The
“Empathic Rationalist” got its name from my first novel, The Creed Room, in
which a group of ethnically and ideologically diverse individuals were brought
together and challenged with a single task. Collectively, they could earn hundreds of
thousands of dollars, but in order to claim the money, they needed to agree
upon a single overarching world view.
They met the challenge, and called their creed “Empathic
Rationalism.” Summarizing this world
view in a single sentence, they said, “Let passion be your sail, reason your
keel, and empathy your rudder.”
Ask
any seaman. We use a sail to propel ourselves
forward, a keel to keep from falling apart, and a rudder to steer in the best
direction. Because these functions are all
critical, it’s difficult to call one more important than the others. But in a sense, one is. You see, everyone recognizes the need for an
excellent sail or else they won’t get very far in life. And we all see a need for an excellent keel because
there’s nothing worse in life than falling apart. Yet it’s easy to ignore the value of an
excellent rudder. After all, as long as
you can propel yourself forward and maintain at least some amount of control,
you can easily convince yourself that you’re heading in the right direction, even
if you’re not. This is what happens
when we let our charismatic friends steer us, even if their wisdom doesn’t
match their charisma, or when we allow ourselves to be guided by some of the
baser values of our society, or perhaps even by our own superstitions or delusions. So, for example, our society is currently
propelled by mass quantities of fossil fuels (the sail) but because things
haven’t totally fallen apart and we can point to a “vibrant economy” as a sign
of our successes, we can ignore the dangers ahead and satisfy ourselves that all
is well, even if it’s not.
This
is where an excellent rudder enters the equation. At sea, it means that the seaman is choosing wisely
where to travel. More generally, the
person who takes care of her rudder chooses wisely how to live. In The Creed Room, the participants couldn’t
agree on everything. But they could
agree that if we must select one quality to help steer people in our society wisely,
that quality would be empathy. It’s a
quality that’s easily enough ignored – individuals don’t need empathy to get
fame, fortune or even honors. But we
ignore this quality at our own peril. We
see the lack of empathy every day when we read the newspaper. It’s reflected in the extent of our political
polarization, xenophobia, racism, sexism, classism, you name it. It’s reflected in the notion that the “other”
is our enemy. Even the so-called “liberals”
show their lack of empathy by tuning into entertainment shows that are devoted
primarily to ridiculing their political opponents.
Empathy
is indeed hard to come by in our society, or so it appears. But this quality is precisely what makes any
civilization humane, just, and ultimately at peace. In other words, if we continue to ignore this
rudder, we will soon enough find fault with our keel (including our commitment
to civility and community), and the rest will be history.
I was reminded
of this neglected virtue this past Thursday night when I attended a fundraiser
for a non-profit called “World Without Hate” (http://worldwithouthate.org/). This organization was founded by Rais
Bhuiyan, an immigrant from Bangladesh who was shot in the face shortly after 9/11 by Mark Stroman, a white
supremacist who was hell bent on killing Muslims. Bhuiyan lost his eye but ultimately survived,
unlike two other victims of Stroman’s spree.
Yet instead of devoting himself to revenge, Bhuiyan led a charge to
spare Stroman’s life by embracing the values of forgiveness, compassion and
mercy. In one respect, Bhuiyan failed – Stroman
was ultimately executed by the State of Texas.
But in a deeper respect, Bhuiyan has succeeded. Not only did he inspire Stroman to embrace an
ethic of love prior to his death, but Bhuiyan has also served as an exemplar to
so many others who have been forced to choose between compassion and revenge. His cause is similar to that of the Parents’
Circle, the organization composed of Israelis and Palestinians who have lost
immediately family members to the conflict between those peoples. I had already heard members of the Parents’
Circle speak, and now I have heard a talk from Bhuiyan. These are the individuals in our midst who truly
ought to serve as our role models – not the celebrity athletes, entertainers
and politicians who are more commonly viewed as heroes but whose lives so often
disappoint us when we learn more about them.
World Without Hate
has a flagship program entitled the “Empathy Ambassadors Leadership Training
Program.” It involves an educational initiative designed to help young people
explore their capacity for empathy.
Here’s part of the program’s description from the organization’s
website:
“The first phase of the program focuses on a
student’s personal identity and sense of individuality. It asserts self-worth
and an awareness of one’s uniqueness. The second phase explores the unique
value of ‘other’ human beings, both those who are ‘like me’ and those who are ‘unlike
me,’ however that is defined. It focuses on how we bring value to one another’s
lives, what we miss out on when we exclude people from our lives before getting
to know them, and what others might need from us. The third phase focuses
on how we are all members of community, what we gain from that, and what [we] owe
to it.
“The training employs rhythm, movement, drums,
improvisational role-playing, creative writing, story-telling and many other
forms of experiential learning.
“The program asserts the inestimable worth of
individuals regardless of age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, intellectual
ability, economic bracket, etc. It encourages students to build bridges
among and within disparate communities and to work toward creating a new, vibrant
human community which embraces all.”
No comments:
Post a Comment