incomplete draft

Second-order Compassion

I recently wrote the following tweet in response to Andrés Gómez Emilsson’s request for examples of overlooked ethical emergencies.

I’d like to expand on this idea a little bit and explain what I mean.

Personal Cultivation of Compassion

For those who engage in compassion practices like mettā meditation, it can be easy to forget that for many people the idea that compassion is a skill that you can get better at through practice is a fairly novel concept. People often think of compassion as simply a quality or feeling that you have or don’t have, not a skill that you practice.

Second-order Effects

The term “second-order effects” basically means the same thing as domino effects or ripple effects. Causes lead to first-order effects, which then become the causes of second-order effects, which then cause third-order effects, fourth-order, and so on.

Compassion Bootstraps Alignment

Something something iterated prisoner’s dilemma.

Skillful compassion initiates a chain reaction.

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Self-compassion is not selfish

When you account for the second-order effects of self-compassion, it becomes clear that there is nothing selfish about it. The expression “put your own oxygen mask on first” is often used to justify self-compassion and self-care. But even that perspective undersells the collective benefits of self-compassion.

It’s not just that self-compassion enables someone to then be compassionate towards others. It’s that self-compassion itself causes ripple effects that benefit others.

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