A year like no other

There is no question that for many of us, 2020 has been a year like no other. It’s been a year that’s forced many people to grapple with the pangs of ambiguity at best and job loss, sickness, or grief at worst.

Need for perspective and empathy

It’s seasons like these when the need for perspective and empathy at-scale is at its highest perspective: to see beyond ourselves, and empathy to see outside of ourselves. There may not be a philosophy more suited for enabling the two than Stoicism.

Think of substance in its entirety, of which you have the smallest of shares; and of time in its entirety, of which a brief and momentary span has been assigned to you; and of the works of destiny, and how very small is your part in them. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.24

View from Above

Rooted in Stoicism, the “View from Above” technique is a way of broadening perspective by slowly panning out from your immediate experience and surroundings until reaching a wide cosmological view, ultimately contrasting the minuscule spot we occupy with the vastness of the universe.

Putting problems in perspective

When viewed from this vantage point, the temporal and the temporary (read: minor things) become obvious. Perspective grants the ability to see the truly atomic nature of our existence, both in space and in span.

Within this is the ability to quickly disarm the seemingly catastrophic in a way that exposes it for what it truly is: nothing more than what is common to man, as the philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius would put it.

What’s happening can happen again

In other words, what is happening–in the macro that is the world or the micro that is your life–has happened and may inevitably happen again.

Accordingly, it’s in our better interest to remind ourselves of how much humanity has already overcome (and how much it still will), lest we dismiss history and delude ourselves into thinking that the present societal state is the worst it’s ever been.

Having empathy

With that said, at the individual level, we’d be remiss to overlook that some are undoubtedly experiencing the most challenging season of their lives. It is in acknowledgement of this that we are called to engage our capacity for empathy.

For all that I do, whether on my own or assisted by another, should be directed to the single end, the common benefit & harmony. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.5

If to sympathize is to acknowledge another’s suffering (while largely remaining emotionally distant), to empathize is to assume another’s suffering. Stoic empathy, then, is driven by the interconnectedness of the whole--the idea that we are citizens of the world, members of a universal community made better by and with each other. The other side of this common-good-centric coin is that suffering anywhere is suffering everywhere–an understanding that can only be cultivated by looking outside oneself. Practically speaking, effectively cultivating empathy requires regularly asking, “While this may be of no consequence to me, what are the implications of this on others?”

Within Stoicism is a call to exhibit empathy, recognizing the validity of others’ experiences and, at times, the privilege of our own. This is the intersection at which perspective and empathy unite, the latter serving as the human element in the former.

Armed with perspective and grounded in empathy, may we forge onward wisely together.

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Elizabeth Azide is a marketer and writer based in Austin, TX. Her blog is https:// www.thephilosophyofeverything.com, and she can be found on Twitter- @elizabethazide

 

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