In this three-session online program, we will explore the role of compassion in the Buddhist and psychotherapeutic traditions with an emphasis on our emotions. In the West, many people pursue Buddhist spiritual practice in order to better understand and heal their relationship to powerful and challenging emotions, including anger, despair, envy, and fear. Similarly, most people who pursue psychological treatment have struggled with these emotions along with feelings of depression and anxiety. In both traditions, there are far-ranging and divergent methods for responding to the suffering of our emotional lives predicated on the ability to care about emotional suffering and respond with patience and skill. We will read Buddhist commentaries on the critical role of compassion in restoring our well-being, alongside psychoanalytic authors who emphasized compassion as a central healing modality in clinical work, including Sandor Ferenczi, Bernard Brandchaft, and Donna Orange.
July 6th: Anxiety & Anger
July 13th: Despair & Depression
July 20th: Desire & Envy
