My New Year's Resolution for 2017 is to be more empathic. My reason for this is that it is possible to imagine
that every one of the many crises that afflict civilisation can be solved in
full or in part by an empathic revolution.
Let's start at the beginning. Something cataclysmic happened
about 200,000 years ago; our ancestors at that time evolved to become
self-aware, and a new species homo Sapiens came into being. And that was the time that humans became
separated from the rest of nature, and separate from each other. All because of the development of individual
identity. And for 2,000 centuries we
humans have struggled with that self identity.
Looking deeply at society's current multifaceted crisis ... War,
Poverty, Climate Change, Species Extinction, Resource Depletion, Rainforest
Destruction, Intolerance, Inequality, Nuclear Weapons to name but a few ... it
is clear that the we are still struggling with this separation inherent in our
concept of self. Nowadays we are beginning
to see that the underlying cause is the Empathy Deficit.
War betrays a clear lack of empathy for the victims.
Poverty is a lack of empathy for those impoverished. Climate Change indicates a
lack of empathy for future generations. Species Extinction results from a lack
of empathy for other species. And so it
goes on.
But there are two pieces of good news...
Firstly, over the last 200,000 of human existence our
empathy for others and empathy for the natural world is growing. Secondly, recent scientific research has
indicated that we humans are soft-wired for empathy, thus contradicting the
Hobbesian view that we are condemned to a life of brute selfishness. The selfish side of our psyche is mainly
learnt (and therefore can be unlearnt).
So, how to go about it?
Empathy with our friends and family is easy. We can all do
it. But how about empathy with strangers?
Or empathy with people who do not think like us. And empathy with nature must be a
challenge. The celebrated biologist
Edward O Wilson called this empathy with nature "biophilia". We all have a deep-seated connection to
nature, but sadly big business, advertisers, the media and politicians continue
to divert our attention towards the nebulous concept of economic growth which
has the ultimate effect of destroying the natural world ... our life support
system. This is an empathy we must all
learn, as it is our route to survival as a species.
The one thing I love about the growth of empathy is that
anyone can do this in their own time. No
need to preach that "everyone must be empathic". Just quietly get on with the practice. The rewards are wonderful.
Further reading:
- Roman Krznaric: "Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution"
(2014)
- Jeremy Rifkin:
"The Empathic Civilisation - The Race to Global Consciousness in a
World in Crisis" (2010)
These YouTube videos are great:
- RSA Animate - Jeremy Rifkin: The Empathic Civilisation:
- RSA Animate - Roman Krznaric - The Age of Outrospection -
