Jeremy Rifkin's The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis lays down the case that we are heading into the age of empathy and biosphere consciousness — characterized by compassion, grace, and a nonjudgmental attitude toward others — critical to the modern age, but does not speculate as to this would look like (seek to predict the future). It ends by posing the question: "Can we reach biosphere consciousness and global empathy in time to avert planetary collapse?"
The book is an excellent history of human consciousness and how it is shaped by education systems, parenting techniques, social structures, relationships and energy use. The book looks back in seeking to solve modern issues and provides an interesting perspective on historical events. It's also an etymology tracing the roots and origins of words including "self" (as a noun 1400), "self-praise" (1549), "consciousness" (1678), "self-consciousness" (1690), "vegetarian" (1842), and "empathy" (1909).
I was predisposed to agree with Rifkin's premise that we are heading into an age of empathy. In my imaginative fiction, I often explore the idea of an event that causes us to transcend human boundaries, become more connected, and obtain utopia. In my fantastic vision, this happens in a quick, dramatic fashion.
In Rifkin's realistic exploration of the idea, he draws on the past to make a case for an evolution in human consciousness (mythological, theological, ideological, psychological and dramaturgical) based on changes in technology, energy use, education, parenting, and human relationships. Rifkin defines transcendence as "the quest for universal intimacy". In reality, The Empathic Civilization is not a foregone conclusion. He is critical of utopian fantasies (the basis of empathy is the acknowledgment of strife and suffering not the annihilation of it or escape from it):
"When we empathize with another it is because we recognize her fragile finite nature, her vulnerability, and her one and only life. We experience her existential aloneness and her personal plight and her struggle to be and succeed as if it were our own. Our empathic embrace is our way of rooting for her and celebrating her life."
However, I think envisioning utopias (the future we want to look forward to) as opposed to only imagining dystopic futures (the worst that could happen) is helpful to our collective psyches. If we imagine where we are want to go together, it gives us something to hope for and hope inspires change. Rifkin points out the importance of the novel in developing human awareness. "The first modern novel... was Cervantes Don Quixote published in 1605 in Spain. It was the first narrative to express universal human themes by the telling of an individual's own story." And later says, "The importance of the novel in the transformation of human consciousness is only recently getting the attention it deserves." Similarly, I think imaginative fiction that speculates about our future has a strong role to play.
It was a somewhat metaphysical experience reading Rifkin's book about empathic experiences and our growing interconnectedness on Kindle with the new "popular highlights" feature, which makes reading a more social activity.
Myself and 31 other readers read this sentence and highlighted it: "Darwin came to believe that survival of the fittest is as much about cooperation, symbiosis, and reciprocity as it is about individual competition and that the most fit are just as likely to enter into cooperative bonds with their fellows."
Darwin (who lived before the word empathy existed) also predicted the age of empathy. He wrote "...of a coming age when humanity will stretch its social instincts and sympathetic impulses, 'becoming more tender and more widely diffused until they are extended to all sentient beings'."
There are some interesting ideas in this book for educators and parents. Rifkin talks about the addition of service-learning projects into school curriculum and the Roots of Empathy Project taking place in some schools.
The book is an excellent history of human consciousness and how it is shaped by education systems, parenting techniques, social structures, relationships and energy use. The book looks back in seeking to solve modern issues and provides an interesting perspective on historical events. It's also an etymology tracing the roots and origins of words including "self" (as a noun 1400), "self-praise" (1549), "consciousness" (1678), "self-consciousness" (1690), "vegetarian" (1842), and "empathy" (1909).
I was predisposed to agree with Rifkin's premise that we are heading into an age of empathy. In my imaginative fiction, I often explore the idea of an event that causes us to transcend human boundaries, become more connected, and obtain utopia. In my fantastic vision, this happens in a quick, dramatic fashion.
In Rifkin's realistic exploration of the idea, he draws on the past to make a case for an evolution in human consciousness (mythological, theological, ideological, psychological and dramaturgical) based on changes in technology, energy use, education, parenting, and human relationships. Rifkin defines transcendence as "the quest for universal intimacy". In reality, The Empathic Civilization is not a foregone conclusion. He is critical of utopian fantasies (the basis of empathy is the acknowledgment of strife and suffering not the annihilation of it or escape from it):
"When we empathize with another it is because we recognize her fragile finite nature, her vulnerability, and her one and only life. We experience her existential aloneness and her personal plight and her struggle to be and succeed as if it were our own. Our empathic embrace is our way of rooting for her and celebrating her life."
However, I think envisioning utopias (the future we want to look forward to) as opposed to only imagining dystopic futures (the worst that could happen) is helpful to our collective psyches. If we imagine where we are want to go together, it gives us something to hope for and hope inspires change. Rifkin points out the importance of the novel in developing human awareness. "The first modern novel... was Cervantes Don Quixote published in 1605 in Spain. It was the first narrative to express universal human themes by the telling of an individual's own story." And later says, "The importance of the novel in the transformation of human consciousness is only recently getting the attention it deserves." Similarly, I think imaginative fiction that speculates about our future has a strong role to play.
It was a somewhat metaphysical experience reading Rifkin's book about empathic experiences and our growing interconnectedness on Kindle with the new "popular highlights" feature, which makes reading a more social activity.
Myself and 31 other readers read this sentence and highlighted it: "Darwin came to believe that survival of the fittest is as much about cooperation, symbiosis, and reciprocity as it is about individual competition and that the most fit are just as likely to enter into cooperative bonds with their fellows."
Darwin (who lived before the word empathy existed) also predicted the age of empathy. He wrote "...of a coming age when humanity will stretch its social instincts and sympathetic impulses, 'becoming more tender and more widely diffused until they are extended to all sentient beings'."
There are some interesting ideas in this book for educators and parents. Rifkin talks about the addition of service-learning projects into school curriculum and the Roots of Empathy Project taking place in some schools.
Oh Michele! Thanks for posting this review. I am both inspired to 1. read Rifkin's book 2. Expore how Darwin predicted an age of empathy (those quotes are amazing and 3. start an Utopian reading group. Since number 3 is out of the question, maybe I'll suggest this as a topic for a monthly salon discussion group I am attending!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Anika