Empathetic View of Life

Running through “casualty” lists of those declared dead, injured or missing following the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan the hardest, one finds the lack of information on corresponding damage to other life forms glaring.

As an ecologist put it, the pressure and force caused by tsunamis and earthquakes could destroy coral reefs, fish populations, mangroves and other aquatic life. So natural disasters could be devastating not just for people. Moreover, what happens to the biosphere ought to concern us – as human beings we are not divorced from the ecosystems in which we live. Interestingly, ecosystems survive pretty well without humans but no human can survive without an ecosystem to cater to his needs.

If all things in the universe are expressions of a universal consciousness, it would imply the need for empathetic perception –that is, to feel connected to other life forms, besides fellow humans. If you don’t have it in you naturally, then you can cultivate empathetic perception by “getting into the skin” of other life forms so that your world view is not exclusively anthropomorphic.

Writing in the Huffington Post, Jeremy Rifkin says there is a strong connect between the growth of communication systems and expansion of human consciousness and he make the rethink human nature, he makes the case for an empathetic civilization. We need to rethink human nature, he says in what he calls the biosphere era. He votes for biosphere awareness, and urges us to say goodbye to geopolitics.

Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith influenced the thinking that human beings essential nature is rational, detached, autonomous, acquisitive and utilitarian. For them, individual salvation lies in unlimited material progress. These notions were reflected in the construct of nation states designed to protect private property and stimulate market forces while taking care of the collective self-interest of its citizens in the global arena. The aim? Material gain. Things are not too different today as political, administrative and geographical constructs are still designed to put the nation and citizenry above self and consciousness.

Is this why we are unable to put in place a universal template for sustainable development that would include consciousness evolution? There is still hope, it seems, as growing scientific evidence shows that human beings are basically an empathetic species. This should help us realize our full potential as a species that is connected to all life.

The printed word helped organize the industrial revolution, created material prosperity and brought in ideological consciousness, says Rifkin. “Each more sophisticated communication revolution brings together more diverse people in more expansive and varied social networks…. Extending the range nad depth of human social interaction. “Rifkin says e-communication provides an evermore inclusive playing field for empathy to mature and consciousness to expand.

With renewable energy prospects and communication converging, our empathetic sensibilities could extend more spontaneously and symbiotically to the entire biosphere. According to Rifkin, just as habitats function within ecosystems, and ecosystems within the biosphere in a web of interrelationships, governing institutions will function in a collaborative network of relationships across the globe (and perhaps beyond) as a whole. The synergy will ensure we are no longer anthropomorphic.