Jeg tok feil

In 2012, the author penned a book that was both loved and despised: Raushetens tid. The author intended to illustrate how humans were moving towards a more empathetic society, a culture marked by integrity, vulnerability, and human resilience. However, the editor Torbjørn Røe Isaksen of E24 pointed out that the prediction did not quite pan out, admitting he was right.

The world did not become more empathetic; instead, many of us became more fearful, hard, and polarized. We now live in an era of emotions, and we are correct. Politicians are rewarded for stirring up unrest, not for long-term work and painstaking reforms. Nevertheless, could the era of emotions be a necessity? Could it provide us with meaningful learning and reveal something fundamentally important for us?

I believe it can. We know that our brains are not primarily built for nuance and painstaking reforms; they are built for survival among wild animals and the wild nature. The best survival strategy was to assume the worst. Scientists call this the negativity bias of the brain. It means we are far from being built for fear. On the savanna, one sign of danger weighed more than seven signs of safety.

Sitting by the river and playing the guitar would get you eaten. The problem is that this inner technology makes us easy prey for anyone who wants to scare or manipulate us. It could be an algorithm, a war-hungry politician, or our own inner voice at three in the morning. Isaksen writes astutely that today's political movements are "political therapists, not political craftsmen."

I would add: they are also skilled animal trainers. They know exactly which buttons to press in our inner wild animal. The problem is not that they use emotions. The problem is that we have not learned to recognize and take responsibility for our own. Debaters are now seated at NRK, crying that our children "are like butterflies - they flutter around themselves," as Sanna Sarromaa recently did in Debatten.

She attributed her feelings of resentment and contempt to "these emotional trends" in schools, apparently without understanding that she herself is fluttering with feelings of resentment and contempt. Before we attribute knowledge of emotions, the brain, and ourselves, we are unlikely to go far as a society or as human beings. One of the most useful questions in the age of emotions is also one of the simplest: What is happening to me right now?

Not: Who should I be afraid of? Who is to blame? But: What is happening to me, right now? When we are irritated by an annoying colleague. When someone we really dislike has great success? When an ex-partner gets a new partner who is young, handsome, and rich. In such situations, we always have a choice. Take full responsibility for what is happening to us, or blow it critically over family and friends.

Trust me, I have tried both sides, with varying degrees of success. Artist Håkon Bleken said it like this: "The wiser I become, often against my will." American neuroscientist Loretta Breuning has researched what happens in the primitive brain when we compare ourselves to others. When we "win" - get the right, look smarter, perform better than a colleague - the brain releases the neurotransmitter serotonin.

A small chemical tweak on the shoulder, inherited from a time when ranking in the flock was a matter of life and death. This ancient mechanism has not been told that we live in 2026. It continues to reward us for being right and being the best, even though we may desperately need the ability to tolerate that others are also right.

You do not have to like the fact that this article corrected Isaksen, and I hope I become a bit wiser. Social comparison is probably the biggest pleasure of life. We compare ourselves in the workplace, in raising children, in comment sections, in sports, even in meditation and yoga. I remember a yoga conference in Tromsø where Harvard professor Ron Siegel was supposed to speak about mindfulness.

He dryly stated that in the yoga world, people are told not to compare at all. I say, as August Strindberg, in a spirit: "It is a shame about people." Things may look dark, but this summer we glimpsed how a more empathetic time could look. During the football World Cup, we celebrated, played, and were happy together, even when we lost.

At the same time, we received a glimpse of how a more empathetic time could look. Under the football World Cup, we celebrated, played, and were happy together, even when we lost. At the same time, we saw a king who led by example, with warmth, humor, and openness - in sharp contrast to the fear- and violence-based leadership we see grow in many places in the world right now.

We saw a king who was honest and humorous about his own health challenges and aging, making him relatable and easy to relate to. This is absolutely hope for us. The era of emotions is passing, but only for the uncertain future. First, we must go through the era of emotions and become wiser against our will. It will teach us something - about each other, and about the wild animal that becomes really dangerous when we feel we are only among others.