How to change people’s behaviours

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There is not an easy way of
changing people's mindsets.

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It's very difficult.

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But the idea that for any tradition

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the more we can get people to focus on

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the positive emotional
aspects of that tradition,

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the sense of love that
they feel for each other,

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the notion of God or some
universal consciousness loving us

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or feeling having positive feelings
for us that can be very effective.

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But ultimately a lot of times it comes down
to what is considered part of that group.

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What is considered part of
what they can feel connected to

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and how do we ultimately
respond to things and people

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which are outside of that group.

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That has always been kind of
the essential issue of humanity

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going back thousands of years.

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It's often an us versus them
mentality that continues to this day.

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Our brain, you know studies
have been done that show

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that we view people outside of our
group as being more negative

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as being more suspicious about them.

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So there are these inherent
biases in how our brain works

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in part to protect us

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when there's something that we
don't know and don't understand

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that lights up our amygdala and
it says we have to be careful.

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So whether we then can use our frontal
lobes in our compassionate meditation

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and loving kindness
meditation to overcome that

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so that we can start to think
about things in a more positive way

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and start to feel more
inclusive even though

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we may not necessarily feel as
comfortable as we would normally feel

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or naturally feel I should say.

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Those are different approaches
that people can take to try to find

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the way to do that.
In fact, you know, part of what I feel

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the future of the field
of work that I'm in

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this field of neuro theology
is to see if we can find

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what in the brain specifically is
associated with these negative kinds of

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emotions these feelings of hatefulness
and anger and how,

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what are the most effective
ways of trying to change them

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and to redirect people into
something that's more positive

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so that they don't necessarily
have to give up what they believe

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but they can have a new understanding
between what they believe

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and the fact that there are
other people in the world

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who may believe something different

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and how we can interact
with them in ways

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ways that are more positive and
constructive instead of destructive.

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But that's a tall order.