A talk presented at the second Ancestral Alchemy workshop in Sydney, September 2015. Quick note: I’m speaking off the top of my head, describing things studied and read over many years from memory, so some details may not be accurate – as mentioned, many of the early claims about “mirror neurons” have been shown to be exaggerated or incorrect – but I believe the general outline at least is correct, and a useful framework for understanding various traditions and disciplines. The neuroscience of empathy is far more complex than the outline described in this talk, with countless mechanisms of regulation and interactions between neural sub-systems. I try to continually update my knowledge, but since my interests cover a wide range of fields it is very difficult to stay current in all of them. I welcome any corrections or links to relevant research. Also: I think heartmath is total bunk.