055845.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T10:16:10.191Z"
    alt="stimulus-response-part-2" width="192" height="81" />
  <p>In conversation with<br>
    Dr James R Doty</p>
</h5>
<p class="text-justify lh-base"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>JD:</strong></span> Another one of those
  collective social issues is this inherent desire to be tribal  in  nature, and  again, there is an evolutionary
  reason. We talked about hunter-gatherer tribes as our primary survival strategy and we know that people tend to
  gather or connect with others who look like them, act like them and share the same socio-economic status, culture,
  religion and color. Why? When you are with people who are like you, what happens? Your sense of fear, anxiety or
  threat diminishes.</p>

<img class="w-100"
  src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/dr_doty_at_work_9cc8ea98b5.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T10:30:11.477Z"
  alt="drdoty_at_work" />

<p class="text-justify lh-base">The problem is that this type of interaction can act as an echo chamber to reinforce
  negative behavior or a perception of fear or threat, which results in you being closed to the opinions of other
  people and groups. Or you may feel a desire to eliminate them because of this false notion that they are going to
  threaten your existence. It is often a self- fulfilling prophecy. This is a natural state of being, unfortunately;
  we know that it can be activated and we have seen this happen. You  alluded  to  the political environment, where
  you see groups stoking fear and anxiety to engage this primitive part of us that responds to fear or threat. This
  results in individuals identifying with groups that think or act like them in the false notion that this is
  protecting them.</p>
<hr>
<h5 class="text-center">…in the context of our modern global society;<br>
  the reality is that what happens in one part of the world<br>
  can profoundly affect another part of the world.</h5>
<hr>
<p class="text-justify lh-base">Politicians and others have used this reality for their own purposes for millennia. The
  problem is that it is not a long-term survival strategy, and it is certainly not a long-term solution in the context
  of our modern global society; the reality is that what happens in one part of the world can profoundly affect
  another part of the world. We are no longer in this position of small hunter-gatherer tribes where we can engage in
  conflict in small areas and have no big effect on the rest of the  world.</p>
<p class="text-justify lh-base">Frankly, our survival demands that we gain self-awareness of these issues. We need to
  understand this reality and also that, in fact, there are resources for all. If we change our behavior, look into
  ourselves, and understand the negative attributes that we have, and our biases toward others – we call these
  cognitive biases – it can actually lead to a society that works for everyone’s benefit, in which we care for those
  who look and act like us, our tribe if you will, and also care for others outside our close-knit group.</p>
<hr>
<h5 class="text-center">
  Technology and digital technologies have had a very profound positive affect in many domains and allow us to live as
  we do today. That being said, what we do know is that for some individuals, as you point out, these types of
  technologies do not truly create a connection with others.
</h5>
<hr>
<p class="text-justify lh-base">As an example if we took one week’s worth of the monies spent every year on military
  technology, we could provide education for tens of millions of children from kindergarten to year 12. And that is
  just one week. Imagine what we could do if we markedly decreased expenditure on military technology and armies! How
  many people could we feed? How many buildings could we build? How many people could we educate? This ultimately has
  to be the paradigm as we look toward the future.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>Q:</strong></span> I am curious about the effect
  digital technology is having on human compassion. I am reading in studies that as people are looking at screens so
  much and interacting with machines more and more, they have a diminished capacity for empathy and more difficulty
  reading facial and emotional cues from others and recognizing their own emotions. What is your sense of how the new
  digital technologies are affecting human compassion?</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>JD:</strong></span> This is a two-edged sword.
  Technology and digital technologies have had a very profound positive affect in many domains and allow us to live as
  we do today. That being said, what we do know is that for some individuals, as you point out, these types of
  technologies do not truly create a connection with others. It is a reality that we as a species are profoundly
  social and when we do not connect with others we are lonely.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">As an example, in the United States one quarter of people when they are suffering, hurt
  or are in pain, feel that they have no one to share that with or be comforted by. Also remember that we have an
  epidemic in the West of loneliness, isolation, anxiety, stress and depression. You simply have to look at whether it
  is digital technologies or modernity in regard to what has happened.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">Two to three hundred years ago we lived in multi-generational environments and most
  people grew up in one part of the country. Often times their parents, grandparents, siblings and children all lived
  in close proximity, if not the same building.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">They stayed in the same place for the entire length of their life and as a result each
  individual knew that they were part of a community and that community cared for and nurtured them. It accepted them
  for the good parts of themselves and also the bad parts and still loved them.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">In modern society many of us do not have that type of environment. When growing up we
  often move from city to city, so there is no stability and acceptance in the interactions we have with others. As we
  become adults we move away to go to college and then have a job where we are separated from siblings and parents. We
  go to places where we know no one. And that creates an environment for many people of loneliness, despair and
  anxiety. When we include then the effects of digital technology, which can make this even worse, it can have a
  profound negative affect.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">We also know that when a person is lonely or anxious this leads often times to
  rumination and makes the situation worse.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">That being said, we also know that there are certain digital or artificial technologies
  that can have a positive benefit. Some of these are technologies that allow us to connect with people who are like
  us and share our interests, which is wonderful. Robots are being used to interact with people who are lonely or
  elderly and can potentially even perform aged care, if you will. There is evidence that we can develop a positive
  relationship with these artificial entities. But these artificial entities are artificial entities. They will never
  replace a human, even though in certain contexts they can be beneficial. So, it is a two-edged sword.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">As we see the evolution of artificial intelligence and machine learning, this leads into
  another potentially very difficult issue, because who is behind all this?Who are the manipulators? If we examine the
  issues of free will, we appreciate that many of the actions we engage in are related to environmental cues on a
  subconscious level. We also understand now that we can be manipulated. And when there are terabytes of data on how
  individuals move, and we have the ability to collect and analyze immense amounts of information about an individual,
  it potentially means that the subconscious cues can be manipulated in very negative ways. These may have no negative
  effect on the savannah in Africa – in fact they were part of our survival mechanism – but in a modern environment we
  can be manipulated by a small group.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">In some ways it is already happening; there is a whole field called Neuromarketing,
  which takes advantage of our biases and utilizes this knowledge to motivate us or manipulate us to buy things or do
  certain actions for the benefit of others. This has to be kept in mind, because if there are no safety checks it
  will lead to a small group of people being able to manipulate large segments of our society.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>Q:</strong></span> I am very interested and
  concerned about what you are talking about. It’s remarkable that there is worldwide warrantless surveillance by
  governments and corporations collecting data and keeping track of people. It is well beyond what George Orwell
  imagined. It seems people don’t quite realize this is going on. With so much information generally, people seem
  overwhelmed and interested in one topic for an hour and then something else happens and they move on to the next
  item.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>JD:</strong></span> That is probably a discussion
  we could engage in for a long time.</p>

<p class="text-justify lh-base">To be continued.</p>

<h6>Dr James Doty is the author of <em>Into The Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the
    Brain and the Secrets of the Heart</em> (Avery, 2016) and is co-founder of the Center for Compassion &amp;
  Altruism Research &amp; Education (CCARE) at Stanford  University in Palo Alto, California, USA.</h6>
<h6>John Malkin is a journalist and musician living in Santa Cruz, California where he also hosts radio programs on Free
  Radio Santa Cruz and KZSC.</h6>
<hr>
<h4 class="text-center">Interviewed by JOHN MALKIN</h4>
<hr>

Between stimulus and response - part 2

<h3 style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" alt="qanda" class="lazyload mw-100"
    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_73c6861fa0.jpg">In conversation with Dr James
  R. Doty</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<p></p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">In parts 1 and 2, DR DOTY explored the evolutionary advantage of compassion in human
  beings and its relationship with our physiological responses, and took us further into aspects of human behavior
  that relate to compassion and collective social issues. In part 3 he shares some cherished memories of how the
  compassion and unconditional giving of a remarkable woman gave him a helping hand up when he was a boy.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #808080;"><strong>Q:</strong></span> Tell me about the experience
  you had as a kid growing up with a father who drank a lot, where there was violence in the home; somewhat familiar
  territory for a lot of people growing up in America. And when you were in the 8th grade you happen to meet this
  woman named Ruth at a magic shop and she taught you meditation and concentration techniques. She said to you, “I
  know how to turn a flicker into a flame,” and “This will change your life.” Tell me about meeting her and how it
  changed your life.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #c21356;"><strong>JD:</strong></span> Yes. There is no question
  about that. As I discuss in detail in the book, I grew up in poverty, my father was an alcoholic and my mother had
  had a stroke and was partially paralyzed, chronically depressed and attempted suicide multiple times. Neither parent
  had gone to college. We were on public assistance and this is not the environment for a child that is typically
  associated with success in life.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">She was the kind of person we meet rarely,<br>
  whose presence radiates goodness and kindness.<br>
  Their smile is radiant and they embrace you<br>
  and you feel calm and comfortable in their presence.<br>
  She was that type of a person.</h5>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Although I was intelligent and to some degree self-aware, that actually made the
  situation worse. I had the insight that I essentially had no ability to change the situation, no resources and no
  access to knowledge. I had a sense of despair and hopelessness. I was unhappy and angry. I was angry at my situation
  and at my parents.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">So one day at the age of twelve I walked into a magic shop and there was a woman behind
  the counter. I describe her in the book as an Earth Mother type. I asked her about some of the things in the magic
  shop and she laughed and brought her head up to look at me, because she was reading a paperback at the time. She
  explained to me that she knew nothing about the magic in the store. She said it was her son’s store and she was
  simply sitting there while he ran an errand.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">She was the kind of person we meet rarely, whose presence radiates goodness and
  kindness. Their smile is radiant and they embrace you and you feel calm and comfortable in their presence. She was
  that type of a person. She immediately sensed that perhaps I was troubled, and she paid attention to me and asked me
  some questions, which was unusual for a child in my position.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">At the end of fifteen or twenty minutes of conversation, where she queried me about my
  background and interests and hopes and aspirations, she said to me, “I’m here for another six weeks and if you come
  every day I’ll teach you something that could change your life.” I wish I could tell you that I had some incredible
  insight that led me to show up, but the fact of the matter is that I had nothing else to do and she’d given me some
  cookies during our conversation. So I showed up.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Of course if we think about a situation like that&nbsp;today, where a person offers to
  spend an hour or&nbsp;two with you in a backroom – an adult with a child&nbsp;– it would be frowned upon and
  perceived as some sort of predatory-type behavior. Perhaps it was a more innocent time in 1968. Needless to say I
  did show up, and in the course of that interaction it was apparent retrospectively that this woman had significant
  knowledge of Eastern philosophical practices. She understood from her own experience that you can change your own
  brain. Although it wasn’t named at the time, what she was talking about was neuroplasticity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">So for the next six weeks, we spent an hour or two together every day in a back room,
  and she taught me what I describe as Ruth’s Tricks: one through four.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #c21356;">The first trick</span> was relaxing the body. It was her
  understanding that many of us carry around the emotions that we have in our muscles and that this distracts us from
  being attentive. The first thing that she taught me was this concept of relaxing the body and learning attention and
  focus. She did this in ways that we now know as the typical practices associated with Buddhism or meditation or
  mindfulness practice. To really be a success, one has to be able to attend and focus and respond to emotional states
  and have insight into them. So that was the first thing that she taught me.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">What I had thought were impairments<br>
  to my ability to succeed, or limitations<br>
  of my possibilities, were suddenly removed.<br>
  And that was absolutely critical.</h5>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #c91c59;">The second trick </span>was …</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<p></p>
<h4><em>Read the complete article in Volume 2, Issue&nbsp;2<br>
  </em></h4>
<h4><a href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span
      style="color: #bf8f26;">SUBSCRIBE &amp; DOWNLOAD</span></a></h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<p></p>
<h5 style="text-align: center;"></h5>
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Interviewed&nbsp;by&nbsp;JOHN MALKIN</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
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Between stimulus and response - part 3

<h3 class="text-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_73c6861fa0.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-31T06:10:11.696Z" alt="qanda" class="mw-100"/>In conversation with DR JAMES R DOTY</h3>

&nbsp;
<h4 class="p1">In the earlier parts of this interview, DR DOTY explored the evolutionary advantage of compassion, aspects of human behavior that relate to compassion and collective social issues, and shared some cherished memories of the remarkable woman who gave him a helping hand up when he was a boy. In Part 4, Dr Doty talks about how he was able to develop compassion and its impact in his work as a neurosurgeon.</h4>
&nbsp;
<p class="p1 lh-base"><span style="color: #bf2484;"><strong>Q:</strong> </span>I’d like to hear about being a surgeon. It seems so foreign to me, to regularly have such tremendous responsibility for someone’s life. How has Mindfulness affected you as a brain surgeon, in being able to be calm in stressful situations?</p>
<p class="p1 lh-base"><span style="color: #1598b3;"><strong>JD: </strong></span>I’m a neurosurgeon and the nature of my job requires a high level of training and technological sophistication. Interestingly, though, what I tell our students and residents is that while that may be true, the successes that I have with patients are equally touched by caring and compassion. And this has nothing to do with using a scalpel. This has to do with being present for someone and being there for them. In so many situations this is profoundly helpful for individuals because it changes the dynamic.</p>
<p class="p1 lh-base">When people come to a doctor or neurosurgeon, many times this is the most important thing happening to them or their family and to us it’s routine. And to dismiss it as such is really horrible. To be present even though we’re doing something routine and standard to us is very, very important because it leads to this sense of calmness and the sense that they’re really being cared for. Again it shifts them from engaging their sympathetic nervous system associated with fear and anxiousness to one of calmness, and this actually promotes wound healing and also improves their physiologic state. We know that certain types of stress, such as profound acute stress, can lead to sudden cardiac death. So those types of compassionate interactions are important.</p>

<hr>
<h5 class="p1 text-center">When you have a sense of calm about yourself<br>
and what you’re doing, and you don’t panic under stress,<br>
you are able to do much, much better …<br>
it is the cultivation of positive emotional states<br>
that we can do with certain types of mental practices.</h5>

<hr>
<p class="p1 lh-base">Remember that a neurosurgeon’s training is seven years after medical school. In the context of what I do, and this has evolved over time, I try to function with a calmness and a lightness of spirit that allows me, when something bad happens, not to respond in a negative way. You hear of surgeons who throw instruments and blame others. First of all, my first response if anything happens is: until proven otherwise it’s my fault. This limits me screaming at people. And I don’t do that, of course. When you’re calm and you don’t engage your fear response when unexpected events occur, your executive control function in your frontal area works at its best and this is associated with clear decision making, creativity and being more productive.</p>
<p class="p1 lh-base">When you have a sense of calm about yourself and what you’re doing, and you don’t panic under stress, you are able to do much, much better. This is true whether or not you are a neurosurgeon and in all parts of your life. Negative thoughts and negative emotional states don’t benefit anybody. And it is the cultivation of positive emotional states that we can do with certain types of mental practices.</p>

&nbsp;
<h4><em>Read the complete article in <span style="color: #bf8f26;"><a style="color: #bf8f26;" href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/category/volume2/volume2issue3/">Volume 2, Issue 3</a></span></em></h4>
<h4><a href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #bf8f26;">SUBSCRIBE &amp; DOWNLOAD</span></a></h4>
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<h4 class="text-center">Interviewed by JOHN MALKIN</h4>

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Between stimulus and response - part 4

<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><span style="color: #1d6161;">DR JAMES R. DOTY addresses health care professionals on the capacities we all have as
    human beings to bring care and compassion to the field of medicine through the power of heart.</span></h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<p style="text-align: justify;">Caring for others is an extraordinary privilege that’s granted to very few, and
  sometimes we get lost with other aspects of medicine that actually aren’t related to caring. So I thank all of you
  who, by the nature of your profession, also care, because fundamentally that’s the core of what we really are and that
  very action, in and of itself, is what defines our humanity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I am an atheist, actually, but I’ve had the joy of spending time with some of the
  greatest spiritual leaders in the world: Amma, Sri Sri Ravishankar, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Sadhguru, Eckhart
  Tolle and others. I have to tell you that the basis for who they are and, frankly, the fundamental basis for every
  religious and spiritual tradition is Heartfulness. This idea of opening our hearts, of having unconditional love,
  compassion and caring for others is really at the soul of who we are.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the modern world we are very distracted. We are a species which probably has the
  greatest ability to remember the past and also perceive a future, and the very nature of those two qualities fights
  against our desire to be present. Our true nature is really to be present. And when we are present, it allows us to
  connect with everyone as they truly are. But this is a challenge in the modern world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I just want to share with you a thing I do sometimes to be present. I built my house 3
  or 4 years ago and in the backyard there’s a hardscape made of concrete with large squares. Between the squares there
  are loose stones.<br>
  My wife said to me, “Why are you doing that? Every time someone comes over or the kids play, all these loose stones
  will get dislodged.”<br>
  I looked at her and said, “That’s okay.”<br>
  I’m a sort of perfectionist sometimes so she was very surprised and responded, “I can’t believe you’re saying
  that!”<br>
  I said, “Well, I’ll show you once it is done.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The stones are always getting messed up, so when I come home every day, the first thing
  I do is to take control of my emotional reaction and then walk around and replace every stone. In some way, this
  impermanence makes me focus on the present and centers me to interact with my family again. It is similar to the
  purpose of creating sand mandalas in some traditions, where they spend days on these incredibly beautiful designs and,
  when they are done, they let go of them instantly.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I also have a modern sculpture of the Buddha in my backyard, and the interesting thing
  about this statue is that it is headless and it sits holding a glass persimmon. The sculpture reminds me not to get
  lost in my intellect but to focus on my heart, because that’s what often distracts us from our true selves. Also, a
  persimmon can be very hard and bitter initially, but if we are patient and thoughtful, the fruit becomes soft and
  sweet. When we reflect on this we understand that suffering, too, is actually a wonderful fruit that allows us to
  understand our true selves and our true potential as human beings.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d6161;">Instead of being reactive, you now act with
    discernment</span><br>
  <span style="color: #1d6161;"> and are able to incorporate your memories, experiences</span><br>
  <span style="color: #1d6161;"> and things you’ve learned into decision-making.</span><br>
  <span style="color: #1d6161;"> When you’re not stressed or anxious or fearful,</span><br>
  <span style="color: #1d6161;"> you are much more creative and productive.</span>
</h5>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Over a period of time, the idea of compassion, Heartfulness and caring for others kept
  coming forth, and although I always tried to act with that intention I really wanted to do a deeper inquiry. So in
  2007-2008 I funded a variety of research projects with a group of neuroscientists and psychologists, to study these
  behaviors at a deeper level using the tools of neuroscience. It became clearly evident that compassion, Heartfulness,
  kindness and caring not only define who we are as a species, but they are fundamental to our health and well-being.
</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">With the right intention, practices like Heartfulness and the Compassion Cultivation
  Training, conducted by us at Stanford University, stimulate the vagus nerve that connects to our heart. This results
  in engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system. When this system is engaged, blood pressure goes down, heart
  function improves, immune system is boosted, genes that are typically associated with the expression of inflammatory
  proteins are suppressed, and cortisol levels go down to normal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Engaging your parasympathetic nervous system also allows the area of your brain that is
  associated with executive functions to be at its best. Instead of being reactive, you now act with discernment and are
  able to incorporate your memories, experiences and things you’ve learned into decision-making. When you’re not
  stressed or anxious or fearful, you are much more creative and productive.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who was imprisoned during the Holocaust, had understood
  what he calls the pause between a stimulus and a response. It’s in the pause that everything happens, because during
  that pause you understand the nature of reality and act with discernment. Practices that promote altruism and
  compassion allow for such essential pauses in our lives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Thus it is evident that these practices not only benefit the individual, but also have a
  huge impact on a variety of domains. In the education system, they can improve attendance and academic performance. In
  the healthcare system where we have a crisis of stress, anxiety, burnout, these practices allow us to not be as
  reactive, to be more thoughtful, to calm ourselves, and to look at others and understand their suffering. In business,
  they can increase productivity and creativity by decreasing stress and anxiety. Studies show that this, in turn,
  increases the share value of the company. Incorporating these practices in the field of law and justice can decrease
  violence and recidivism, and shifts our attitude from policing against the law-breakers to reaching out to help them
  by recognizing that after all we are like each other.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I hope this has given you a brief understanding of the power we have within ourselves,
  the power to reach who we truly are, and the power to change every life around us.</p>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h6 style="text-align: left;">Excerpts from the keynote talk given at the Continuing Medical Education conference at the
  Fremont Heartfulness Center, CA, USA, on 25 February 2017</h6>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article by DR JAMES R. DOTY</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p>
<hr>

Dr James Doty

Dr Doty is the author of Into The Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart (Avery, 2016) and is co-founder of the Center for Compassion & Altruism Research & Education (CCARE) at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA.

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