[Buddha-l] Abhidharma vindicated once again

[Dan Lusthaus]

A propos some of Jamie's observations about how we carve up the human in our 
category-grids, the latest op-ed piece in the NYTimes by David Brooks, an 
intelligent, occasionally wise, Conservative commentator, is called "The New 
Humanism," and may be of interest. Some excerpts:

--
Many of our public policies are proposed by experts who are comfortable only 
with correlations that can be measured, appropriated and quantified, and 
ignore everything else.

Yet while we are trapped within this amputated view of human nature, a 
richer and deeper view is coming back into view. It is being brought to us 
by researchers across an array of diverse fields: neuroscience, psychology, 
sociology, behavioral economics and so on.

This growing, dispersed body of research reminds us of a few key insights. 
First, the unconscious parts of the mind are most of the mind, where many of 
the most impressive feats of thinking take place. Second, emotion is not 
opposed to reason; our emotions assign value to things and are the basis of 
reason. Finally, we are not individuals who form relationships. We are 
social animals, deeply interpenetrated with one another, who emerge out of 
relationships.

This body of research suggests the French enlightenment view of human 
nature, which emphasized individualism and reason, was wrong. The British 
enlightenment, which emphasized social sentiments, was more accurate about 
who we are. It suggests we are not divided creatures. We don't only progress 
as reason dominates the passions. We also thrive as we educate our emotions.

[...]

Over the past few decades, we have tended to define human capital in the 
narrow way, emphasizing I.Q., degrees, and professional skills. Those are 
all important, obviously, but this research illuminates a range of deeper 
talents, which span reason and emotion and make a hash of both categories:

Attunement: the ability to enter other minds and learn what they have to 
offer.

Equipoise: the ability to serenely monitor the movements of one's own mind 
and correct for biases and shortcomings.

Metis: the ability to see patterns in the world and derive a gist from 
complex situations.

Sympathy: the ability to fall into a rhythm with those around you and thrive 
in groups.

Limerence: This isn't a talent as much as a motivation. The conscious mind 
hungers for money and success, but the unconscious mind hungers for those 
moments of transcendence when the skull line falls away and we are lost in 
love for another, the challenge of a task or the love of God. Some people 
seem to experience this drive more powerfully than others.

When Sigmund Freud came up with his view of the unconscious, it had a huge 
effect on society and literature. Now hundreds of thousands of researchers 
are coming up with a more accurate view of who we are. Their work is 
scientific, but it directs our attention toward a new humanism. It's 
beginning to show how the emotional and the rational are intertwined.
---

For the full piece,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/opinion/08brooks.html?hp

He has outpaced the New Agers (time to call them "Old Agers" [Truth in 
Advertising]).

Buddhist content? All of the above.

Dan