Feel-good is tough to follow up

This may sound cynical but the question of reward is a problem that always clouds the issue of love. Especially unconditional love. Researchers have recently discovered that the emotion, experienced as a desire to care for another person without any thought of recompense, emerges from a complex interplay between separate areas of the brain which have only limited overlap with the cerebral impulses seen in romantic or sexual love. This suggests it should be seen as an entirely separate emotion. In fact, as the lead researcher put it: ���Unconditional love, extended to others without exception, is considered to be one of the highest expressions of spirituality.���

So what do you do when you see a critically endangered species of turtle lying on its back at a beach where you know it���ll soon become easy pickings for any predator. (We assume here that unconditional love is not something conveniently species-specific but extends to all living creatures.)

You could, in ascending order of difficulty: (a) right it so that it can run away; (b) leave it exactly where it is thinking that it���s not for you or anyone to interfere with the course of nature; (c) say to yourself that the animal has been driven to the brink of extinction solely by its breeding grounds being ruthlessly encroached upon and destroyed by human activity and, therefore, it���s time we start doing something to make up for it.

However, here���s the rub: no matter what action you take, you can never escape the fact that you���ll be left with a feeling of having done something good. That apparently is because the research mentioned above shows, too, that some of the areas activated when experiencing unconditional love were also involved in releasing dopamine, a chemical that���s deeply involved in sensing pleasure, with rising levels strongly linked to feelings of reward and even euphoria. So was the action solely for the subconscious pleasure of the reward value?

Which brings us to what Mother Teresa would have done if she found a cockroach lying helpless on its back in one of her Missionaries of Charity homes. Turn it over as an act of kindness? Kill it or have it killed (which is the same thing) since it might spread germs among the already sick and dying? Ensure more cleanliness in the food preparatory and disposal areas and set up barriers on drains? Increase the use of repellents? Reward is a very difficult issue to deal with.