Finding compassion in public discourse and policy making, June 2021

One of the Women’s Climate Congress values statements states ‘ We assert that qualities of the heart (such as compassion, love, empathy and forgiveness) are the basis for true strength. These human laws must be reactivated for us to survive.’
In this online conversation, Dr Lynne Reeder (National Director of the Australian Compassion Council) and Revd Dr Sarah Bachelard (founder of Benedictus Contemplative Church based in Canberra) talked with Congress founding members Dr Janet Salisbury and Kirsten Anker about how we can tap into the ‘true strength’ that is revealed through compassion, empathy, love kindness and forgiveness, to overcome our currently adversarial public discourse and set humanity on a safer path. And we will be introduced to the new evidence base from disciplines such as neuroscience, social psychology and evolutionary biology where research increasingly identifies compassion as a motivator creating patterns in our brains that organize our motives, emotions, thoughts and actions. With Thanks to Joanne Ede for technical assistance.

Lysistrata quote from Kirsten's introduction

About our guest conversationalists
Dr Lynne Reeder is the National Director of the Australian Compassion Council and a member of the global Board of Trustees for the Charter for Compassion, International. With other members of the Australian Compassion Council, she is developing the strategic plan and structures to facilitate the work of the Charter for Compassion in Australia. In addition to supporting the creation of Charter cities and compassion sectors across Australia, Lynne also established a national compassion scholar’s network to bring together the leading Australian compassion researchers, and has organised a number of forums examining the evidence base of compassion with the University of Sydney’s Business School. Her recent compassion research, includes a randomised control trial of the early childhood program, Think Equal, in conjunction with the Centre for Emotional Intelligence at Yale University.
Revd Dr Sarah Bachelard is founder of Benedictus Contemplative Church based in Canberra and a retreat leader and theologian. She is a member of the World Community for Christian Meditation and has taught contemplative prayer nationally and internationally, with a focus on the relationship between spiritual practice and an integral ecology. She is the author of Experiencing God in a Time of Crisis, Resurrection and Moral Imagination and A Contemplative Christianity for Our Time.