Voices of faith: Are some people just heartless and can’t be changed?

June 27, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

The Rev. R.L. Baynham, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, Kansas City, Kan.: Our question today begs the notion that we have defined heartless, and it is understood that it is people who have no feeling or sensitivity for others. The second question seeks to know whether they were born that way or were affected by environmental and/or cultural discard.

The teaching of the Scripture tells us that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God. We are given special traits and abilities to function in a manner that regards the premium quality of life and how we cohabitate with others. At our best we are to raise the standard of life around us and pass that standard on to our children. Jesus says, “... And thy neighbor as thou self” (Luke 10:27). It is clear that we have a mandate to impact people around us with positive feelings and actions.

People aren’t born with insensitivity and negative feelings. Somewhere in their development they encounter some conditions that have affected them negatively, and much of what we watch and experience is the way they have been treated or taught. Sometimes heartlessness becomes a defense from being hurt or enduring more pain.

Can things change? It would depend on the individual and society to seek ways to address needs within the culture, especially when abuse has been identified.

Lama Chuck Stanford, Rime Buddhist Center & Monastery: Unlike other religions, Buddhism believes that our basic nature is not only good, but enlightened. We possess “Buddha-nature,” the potential for all beings to attain enlightenment. Even the worst person in the world who may have committed heinous crimes is believed to possess this basic goodness. The question then becomes why do some people cause so much suffering to themselves, their families and others if they possess this basic goodness?

We act in less than enlightened ways out of ignorance. Because we are not able to see the nature of reality as it really is, we fail to see that we are all part of one vast web of interconnectedness. When we harm someone else, we are harming ourselves. Likewise, when we help another being, we are helping ourselves. We are not able to see this because of the obscurations of our mind. However, our minds are infinitely malleable, and change is always possible. By meditating we can begin to gain some insight into why we keep making the same mistakes, and through this insight we are able to change.

I work with inmates in prison, and I have seen truly amazing transformations by some of the worst of the worst.

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