Gabor Maté M.D. is a physician and
bestselling author whose books have been published in nearly twenty
languages worldwide.
He studies, child development, bullying, addiction, attention
deficit disorder, stress and more. His recent book is,
In the Realm of Hungry
Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction.
Empathy is like holding a baby, the opposite of empathy is everything
else.
How Culture Makes Us Feel Lost -
Dr. Gabor Maté On Finding Your True Self Again
"The good news is that human beings can regain the sense of connection to
themselves. Just as we can regain the sense of connection to our nature.
Empathy, which is a genuine human quality is in us. We are actually wired for
empathy......"
Gabor Mate - Toxic
Culture - How Materialistic Society Makes Us
"Dr. Mate is a Hungarian-born physician, living in
Vancouver, B.C., who grew up and was educated in Canada. He began the
interview by addressing the ‘myth of normal’ that divides us into the
normal and the abnormal with pathological traits. Dr. Mate mentions that
he doesn’t see a division, but a continuum where mental distress, of
some degree, is present in all of us. He explains how mental distress
and pathology are largely a result of a materialist culture that
“idealizes individualism and ignores our emotional needs”."
Litany of
Social problems related to stress and alienation
Solution
26:00: The good news is that we can really regain the connection to
ourselves. Empathy, which is a genuine human quality, is in us.
We are actually wired for empathy.
Even rats are wired for empathy. When you stress other rats in the
laboratory by shocking their feet with electricity, they are more
stressed by watching other rats being shocked than when they are
shocked themselves. Their stress hormones are higher.
That is our nature as human beings. So contrary to the myth in
our culture that we are separated individuals, aggressive, competitive
creatures, - we are wired for empathy, we are for connection, wired
for love, wired for compassion. So really, to move forward, all we
have to do, it's not an easy task but it is certainly available to us,
is to get back to our true nature.
