What all of these findings suggest is this: Our capacity for empathy, compassion, kindness, and altruistic behavior is inborn, rather than acquired through socialization or cultural exposure. Only later, through socialization, do we begin to differentiate between those who are worthy of our kindness and those who are not. So, to some extent, Rousseau was right when he spoke of society having a corrupting influence on an infant’s pure instinct for kindness. As the well-known pioneer in the field of contemplative science Richard Davidson has argued, if our natural capacity for compassion is akin
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