WE NEED EMPATHY TO CREATE A NEW KIND OF REVOLUTION

WE NEED EMPATHY TO CREATE A NEW KIND OF REVOLUTION - The 20th century was the Age of Introspection, when self-help and therapy culture encouraged us to believe that the best way to understand who we are and how to live was to look inside ourselves. But it left us gazing at our own navels. The 21st century should become the Age of Empathy, when we discover ourselves not simply through self-reflection, but by becoming interested in the lives of others. We need empathy to create a new kind of revolution. Not an old-fashioned revolution built on new laws, institutions, or policies, but a radical revolution in human relationships.

Roman Krznaric, Ph.D., is a founding faculty member of The School of Life in London and "empathy advisor" to organizations including Oxfam and the United Nations. He formerly taught sociology and politics at Cambridge University. He is the author of Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution.