Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Dark Side Of Empathy

–Michael Ventura

We see this now with artificial intelligence, where systems are increasingly trained to simulate empathic responses. Your chatbot apologizes for your frustration, your virtual assistant offers saccharine encouragement, your mental health app listens without judgment. But none of these systems feel anything. They just know what to say. We’re entering a world where “empathetic” algorithms outperform our managers at recognizing distress but lack a moral compass to decide what to do with it. And if we aren’t careful, we’ll soon mistake performance for presence. In doing so, we outsource not just emotional labor but our emotional responsibility to one another.

Empathy without accountability is not just hollow, it’s deceptive. It lulls people into false security. And it fractures the very trust it pretends to build.

And yet, we can’t write off empathy. That’s precisely what the provocateurs want. They want to reframe care as weakness, dignity as naïveté and trust as a liability. Let’s not take the bait.

If we want better leadership in business, politics and technology, we need to reclaim empathy as a responsibility. We need to teach it not just as a soft skill but as a disciplined practice, bound by ethics and rooted in our shared humanity. We must hold leaders accountable not only for what they say but also for how — and why — they seek to understand us.

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Many moons ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. The ripples of that simple practice have now spread to millions over 20+ years, through local circles, weekly podcasts and more.

Video of the Week

Circles And Dots

–Ameeta Kaul

The students listened in various ways; some in puzzlement, some nodding their heads in understanding, others closing their eyes in meditation.

Each one of you is fully contained within this circle. See this very clearly, each one of you, continued the teacher, intently scanning all the faces before him.

Suddenly a tentative hand raised itself. And a young new student stood up and cleared his throat nervously.Sir, may I share what I am seeing and ask a question?he asked, hesitatingly. The teacher’s eyes bore into the young man’s even as he nodded his assent.

Well, began the student, clearing his throat again, for two days now you have shown us this circle of being and told us to see that we are each inside it. But I don’t see that…. He paused to take note of the teacher’s expression, and finding only an even intensity there he made bold to continue. I see myself as being outside the circle, he said a little more confidently.

The teacher’s expression softened a bit as he turned to the board and picked up the pen. He drew a small dot outside the circle. Then pointing his pen at the dot, he smiled at the student and said, Is this where you find yourself? The student nodded and looked around at the other students. Most of them were now paying close attention. Then the teacher turned back to the board and with great flourish, drew another larger circle, so that the dot was inside this new circle. There now, it is fixed, he said beaming at the student, You are fully within the circle of being.

Some of the students chuckled and some nodded in appreciation.

The young student looked nonplussed, then started to sit down as if this was as far as he could get, when the teacher stabbed the air with his pen and said No, no, don’t believe me. Look inside again and see what you find this time.

Then turning to the other students, he said, All of you – I want you to look inside again. But first, is there anyone here who has never had the same question as this young man? Maybe some of you thought you found the answer sometime back. Maybe some of you did find the answer sometime back. Allow the answer to present itself in this moment. Don’t bank on past memories. See what is true right now.

The students all became very quiet, and a period of silence followed. At one point the teacher called out to the young student and said, I see you are ready to share something. What do you find?. The student stood up and said, a bit sheepishly, I still see myself as being outside that new circle, Sir. He bit his lip anxiously. But the teacher only smiled and drawing another dot outside the second circle, asked, Like this? When the student nodded, the teacher nodded too and again with great flourish drew a third circle on the board such that the new dot was inside it. Then without a word, he turned to the student again and raised his eyebrow. The student nodded slightly, sat down and closed his eyes.

This scene was faithfully repeated many times over the next few days. During this time some of the students felt a growing discomfort. Some felt a settling down. Yet others seethed about this complete waste of time, but stuck it out for their own reasons. Some, like the young student simply took this chance to look within. One student left in pure frustration.

The fifth day commenced. On the board were a set of concentric circles, each with a little dot inside. The teacher sat beside the board, immersed in the silence, eyes opening sometimes and closing sometimes. Finally the young student raised his hand again, stood up confidently and said, Sir, I am fully within the circle. And…, he paused, a bit unsure again. Yes?asked the teacher, and what? The student continued, eyes shining, And the circle is fully within me. I am the paper and the circle and the dot.

At that instant many of the students felt an arrow pierce their hearts, and what gushed out like blood was the very depth of love.

The teacher turned and began to pack away the board and paper and pen. Good, he said, because I was really getting tired of drawing so many circles.

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Many moons ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. The ripples of that simple practice have now spread to millions over 20+ years, through local circles, weekly podcasts and more.

Video of the Week

Why DIY Devotion Doesn’t Work

–Sumit Nagar

In an age where attention spans have shrunk, just enough to handle the brevity of TikTok videos. Commitment is measured in minutes. We’ve taken the sacred and turned it into a sampler. Spirituality has become a bizarre buffet. A little of everything….mindfulness, a little bit of mantras, a pop of psychology, a sprinkle of astrology—and we call it spirituality. Add to that a dash of Zen, a spoonful of Krishna, a whiff of Jesus, topped with a sprinkle. Of Rumi and a side of “I read The Secret once.” Voila! We call it “my own spiritual path.”

In reality, it’s more like spiritual fast food—convenient, quick, comforting… and utterly devoid of nutritional value. In an age where belief is Branded, and Devotion is digitized, Salvation comes with a subscriber count. the sacred has lost its solemnity.

We no longer surrender—we curate. We no longer practice—we personalize. And in doing so, we amputate the limbs of truth, only to parade around with the prosthetic of convenience. This is not progress. This is polished confusion. We have built a cluttered, confused, commoditized mess.

We’ve mistaken Liberation for laziness and Discipline for dogma. The ancient wisdom that was meant to awaken the soul? We’ve repackaged it as weekend retreats, self-help jargon, and Instagram aesthetics.

Spirituality is a furnace, not a scented candle. We’ve gone from Agni to aromatherapy. A shift from chanting powerful mantras to mumbling affirmations, forwarding them and adding a “Yes” in the comments. We moved from revering gurus to following influencers with ring lights and discount codes.

Our altars are cluttered, our minds are chaotic, and our souls? Chronically disoriented.

Let’s be honest. Most of us treat spirituality the way we treat IKEA furniture. We open the box, glance at the manual, chuckle, chuck it aside and declare, “I don’t need this. I’ll figure it out.” Three hours later, we’re sitting on a lopsided chair that squeaks every time we try to find peace.

But here’s the inconvenient truth: Transcendence is not comfortable. It is not casual. It is not convenient. It demands Surrender. Sweat. Silence. Structure.

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Many moons ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. The ripples of that simple practice have now spread to millions over 20+ years, through local circles, weekly podcasts and more.