Truth Telling in Peacebuilding: A Buddhist Contribution

Truth telling has been recognized as important in the process of trauma healing and reconciliation according to modern peacebuilding theories. Studies have shown that truth telling is not a simple issue but involves problems and challenges that need research and solutions. This study contributes to this problem-solution or the question “How should difficult and painful truth be told in a way that minimizes harm and maximizes benefit for all?” by offering an alternative knowledge and method rooted in the Buddhist tradition. Based on textual study of the Majjhima Nikaya and Anguttara Nikaya, the paper argues that the Buddha’s teachings can widen the understanding and minimize potential problems with the work of truth telling whether in the collective or interpersonal context by providing a concrete systematic framework and criteria for reflection, making decision and communication of truth.

Attentional Tendencies That Impact Emotion Regulation Success Within a Borderline Personality Disorder Framework

Emotion regulation difficulties are key to borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptomatology. Literature indicates that attentional distraction, particularly within an interpersonal context, is common in BPD. Conversely, reappraisal tactics are less prevalent. The goal of the current study was to examine whether this discrepancy is observed when individuals reporting varying levels of BPD tendencies are given the choice of a preferred emotion regulation tactic when confronted with BPD-relevant stressors. Attentional engagement patterns, affective responses, and strategy success were also examined. Participants (N = 103) reported BPD tendencies as assessed by the Personality Assessment Inventory and were instructed to choose either to “distract” or to “reappraise” in response to affective images. Results revealed more instances of failing to implement distraction among individuals with higher BPD tendencies, which was also reflected in greater fixation biases to distressing content within those images. Results are discussed in terms of the malleability of emotion regulation in BPD contexts.

Love and Hate in Deuteronomy

This chapter reviews recent scholarship on the roots “love” (אהב) and “hate” (שׂנא) used in Deuteronomy in both an interpersonal context and the description of the covenant between the Israelites and their deity. Scholarship has mainly focused on the uses of love and hate and in covenants and treaties, in the Hebrew Bible and the Near East more broadly; in this literary context, the two terms express the covenantal partners’ duties. More recently, scholars have questioned whether the terms, especially love, maintain a primary affective meaning. Drawing upon the cultural and historical study of emotions, this chapter underscores the contrast between contemporary Western concepts of love and hate—which tend to be understood as private and internal feelings—and the biblical uses of love and hate—which rather describe visible practices, performed in a social and often public context.