Excerpt from Matthieu Ricard's book, Altruism. Despite progress still to be made, Western countries are evolving more toward respect and increased acknowledgment of the role of women in society. With a few rare exceptions, war is planned, decided upon, and perpetrated by men, and 99.9% of soldiers who take part in combat are also men (even i...

The holiday season is a time to celebrate the bonds that unite us with our loved ones and to demonstrate kindness.  These moment of sharing are essential and allow us to develop an altruistic state of mind, but they can often be conditioned by institutionalized over-consumption which diminishes the experience of true relationships, deple...

In our current times, we are confronted with many short, medium, and long-term challenges and imperatives to which are superimposed three different types of interest – ours, those of our close ones, and those of all beings. One way to respond to these challenges could be to create a more cooperative and altruistic society, one which takes i...