Compassion And Its Renewal: why character may be relevant

I deeply admire people who work in the arena of addiction. I have no understanding of how they constantly renew their compassion and energy for working with people who can present with extremes of dysfunction.

So, I was interested to come across a blog account that describes why Things Don't Go Better With Coke. Keith Carlson writes:

Working with this poor, chronically ill and generally disenfranchised community, addiction and its unhappy effects are normal aspects of my work, and part and parcel of many patients' lives. Compassion and love are still called for, and judgementalness and criticism only fuel the flames of separation. While my compassion-meter is sometimes pushed beyond its perceived limits, I find there is always more compassion and love somewhere in the chambers of my heart. The ultimate goal is healing, and especially in the face of addiction, compassion and understanding must, in the end, be the energy which fuels the healers' fire.

Challenged to explain how he can constantly renew his compassion, Carlson refers to a sense of gratitude for his own material and social good fortune. He also admires the work of Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. It may be yet another instance of Aristotle's argument:

men become builders by building houses, and harpists by playing the harp. Similarly, we become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage. (Bk II, Nicomachean Ethics)

However, to an outside commentator, even Aristotle is insufficient to explain why Carlson and people like him have not burned out. It seems that Carlson has remarkable resilience and social intelligence/citizenship. I mention this last because positive psychology argues that when our character strengths and virtues are in line with the demands of our life and work, then people achieve remarkable results and they do not burn out as rapidly as other people would who have different strengths and virtues.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project