Dr Paul Ekman connects Darwin to the Dalai Lama

Dr Paul Ekman has many claims to fame. He’s been an emotional expression consultant with groups as far ranging as the CIA and the Pixar animation studio. He’s inspired a television series and written over a dozen books. However, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Dr Ekman is his close relationship with the Dalai Lama.

They met during the writing of his book Emotions Revealed and they have since had several conversations on compassion and its place within human nature. Through this close relationship, Dr Ekman has developed a new theory on the nature of empathy, compassion, altruism and heroism.

On March 11, Dr Ekman shared this theory in his talk titled “Darwin, the Dalai Lama and the nature of compassion”, which he gave at the SFU Segal School of Business.

In this talk, Dr Ekman pointed out that although they both arrived to their conclusions independently, Darwin and Buddhism have similar ideas when it comes to human nature. According to Dr Ekman, both Darwin and Buddhists believe that the highest moral virtue is having compassion for “all sentient beings”, or rather a concern for all living things.

Further, both Darwin and Buddhism hold the relationship between mother and infant as the heart of compassion, or, as the Dalai Lama refers to it, the “seed of compassion”. Dr Ekman suggests this compassionate side of Darwin, a stark contrast to his “survival of the fittest” mantra, is unknown to most.

If you’d like to hear more from this talk, check out the video below and the complete audio podcast.