recognize greater societal opportunities. Mastering empathy could prove to be vital to the quality of our collective lives, may impact how humane our institutions become, and perhaps may be the catalyst to prod our respective governments into refocusing on a more conscientious approach to human rights. Empathetic behavior on a global scale may well be the critical skill set necessary to ensure the noble evolution of the human race and genuine caring for our planet.
When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection— or compassionate action.
- Daniel Goleman
This world cannot become a more peaceful and caring place without more people around the globe embracing these ideals. By giving voice to the oppressed and underprivileged we may also be securing our own continuing freedoms and privileges. In the apropos words of the great Nelson Mandela,“ Our human compassion binds us one to the other, not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
If we choose what is next collectively, meaning that if enough people turn towards each other envisioning a more conscious future together, we will have the power to create a more peaceful world. Social activist Margaret Wheatly offers this advice:“ We must develop the will to act. We can’ t keep rejecting solutions because they require us to change … or give privilege to others! We can either turn away or turn toward” each other.
Getting to a Greater Peace
Developing a culture of peace truly begins with each of us. It starts by choosing to welcome a mindset based on empathy, a reality that actively seeks to undo hardships for the many based on privilege for the few. We must utilize privilege positively to fulfill the basic human rights of justice and peace for all people. Author Doug Noll, a full-time peacemaker and mediator contends,“ Peacemaking by definition seeks to disenfranchise those who seek unfair advantage, who prefer to maintain disparities that favor themselves.”
Why does this concept of a more just world, a more peaceful existence for all, sound so farfetched when in the past century alone in the United States we have passed a Civil Rights Act, enacted the right to vote for blacks and women, eradicated several terrible diseases, witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and now have technology to keep us connected with each other around the globe in an instant? We absolutely have the ability to make very significant changes in our world if we recognize and focus on our vast similarities instead of our differences.
Imagine a world where people accept the premise that, firstly, each of us is a loving spirit above all else; secondly, a being of this planet; and then, only if necessary, identification by race, gender, country of origin, religious preference, sexual orientation, political persuasion, and all other personal ideations.
“ We must awaken to the best in us,” writes author Guy Finley.“ The best in us is that yet to be awakened aspect of ourselves: our higher consciousness. Regardless of our respective circumstances, we begin by realizing our personal lives and our world both hold infinite possibilities.” Striving for peace and a sustainable world through ethical globalization should be the center of our universal focus, and, at its core, development of trust and harmony through compassionate behaviors.
Randi Weingarten, labor leader and educator, entreats us to develop the empathetic heart:” Those of us who aren’ t regularly subject to outright prejudice have a moral obligation to do the hard and perhaps uncomfortable work of digging into unconscious and semiconscious behaviors and attitudes …. That includes taking a look at our own privilege. Human rights should be availed to all. How can we move forward if those of us who have enjoyed privilege our whole lives don’ t at least try to understand the reality of those who have not, and try to address it. We must reclaim the promise of a better America for all.” Only then will there be peace in America and the collective will to open our hearts globally to others.
And in the resounding words of Nelson Mandela,“ It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.”
6 IMAGINE l SPRING 2016