In a series of essays, like the one you’re reading, we have collected the insights that we believe form the foundation for a healthier human community. Currently most of humanity is caught up in the pursuit of material wealth, ephemeral and ultimately unsatisfying pleasures, as well as power to be used in a zero-sum game of mutual self-destruction. Most of us realize, even though we might be afraid to admit it, that those old goals have created an unsustainable community. Perhaps we might be willing to shift our focus to new goals, such as those found in the Simple Reality principles.
Some Americans argue, for example, that the old behaviors were what “made America great.” However “It’s far more likely that what led to success was strong social bonds–relationships that would encourage people to cooperate and lend support to one another, which helped to ensure that their sacrifices would be returned time and time again when required in the future.”[i]
It is hard to admit that all of our institutions lack healthy attitudes and values, even in health care where we would expect to find ample empathy for those ill and injured. “Lack of empathy in caregivers–doctors, nurses, even loved ones–is one of the most widely voiced complaints in the health care field.”[ii]
“A sad incongruity of caregiving is that patients often have a greater capacity for empathy than those of us going through our lives largely unencumbered by illness.”[iii]
With a worldview of Oneness, in which we acknowledge that we walk in each other’s shoes, we find an affinity for each other’s pain and joy.
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Supplemental Reading: Affinity, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
#64 Longing for Empathy
[i] Desteno, David. “How to Keep Your Resolutions.” The New York Times. December 31, 2017, p. 5.
[ii] Jauhar, Sandeep. “Empathy Gadgets.” The New York Times. July 30, 2017, p. 10.
[iii] Ibid.
