Nothing in this world is completely detached from you. Nothing is as far removed as you think. You’re a thread in the web of life, tied to every other being. You’ll feel the vibrations of every conflict, and benefit from every reparation ever made. You are part of a community, and your existence only makes sense in relation to others. Your very life depends on others.
You are the sum of all the people you know, the offspring of all the teachers you’ve had, a sibling to all your friends. Although you don’t notice it, the world is your family, amplified. You’re constantly teaching and learning, offering and absorbing. You come in conflict with your shadow as you see it projected in the behaviours of others, and you feel inspired to grow when others prod you — directly or indirectly.
Whether you choose to be an active participant in the workings of the world, or turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, you’re still involved. You’re still sitting at the same table with the rest of the world – part of the problem, or part of the solution. And since you cannot escape being at this table, why not be here fully?
Consider taking interest in the bigger conversation, because it’s paving the path you’re walking on. Consider observing and challenging others, because they’re dictating the rules you live by. Consider the possibility that we are all one single entity, split into individual specks, sharing the same destiny. Sharing the responsibility to admonish the violent, and protect the vulnerable. Consider the possibility that the empathy you extend to others today, is the same empathy that may one day save your life.
Transcending Individualism
If we accept the idea that we are singular cells inhabiting one same body, then we can understand that we have an implicit duty to support each other’s moral and intellectual growth. The optimal functioning of our system in its totality is something that should concern us all. After all, there’d be little satisfaction in being one healthy cell within a sick body.
The injustice and violence we see in the world need not be completely in vain, if they shake us into remembering that deep down we are all compassionate beings, designed to thrive as a community. Each one of us has a unique role to fulfil, and every individual is irreplaceable in the contribution they can offer. Our paths may look nothing alike, but as humans we share the same home, and we have the same goals.
We go about our lives judging and being judged, but we are all responsible for one another. It’s in our best interest that others be healthy, skilled and emotionally mature, because one person’s wellbeing can affect the lives of countless others in a domino effect. We must take our roles as teachers, students, motivators and helpers seriously, because we fulfil these roles anyhow, whether we are aware of it or not.
Naturally, this also means that we must not neglect the link in the chain that is the self: we must ensure that we ourselves are safe and fulfilled. However, if you only care about your own lot, then there is no chain at all: you are just an isolated ring. A ring that may be solid, and full of potential, but that is ultimately redundant because it upholds nothing, sustains nothing, and is connected to nowhere.
Finding Power In Solidarity
How can we feel a sense of unity when there are so many people causing harm to the world and to others? How can we practice compassion when there’s so much we disagree with? The first step towards feeling empathy is acknowledgement of what’s around us. It’s not by ignoring uncomfortable truths that we become morally just, and it’s not by shutting our eyes to conflicts that we become immune to harm.
It’s by being aware, by being solution-oriented, and by getting in the habit of trying to take steps, no matter how small, towards improving a situation. Sometimes bearing witness to others’ tragic experiences may be all we can do, and it may not seem like much, but it’s a start. In fact, it’s a very important act. If implemented collectively, the simple act of acknowledgement can avalanche into wider interest, into urgency and then into action. Acknowledgement implies validation, which in turn instils confidence and sows the seeds for life-altering changes.
Solidarity is the factor that turns mere existence into a rich and full human experience. Solidarity in thought, in feeling and in deed is the glue that binds you to the rest of humanity. Perhaps the discontent caused by an increasingly isolating society can be cured by embracing the idea that the ‘other’ is related to you. What if every friend, foe or stranger is just a different expression of your own self, waiting to be seen, waiting to be healed, and waiting to be loved?
Art: Jacopo Iraci Tobbi @jacopoiraci
— Mersa Auda
