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The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis QUOTES

The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis QUOTES

1 " The most important question facing humanity is this: Can we reach global empathy in time to avoid the collapse of civilization and save the Earth? "

― Jeremy Rifkin , The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis

2 " We are beginning to learn that an empathic moment requires both intimate engagement and a measure of detachment. If our feelings completely spill over into another's feelings or their feelings overwhelm our psyche, we lose a sense of self and the ability to imagine the other as if they were us. Empathy is a difficult balancing act. One has to be open to experiencing another's plight as if it were one's own but not be engulfed by it, at the expense of drowning out the self's ability to be a unique and separate being. Empathy requires a porous boundary between I and thou that allows the identity of two beings to mingle in a shared mental space.
- The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis "

― Jeremy Rifkin , The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis

3 " Every religion holds forth the promise of either defeating time, escaping time, overcoming time, reissuing time, or denying time altogether. We use our religions as vehicles to enter the state of nirvana, the heavenly kingdom, or the promised land. We come to believe in reincarnation, rebirth, and resurrection as ways of avoiding the inevitability of biological death. "

― Jeremy Rifkin , The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis

4 " When one empathizes with another, the experience is an affirmation of her existence and a celebration of her life. Empathetic moments are the most intensively alive experiences we ever have. We feel super-alive because in the empathic act, which begins with being embodied, we “transcend” our physical confines and, for a brief period, live in a shared non-corporeal plane that is timeless and that connects us to the life that surrounds us. We are filled with life, our own and others, connected and embedded in the here and now reality that our relationships create. "

― Jeremy Rifkin , The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis

5 " The extension of the empathic bond is the social glue to establishing a global network of millions of human beings. It’s probably not surprising that in the most technologically advanced countries, where self-expression is high, the older theological consciousness, with its emphasis on strict external codes, the communal bond, and a hierarchically organized command and control, is losing its hold. Religious hierarchies make less and less sense in a fl at, networked world. "

― Jeremy Rifkin , The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis