Empathetic Innovations: Connections Across Boundaries

Several motivations may guide quest of a creative person for solving real life problems either faced by oneself or by others. Honey Bee Network has been documenting and valorizing grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge practices for over two decades. In this paper, the author review some of the lessons emerging from the innovations triggered by a feeling of internalization of somebody else’s pain [samvedana] exactly as one’s own. The concept of empathetic innovations resonates with the Gandhian philosophy in a very intimate sense. Way back in 1924, Gandhiji had announced a prize of Rs. one lakh to improve the design of charkha (spinning wheel). When burden becomes responsibility and when concern triggers creativity, we encounter Gandhian spirit in action. He was a great action researcher. [W.P. No. 2010-09-02]