We humans are soft-wired for sociability, affection, to belong, and to empathize. The question is "Can we extend our empathy to the entire human race, fellow creatures and biosphere?" If we can imagine that possibility, we can save our species and our planet! Jeremy Rifkin's talk on the empathic civilization is mapped out in a stunningly visual and cohesive way.

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  • dets

    t is absolutely beautiful. The mind thinks and relates in pictures or forms rather than words. http://www.karmatube.org

  • Paul Cox

    Most people would agree with what you have said but until the people who have the power to change things agree, nothing will happen. The people with the power don't want the same things as we do.

  • Ria Tanz Kubota

    "Soft wired" is touching. "Rooting for each other." "Extending our empathy to the entire human race, fellow creatures, the biosphere." Beautiful! Thank you. Evolution of empathy,consciousness. We are an extended family. Thank you. This is a revolution I needed to encounter today.

  • Gloria Magarelli

    I want to add empathy to the Institution of caring for the elderly. Thanks for sharing this wonderful video.

  • Nancy

    But what about our connection to the land, to the animals...it is all connected....

  • jack hutchins

    Maybe the lesson learned by examing our connectedness, our commality, the deapths of our connectiveness, will make more people aware of hopw really small the world ;really is. thank for showing me the life of our world.

  • Elena

    it's so nice to see language that applies to everyone replace the traditional religious compassion notions, because they are hard to listen to when they are divisive. this is actual useful evolutionary plan for humanity to fulfill the same goal.

  • asd

    What inspired you aboutasda this video?

  • Tina

    It is so true and so clever and ties so many things together that I already believe into one very neat video.

  • Cat

    I am inspired by this to pick up again a spotty devotion to Buddhism-inspired training of my heart and mind.

  • Cat

    Perhaps part of the problem right now is the strong influence of pathology-based religions (such as American evangelical Christianity) that denigrate earthly life and focus on their imagination of an afterlife. They have dissolved the concept of mortality.

  • Klaudeen

    Pure brilliance! Awesome messaging and animation! Your points - around what is fiction, our blood line, the evolution and need for empathy, all of us coming from the same source, empathy is civilization, the invisible hand, how we separate ourselves via fiction - these are brilliantly articulated, animated and connecting. Amazing crash course on how to experience our universalness. Thank you, thank you! I'm just in awe what you did here!

  • Margaret

    That science can explain to business and government why the long view tends to connection and solidarity, so that they can incorporate these into their models and toss out the tired old bits based on divisiveness and one-upmanship. Washington, Madison Avenue, evolve, you can do it!

  • Yonah Afia

    hopefulness. We can come together as a global family, human, animal and nature alike. needing each other and reaching out to one another.

  • Philo

    Hope for the future.

  • Sheila Davis

    I envision the World without Borders for we are all One, and shall send this video to all that I can.

  • Louis

    Beautifully explained, light heartily drawn, and if the facts presented are just half true then it is a springboard for consciousnesses... Yet, yep yet! The author seems to have a personal and extremely limiting bias; that is heard in his speaking of 'life being a one shot' deal, live once, die once... By adding in a view of life eternal this evolution would become near instant... And for me, there's the challenge and the transformation.

  • oonacadorin

    visuals really helped modulate the quickspeak - strong message!

  • Saby

    My sentiments exactly!!! Expressed so powerfully!

  • Angela Stead

    I do beleive we can, i definately do imagine this as a possiblity. When employing new teaschers (pre school), we recruit teachers who score high in empathy. I will be showing all of my teachers this videe!

  • Katarina Wittich

    Evolutionarily, it probably was useful to limit our definition of our tribe when the world was a more divided place. Now, evolutionarily it is suicide not to perceive our oneness because it enables us to continue to pollute and destroy the planet while constantly balancing on the brink of wars that could wipe us all out. We are literally one now in that what happens in any corner of the planet affects all corners. Rifkins suggestion that we practice feeling our oneness is a way of speeding up evolution, so that we will hopefully develop soft wired empathy for all humans in time to begin to heal our world instead of destroying it. Great video!

  • Craig

    Thank you. Such an inspiring hopeful video. I love the cartoon illustrations I will share with the members of the Britsh Holistic Medical Association in our blog and newsletter.

  • deborah barnes

    thank you, now i have back up for the work i am doing through the fashionRIP project. This video creates the rational argument that augments the necessity we have to heal now and intentionally move towards our evolved brains capacity to see the whole of a living universe as all and as "self" at once. This "knowing' frees the individual from the false beliefs of narrow traditions and expands potential and possibility. When we engage and help others along the collaborative, cooperative path i think we all learn at an accelerated rate. I know, I am experimenting with this and when it blooms it is brilliant. Knowing the universe is alive wakes us up to a vast new set of possibilities which inspires our potential to be amazing and everything changes.

  • Asha

    I am just at the HeartMath Institute in California studying ways to support and empower people in their Resiliency so they are more able to shift from a reactive mind to a responsive heart through their evidence-based breathing techniques and this short video is a wonderful reminder of why our personal practice is so important. It inspires connections within others, plants seeds of hope! I'm going to share it with my colleagues at the training. Thank you for posting this. And thank you to the artist for the wonderful engaging translation.

  • Hopestar

    We do a series of Sunday afternoon sharings around our next evolution in our human consciousness and last week we shared about how that study from Italy in many ways is a 'call to rise', a call to take more responsibility and be more conscious of what we are doing, the thoughts we are thinking, etc because it engages/inspires similar connections within others (www.starlightlifestyle.com). And how that is a spark of hope ... that as we shift and grow we inspire others to do the same. Beautiful synchronicity ... can't wait to post this! Thank you!!!

  • Revati

    It is absolutely beautiful. The mind thinks and relates in pictures or forms rather than words. The visual impact this video has created to get across the message is stunning. Thank you!

  • Gailia

    This video opens up a whole new range of thinking for me! It gives hope.

  • Robert Caldwell

    I was just writing in my journal about this very subject when I came upon this video. How synchronistic, imagine that. Rifkin's vision of a potentially much different future is inspiring. We are still evolving, hopefully we'll get there, one person at a time.

  • Paul Arel

    What inspired you about this video? For our group, we are on the same wave, look us up on www.raintrust.com every human living are welcome if we are to survive by the end of this century,.

  • Mohammad Saeed

    I can relate to this.Something I practice.

  • Yvonne

    It is a remarkable and powerful illustration of the physical truth of the spiritual concepts of Buddhism and other belief systems. Brilliant.

  • Page 1

  • View other RSA Animate videos  for more big ideas.
  • Consistently bring out your core nature of empathizing while maintaining healthy boundaries.
  • Meditate and visualize each day other people and creatures on this planet as your extended family :)

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