The Common Humanity Prime (Professor Sheldon Solomon)

Preliminary research shows that reminding people that as human beings, the things we have in common eclipse our differences—what psychologists call a "common humanity prime."

"There lies before us, if we choose, continued progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we instead choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: remember your humanity and forget the rest."
-Albert Einstein (his last signed letter)

Just as Socrates felt that is was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
-Martin Luther King, letter from a Birmingham jail

Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe.
We should not say I am an Athenian or I am a Roman but I am a citizen of the Universe. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)
"People have two modes of thought," concludes Solomon. "There's the intuitive gut-level mode, which is what most of us are in most of the time. And then there's a rational analytic mode, which takes effort and attention."

Education goes hand-in-hand with tolerance, and often, the more the better: Professors at major universities are more liberal than their counterparts at less acclaimed institutions. What travel and education have in common is that they make the differences between people seem less threatening. "You become less bothered by the idea that there is uncertainty in the world," explains Jost. That's why the more educated people are, the more liberal they become.

I agree with the sentiments of Thomas Paine when he said the world is his country and all peoples are his kin. Some may view this utopian but its roots lie in the higher perspective where planet Earth is looked upon as one planet and we the human species are united by our common habitation, our common origin, and our common mortality.

The actual is greater than the superficial and the certainty of death can be a driving force for solidarity and not a suppresed anxiety that drives us towards division and despair. Our connections are deep and our differences are at times shallow. This is my hope that we move towards a progressive world of Pangea and leave behind the puddles we have wallowed in for far too long.

"Everywhere new technology and communications brings men and nations closer together, the concerns of one inevitably becomes the concerns of all.
And our new closeness is stripping away the false masks, the illusion of differences which is the root of injustice and of hate and of war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ends at river shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town or his views and the color of his skin."
Bobby Kennedy

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