Dragged (partway) back on-topic, Noble Kneasies/ Love / Imagination

[Amy Z]

Neri wrote:

>I think extreme altruism in humans does have, in a sense, 
> biological origins, but it's not a survival trait. It's a by-
product 
> of human imagination, which *is* a survival trait. Humans have an 
> unmatched ability to visualize hypothetical situations, or to 
> visualize a current situation from the POV of the other person, 
and 
> they use it all the time: in personal relationships, while 
discussing 
> the Harry Potter books, while constructing evolutionary models, or 
> for tactic and strategic planning. This ability probably accounts 
for 
> a large part of human superior intelligence. I think it's also the 
> basis of human empathy. Simply put, Kneasy (unlike any baboon out 
> there) could imagine very clearly what it would be like to be 
stuck 
> in the overturned tanker while somebody else is passing by without 
> stopping. The facts that the driver was a stranger and there was 
no 
> one around to impress were completely irrelevant to this ability.
> 
> So if I were writing HP, the power in the locked room wouldn't 
> be "love", and not "life" either, but "imagination". But I quite 
> agree with the Goat that it's most probably love, and JKR is just 
> trying not to be too fluffy.

What you describe is a specific form of imagination:  the ability to 
see oneself and another person as one, so that it is as natural to 
help him or her as to help oneself.  It's usually called compassion, 
though when one is thinking of people who actively risk their lives 
for strangers, that seems a weak, Latinate sort of word for it.  I 
would say it *is* a kind of love, the kind that Jesus among others 
was talking about:  a love that has nothing to do with personal 
affection or regard or even knowledge of the object of one's love.  
That love, agape, is a very powerful force, and although Harry's 
love for Sirius is not an example of it, Harry does have a well-
developed capacity for it and Voldemort none at all.

Amy Z Curmudgeon
(Curmudgeon by marriage, not by personality.  Most of the time.)

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  "Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," said Mrs. 
Weasley sternly.
  "Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he," said Fred quietly, 
as Mrs. Weasley left the room.  "Birds of a feather."  -Goblet of 
Fire