Ubuntu and Jeremy Rifkin's Empathic Cvilization

What is ubuntu, the African philosophy, one may ask? Different people have defined it as different things. However, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has defined it as almost like a peace that one can have within themselves. He says "a person with Ubuntu is open and available to others... [and] does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished."He then goes on to say "We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." I think that he is entirely true, we have become a race that is entirely consumed by gaining our own tangible wealth. We have become so caught up in our own lives that we(including myself) often forget that we are apart of something bigger than ourselves. From reading a collective bunch of definitions on the ubuntu philosophy I have decided that to me it basically means that every link in the circle of life is important, no matter the size, color or shape because together we make up humanity and divided, well things might go downhill.

Now, currently Jeremy Rifkin has the idea of an empathic civilization, which is quite similar to this ubuntu philosophy. He has written a book called The Empathic civilization,and he has also created a short 10 minute video that includes him drawing and lecturing us on his idea and the origins of this empathic civilization, which you can watch here. Basically Rifkin is saying that humans are not wired for agressiona nd selfishness, but for empathy, love companionship and the feeling of belonging. We all have empathy for one another because we have one thing in common no matter race, gender, or age. We all know that we are born and we live for a limited period and then we die, this is how we are empathetic towards one another,because Empathy is grounded in the acknowledgment of death and th e celebration of life, and rooting for each other to flourish and be. Jeremy Rifkin believes that if we can extend our empathy to the entire human race,and our fellow creatures, and to our common community the earth. He believes that if we can imagine thta then we can save our species and the planet. This is so similar to the ubuntu principle in the fact that we just aren't meant to be alone no matter how much we want to beleive that we are. In fact Rifkin provides scientific evidence in about the way the neurons in our breains light up to what others around us are doing. We have to see that the only way to save our planet is to embrace  the ubuntu/ Rifki theory of unity an dcreaty a society based upong solidarity.

What i wanted to get out of the unit was to figure out what exactly is the human spirit and how does one obtain a strong human spirit when life has got you in the dumps. This ties into the unbuntu and empathic civilization philosophies because perhaps our fellow humans are what jeeps our spirits up when it seems like there is no hope. Maybe its because we know someone else has this same problem and together we can make it, possibly?

Below you can watch Jeremy Rifkin on "The Empathic Civilization"

Internet: Blessing or A Curse To Lonely People?

All the Lonely People and A Meeting of Solitudes by Roger Ebert, and another article by Ezra Klein, immediately made me think of myself. Three years ago I was new to my school district and I was angry at my parents, the world and God for taking me away from a place where I was comfortable to a place where I was the foreigner. After a while my anger faded and I deluded myself into believing that I wouldn't make any friends in my new area for dumb reasons like: I'm not funny enough to have friends, and no one would ever like me because I'm just so different from all the other kids. So with that in mind I was set to not try to make any friends at all since i was so sure no one would ever want to be friends with me. I resolved I only had 5 years to spend in purgatory until I graduated and could go to college wherever I decided. Until then I figured I would just spend my total of 7 hours at school no more no less and come home to my computer and chat with my old friends on facebook and bebo or whatever social networking site was cool that month. After a while I had my annual check up at the pediatrician and the doctor asked me how many hours a day I spent on the computer/television total. I answered with more than 5 hours altogether and she was stunned and told my  mom I needed to go outside more often or I might develop depression. So my mother cut back computer time therefore cutting back my social time, and I was forced to wander the neighborhood alone, as my brother already made friends with all the neighborhood boys. As Ebert stated in his article "Just because you're afraid to go outside doesn't mean you're happy being inside," this is entirely true. I was most definitely not happy being inside no matter how much I lied and told myself that inside was better; because it's not. It is so much easier to be brave over the internet; to be bold and fearless and witty online is easy.Whatever you write can easily be edited before you send a message. Whereas in person you can't take wordds back, you say whatever you want in the spur of the moment. In person people know you for you; for the brash, or sarcastic witty you;but on the Internet people only know the polished and edited you, which is why I think the Internet can be blessing, and yet a curse.