conditions for empathy?
I’m wondering about what “the conditions for opencare” might mean in practice.
On the one hand, maybe some aspects of care have no conditions other than a person who cares in an appropriate and relevant way. But practically speaking, how do we create the conditions where there is a positive cycle of care: where one person’s care of another results in the second person being able to care more, and so on.
I’m glad you named the purpose “to bring about greater love”. That comes across to me as having a deep and strong foundation.
On a practical, psychological level, my own experience is that if I care for people who don’t share my values to some extent, it can be dispiriting. Like giving to people who believe only in taking, and not giving back, can be very taxing. So one thing, which is no different from what you have said, in different ways perhaps, is to bring people together in a community where people share the values of caring for others, giving back, giving forward, or something similar. People who want greater love in the world, and not just for themselves!
I believe there are many skills, relevant to this, that can be learned. Or if not learned, then maybe picked up from living in a culture where they are norms, through a process you could call “enculturation”. So is at least part of what we are talking about here to do with learning the skills and habits of caring, and those behaviours being positively reinforced – to use a phrase which sounds quite wrong in some ways?
Looking forward to reading more
Simon