The Aborigines from Australia view EMPATHY as embedded into the social process. This emotional energy radiates beyond human relationship even into communicating with plants, animals and the earth itself. The first emotion the Aborigines cultivate is EMPATHY. For them the feeling of EMPATHY extends beyond the moral sense, it is the summation of their feelings to the surrounding world. They feel it is the power to project one’s being into the emotional state of another. EMPATHY is a desire to help alleviate the plight of another.

The teaching of EMPATHY begins from the first moment an infant grabs food or an object and brings it to their mouth. The mother repeatedly uses these moments to plead with the child to share what it has with her. She finds many opportunities to pretend to be in great need of the infant’s generosity.

Whenever a weak, ill, or harmless person or creature passes the child’s path, the mother fusses over it and showers it with attention, even if it is a scary lizard. “Poor thing,” the mother says. The child experiences a world in which EMPATHY is dramatically directed toward the less fortunate. This orients the child’s emotion toward EMPATHY.

This energy from the DREAMTIME catches the heart of the child. It is a process that follows the individual through life. Any adult that does not exhibit EMPATHY is considered not quite human.

The Aborigines LESSON FROM THE DREAMTIME, should give us serious thought about what kind of human should we set our own heart’s upon.

Categories: PERSPECTIVES Philosophical Perspective

ron winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad has been a Perfumer and teacher for 46 years. As a perfumer, Ron has been able to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactive and emotive visions. As a teacher, Ron has helped others to see fragrance through his own multi sensorial lens.