ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 23, 2016
Facing Death from a Safe
Distance: Saṃvega
and Moral Psychology
Lajos Brons
Nihon University and Lakeland University
Saṃvega is a morally motivating state of
shock that—according to Buddhaghosa—should be evoked by meditating on
death. What kind of mental state it is exactly, and how it is morally
motivating is unclear, however. This article presents a theory of saṃvega—what it is
and how it works—based on recent insights in psychology. According to dual
process theories there are two kinds of mental processes organized in two
“systems”: the experiential, automatic system 1, and the rational,
controlled system 2. In normal circumstances, system 1 does not believe in
its own mortality. Saṃvega
occurs when system 1 suddenly realizes that the “subjective self” will
inevitably die (while system 2 is already disposed to affirm the subject’s
mortality). This results in a state of shock that is morally motivating
under certain conditions. Saṃvega
increases mortality salience and produces insight in suffering, and in
combination with a strengthened sense of loving-kindness or empathic
concern both mortality salience and insight in suffering produce moral
motivation.
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