Revenge Week

Slate magazine ran a “Revenge Week” in July, describing it as  “. . . a series about how vengeance runs America, from the White House to cheating spouses to that bad boss who totally deserved it.”

The series included an article by James Kimmel Jr. (a Yale professor, not the talk show host) about what he calls “the world’s deadliest addiction”—revenge. He backs up the term addiction with scientific evidence like this:

“Over the past two decades, more than 60 neuroscientists at universities around the world have conducted brain scan studies demonstrating that when you’ve been wronged and begin to think about retaliating, the brain’s pleasure and reward circuitry of addiction awakens.” What this means is that thoughts of revenge release the same chemicals that trigger cravings and pleasure in drug addicts, and the chemicals follow the same paths inside the brain.

Kimmel points out that those paths lead to your prefrontal cortex. “If the prefrontal cortex—the area of your brain responsible for executive function and self-control—is hijacked or inhibited, then you might seek revenge for pleasure despite the negative consequences to yourself or others. . .  That’s the common definition of addiction: the inability to resist powerful urges despite the negative consequences” [my italics].

Revenge addiction has led to millions of deaths and tragedies, which Kimmel documents statistically and historically. But he writes with hope. Realizing that revenge is an addiction opens the possibility for public health campaigns, school programs, and counseling to prevent or treat it.

In his personal campaign to save the world from self-inflicted revenge wounds, Kimmel would love to see all those things develop, but he also promotes a quicker, cheaper option, a “wonder drug” to fight revenge addiction. Again he provides brain research data to build his case:

“Researchers conducting fMRI brain studies have discovered that when you simply imagine forgiving a grievance—without even informing the transgressor—you deactivate your brain’s pain network (the anterior insula)—stopping rather than merely covering up the pain of the grievance. You also shut down the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum—the brain’s pleasure and reward circuitry—which stops intrusive revenge desires. Finally, you activate your prefrontal cortex, restoring executive function and self-control so you can make decisions that are in your own self-interest.”

Miracle Court is an app Kimmel has developed to help people do that kind of imagining. He calls it his “Nonjustice System.” The app walks people through a one-hour, courtroom-like process to focus on a wrong they have suffered. I won’t spoil it by describing how it works, but I will tell you that it had a very enlightening and positive result when I tried it out on one of my own issues.

Kimmel only mentions Jesus once in the article: “There’s now scientific evidence supporting the ancient forgiveness teachings of Jesus and the Buddha.” I’m inclined to turn his statement around to this: “If you want maximum benefit from the latest scientific discoveries about forgiveness, look more closely at what Jesus actually said about forgiveness and mercy.” There is a lot more to it than the platitude, “You should be more merciful,” and even more than Kimmel's well-made case that mercy is good for you.

Explore that “more” for yourself during SYNC’s “Mercy Season,” the two months leading up to the Day of Atonement (Oct. 2 this year). Trade Revenge Week, when everybody loses, for Mercy Season, when everybody wins. In the “Mercy Tool Kit” you’ll find multiple perspectives on biblical mercy, how to benefit from it, and how to extend its benefits to others.