By François Taddei, Director of the’Learning Planet Institute, researcher at INSERM, professor at’University of Paris, next book Game Changing: Together Solving the Challenges of our Time, published by Calmann-Lévy, January 2022.
Confucius said that we have two lives, and that the second begins when we realize we only have one. What if this were true not only for each of us individually, but also for us as a society, and even as a species?
What if we're not invincible? If there's a glimmer of hope in the Covid-19 experience, it's that we had to acknowledge and accept our vulnerability. For us, individually, this meant realizing that functional societies are founded on mutual solidarity, and for political leaders, it meant accepting the need for compassion in policy-making.
The gap between rich and poor is greater than ever, and only widening with Covid-19“s ongoing assault. To stir the pot, it's becoming increasingly clear that the infrastructure of inequality is, ironically, our unshakeable belief in meritocracy. Democratic societies are seen as natural meritocracies, because when people can act according to their own will, the hardest workers rise to the top. But the reality is far from that. The reality is more like what American political philosopher Michael J. Sandel calls the ”tyranny of merit“, where meritocracy favors a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. The so-called winners of such a system end up dehumanizing themselves because the competitive landscape in which they live makes them completely disconnected from their deepest selves, let alone those of others, and the so-called losers in the system are seen as ”deserving“ of their place, which can only fuel resentment. Around the world, we see that class mobility is largely a myth, with the effects of inherited wealth and the absence of intermarriage between classes being key determinants of individual success. Meritocracy is essentially a new form of aristocracy, fueling feelings of discontent, disillusionment and resentment towards those who occupy inferior ”positions" in society. Sandel concludes that the rise of populism should surprise no one.
Towards an ethic of humility in public policy
To restore true equality of opportunity, we need to move away from a competitive mindset to a more cooperative one. Sandel speaks of humility as an integral part of achieving the common good. After Covid-19's demonstration of vulnerability, we should all feel more inclined to show a little humility. Members of the climate activist community have been keenly aware of our planet's vulnerability long before the pandemic arrived. At least now, with Covid-19, no one can deny that feeling. It's the biggest change between the world before the pandemic and the world today. Not everyone may be on board yet, but there's no denying that times have changed. Social distancing and other health guidelines impose restrictions on our individual social and emotional lives, and as a society, the virus has strained our ecosystems, our economies and the cohesion of our communities. Our current sense of vulnerability is only proportional to the sense of omnipotence that has brought us to this critical moment.
Our local communities are deeply divided, as is the geopolitical community as a whole, and yet the choice we have to make is so simple, so inevitable. Many, especially the so-called winners of our meritocracy, are less willing to change the status quo because they feel they have too much to lose. Yet the revolution we need couldn't be easier to implement, and we can only benefit from it. It's about making compassion a fundamental principle in every aspect of our lives, both inside and outside the halls of government. It's about being more compassionate individuals and adopting a position of empathy in our relationships with others. As a society, it means abandoning the dominance mentality on earth and the so-called losers in our so-called meritocracy. The pandemic revealed to us that, more than laws and governments, what really makes the world work is living with concern for the well-being of others and treating them with empathy. The frontline workers during the pandemic, the health supermarket workers we took for granted before the pandemic, now appear to us as the most crucial piece of our society's ability to function properly. Compassion is an age-old idea that is taking on a whole new political significance today, due to the unprecedented global awareness of our interdependence. When one group or population is treated with a lack of compassion, we all lose out in the end. Before the pandemic, the common experience of vulnerability and dependence on others was that of early childhood. Today, we see that we remain vulnerable and in need of others throughout our lives.
Interdependence is also more threatening than ever. If we don't distribute vaccines and medical supplies equitably, the whole planet will continue to suffer. Variants develop in unvaccinated people, generating new waves of infection. The erosion of biodiversity and our dependence on other species (most likely) got us into this mess, proving that we are also dependent on other species, just as we are dependent on the environment to survive. We're all on board the same ship, an interconnected earth, and it's a tiny vessel if you compare it to the immensity of our galaxy, not to mention the universe.
We need new shared stories to inspire us, new rules, new laws to guarantee the integrity of our systems to care for ourselves, others and the planet. What I'm calling for is a renewal of the Enlightenment. Do the old Enlightenment serve the interests of the few or the many? Whatever their good intentions, they did not produce equitable results.
The new Enlightenment will be decentralized, inclusive and ecological
International, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue is more necessary than ever to tackle the global crises we face. The road from awareness to action is a long one, but fortunately there are many examples all over the world of people who are taking action to guide us along this path. You may even know some of these people in your own life; they seem to be bringing to life the South African philosophy so beloved by Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and others, the Ubuntu philosophy. The word Ubuntu is often translated as “I am because you are”, expressing the notion of gratitude, compassion and interdependence. It is akin to the proverb “It takes a village to raise a child”, which has been attributed to many different African cultures, and basically expresses that the communal transmission of knowledge is the path to enlightenment. This is the blueprint for the new Enlightenment, except that the community will be global.
The meritocratic tradition of education is not based on the transmission of knowledge, but on competition in the memorization of facts produced in bygone eras. Young people are an eternal source of hope. Let's reorient their education to teach them how to collaborate with each other, so as to empower them to meet the world's most pressing challenges and shape the future. There are already exercises to teach children to empathize with their classmates. One is to ask each child to draw a common household object, such as a glass bottle, and then compare all the drawings. The children find that, although each drawing represents the same object, each representation is so different from the next, providing a metaphor for empathy with different points of view. We also recommend making learning fun for young and old alike, for example by creating a kind of Community Involvement Olympiad where teams can win prizes based on how well they work together on projects that contribute to the common good.
Compassion on the campaign trail?
Visit European Commission declared 2022 European Year of Youth. There's no better opportunity to reinforce the exchange program Erasmus, It is more crucial than ever for young Europeans to come into contact with so-called “foreign” cultures in order to build a more tolerant and peaceful future, but European communities are not the only ones concerned; what is true for Europe extends to all the world's communities, so that we really do form one big interdependent family, hence the crucial importance of learning to care for every member of our human family.
Showing compassion doesn't just benefit those on the receiving end. It also helps the givers to step outside themselves and their own problems, and to put their suffering into perspective. Treating others more compassionately is something each of us can do right now, and the new shared stories that unite the interdependent human community can make this a priority. For us, these new stories are embodied in the leaders of the countries that have best resisted the virus. If you notice, it's mainly women who are leading these countries. It's as if, while male leaders seem only to usher in periods of warring states, women are ushering in periods of benevolent states. Take, for example, the incredible success of the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Her policy of caring for society's most vulnerable has helped to alleviate some of society's greater ills, and enabled her to be re-elected with flying colors. As many candidates embark on the 2022 election campaign, why not take inspiration from these women leaders and run on a platform of compassion?
This article was published by The Conversation
