Category: Self care

Compassionate Purpose: Personal Inspiration for a Better World

“Read this book. It may change your life.”— Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation

What if the point of self-improvement were not just to feel better or get ahead, but to become more capable of helping in a hurting world?

In Compassionate Purpose, Magnus Vinding bridges self-help and ethics with a framework for personal development in service of a larger goal: reducing extreme suffering. From self-compassion and motivation to habits, relationships, and concrete action, this book is a toolkit for building a life that takes suffering seriously without losing hope or direction.

Start where you are. Build a life that helps.

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For more on why I wrote Compassionate Purpose, see my EA Forum post.

This book completes a three-book series on reducing suffering: Suffering-Focused Ethics explores the moral foundations, Reasoned Politics the political and institutional side, and Compassionate Purpose the personal side.

Praise for Compassionate Purpose


“How are we to live, in a world in which there is so much unnecessary suffering? Magnus Vinding looks unflinchingly at that question, and gives an answer that is realistic, and yet inspiring. Read this book. It may change your life.”
— Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation

“Often when we consider compassion, the qualities of kindness, empathy, care, and acceptance immediately come to mind. But at the heart of compassion is suffering, something almost completely overlooked, yet compassion only exists because of suffering. Magnus Vinding does an outstanding job in his book Compassionate Purpose, shedding light on the complexity of suffering and how compassion can transform the experience for the better. Whatever you do, please read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down.”
— James N. Kirby, director of the Compassionate Mind Research Group at the University of Queensland, author of Choose Compassion

“Compassionate Purpose is a serious and thoughtful exploration of how ethical concern for suffering can be integrated with a personally meaningful sense of purpose. Readers looking for a clear-eyed, unsentimental examination of compassion as a lived commitment — rather than a passing feeling — will find much here to reflect on.”
— Steven C. Hayes, co-developer of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, author of A Liberated Mind

“This is an uplifting book by a uniquely pragmatic scholar. Based on his thoughtful analysis of empirical research and more than a dollop of common sense, Magnus Vinding explains why and how we can apply our inner skills and resources to alleviate suffering. Readers are invited into a wide-ranging, rational reflection that leaves them feeling smarter, more ethically oriented, and empowered to take action.”
— Christopher Germer, lecturer at Harvard Medical School, co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion program

“Magnus Vinding does something difficult in Compassionate Purpose: he asks us to face the reality of suffering without flinching, and then shows us — with care and evidence — how to respond without burning out. His attention to self-compassion as a foundation for ethical action, not an afterthought, is exactly right. Essential reading for anyone trying to live their values in a world that makes that hard.”
— Tara Cousineau, Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, author of The Kindness Cure and The Perfectionist’s Dilemma

“Very few people dare to contemplate the magnitude and severity of suffering in the world. Fewer still decide to do something about it. And even fewer have the tools to rise to the challenge in a sustainable way. If you are brave enough not to look away and serious about alleviating suffering, you’ll need this book. I wish I had read it 10 years ago.”
— Alfredo Parra-Hinojosa, co-founder and director of ClusterFree, an organization working to prevent cluster headaches

“Magnus Vinding has written a thoughtful, well-researched analysis of an enormously important but sorely neglected issue. You might not agree with all of his arguments, but you will come away better informed and, I hope, moved to action.”
— Jonathan Balcombe, author of What a Fish Knows and Super Fly

“The pervasiveness and intensity of suffering can feel overwhelming. Compassionate Purpose shows a sustainable path forward, highlighting the moral urgency of reducing suffering, while offering wise guidance on how to undertake this endeavor in a healthy and balanced way.”
— Angela Crawford, psychologist and author of The Vegan Transformation

“Across the pages, between the lines… something shines through: the compassionate purpose of the writer himself. The title of the book thus mirrors its content and spirit: What are little and all-too-human beings to do in a world so utterly broken, so painful, so tragic, so intensely serious beyond our moral imaginations? We are to find compassionate purpose: the only true place of connection between individual salvation or peace of mind or joy, and the tears of the universe.”
— Hanzi Freinacht, metamodern political philosopher, author of The Listening Society and Nordic Ideology

“Once we glimpse all the current and potential future suffering in our universe, we have options. We can collapse into fatalistic doomerism. We can naively pin all of our hopes on techno-utopianism. Or we can turn away from reality and put our blindfold back on, finding refuge in ignorance and avoidance. Or, instead, we can read Compassionate Purpose and discover a better way. A grounded, honest, and inspiring way. One that’s better for us, our communities, and all sentient beings. One where we enthusiastically seize our opportunity to make things radically better than they would otherwise be. Let’s do it together!”
— Jamie Woodhouse, host of the Sentientism podcast and founder of Sentientism.info

Suffering-focused ethics and the importance of happiness

It seems intuitive to think that suffering-focused moral views imply that it is unimportant whether people live fulfilling lives. Yet the truth, I will argue, is in many ways the opposite — especially for those who are trying to reduce suffering effectively with their limited resources.

Personal sustainability and productivity

One reason in favor of living fulfilling lives is that we cannot work to reduce suffering in sustainable ways otherwise. Indeed, not only is a reasonably satisfied mind a precondition for sustainable productivity in the long run, but also for our productivity on a day-to-day basis, which is often aided by a strong passion and excitement about our work projects. Suffering-focused ethics by no means entails that excitement and passion should be muted.

Beyond aiding our productivity in work-related contexts, a strong sense of well-being also helps us be more resilient in the face of life’s challenges — things that break, unexpected expenses, unfriendly antagonists, etc. Cultivating a sense of fulfillment and a sound mental health can help us better handle these obstacles as well.

Signaling value

This reason pertains to the social rather than the individual level. If we are trying to create change in the world, it generally does not help if we ourselves are miserable. People often decide whether they want to associate with (or distance themselves from) a group of people based on perceptions of the overall wellness and mental health of its adherents. And this is not entirely unreasonable, as these factors arguably do constitute some indication of the practical consequences of associating with the group in question.

If failing to prioritize our own well-being has bad consequences in the bigger picture, such as scaring people away from joining our efforts to create a better future, then this failure is not recommended by consequentialist suffering-focused views.

To be clear, my point here is not that suffering-focused agents should be deceptive and try to display a fake and inflated sense of well-being (such deception would likely have many bad consequences). Rather, the point is that we have good reasons to cultivate genuine physical and mental health, both for the sake of our personal productivity and our ability to inspire others.

A needless hurdle to the adoption of suffering-focused views

A closely related point has to do with people’s evaluations of suffering-focused views more directly (as opposed to the evaluations of suffering-focused communities and individuals). People are likely to judge the acceptability of a moral view based in part on the expected psychological consequences of its adoption — will it enable me to pursue the lifestyle I want, to maintain my social relationships, and to seem like a good and likeable person?

Indeed, modern moral and political psychology suggests that these social and psychological factors are strong determinants of our moral and political views, and that we usually underestimate just how much these “non-rationalist” factors influence our views (see e.g. Haidt, 2012, part III; Tuschman, 2013, ch. 22; Simler, 2016; Tooby, 2017).

This is then another good reason to seek to both emphasize and exemplify the compatibility of suffering-focused views and a healthy and fulfilling life. Again, if failing in this regard tends to prevent people from prioritizing the reduction of suffering, then a true extrapolation of suffering-focused views will militate against such a failure, and instead recommend a focus on cultivating an invitingly healthful state of mind.

In sum, there is no inherent tension between living a healthy and fulfilling life and at the same time being committed to reducing the most intense forms of suffering.

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