What virtues must a person have today to make Earth a better place to live in? This question is important for us to read about since it’s a way to opening our eyes and minds and realizing the things we need to make our environment and what’s around us a better place, but before getting to answering the exact question, we must leave the aspect of “virtue” clear. A virtue is a moral habit which generally results in the gaining or maintaining of your values. Your values are based on your moral standard which should be your own life. Virtue is a characteristic of man that involves choice and there are two different kinds: intellectual virtues and moral virtues. Some might say that good qualities are innate and developed through good parenting, which they are, but we’re not perfect. Virtues need to be cultivated to become more prevalent and habitual in daily life. With the habit of being more virtuous, we take the helm of our own life, redirecting its course towards greater fulfillment, peace and joy.
Now that the aspect of virtue is clear we can get to answering the main question. If you want to become a better human being, then you are going to have to see the world beyond yourself. And if you want to see the world beyond yourself, then you are going to have to see the world from other “selfs”, which means from other people’s eyes or perspective. This is called empathy— it is seeing, feeling and understanding the world as if you are the other, and it is the most important practice you can do to make the world a better place. Our default mode and most common problem is egocentrism— which is important to own; that you are a self that exists on its own — but the primary cause of unhealth in our lives, our relationships, and the world; is our failure to move beyond ego-centrism. Consider the unjust, frustration, ignorant, or, even, evil effects you see in the world. There is a good chance that it’s root is someone or some group who has failed to move beyond themselves. So yes, begin with the good of the self, but at some point, you must also be intentional about the good of the other — seeing them, not as an object or stranger or an antagonist that you must work around in order to achieve something for yourself, but as a fellow human being with whom you move through the world with, interdependently. You want to create a good world? You want to be your best? The foundational ingredient, then, is empathy. It is the bridge that exposes and embodies the connection you have with the world around you by seeing the world around you with the same intimacy and assumptions that you see with yourself. Empathy is what many religious & philosophical traditions laud as the central virtue of being a flourishing human being. Empathy is the foundation that makes a healthy, thriving world possible. Attribution is seeing someone or witnessing something happen and attributing what is going on internally to manifest the behavior, thought, or effect of their existence.
Now, this is never completely accurate as you aren’t even able to attribute your own behaviors or thoughts perfectly because of how complex your existence is let alone someone whose identity you don’t inhabit. But the goal of attribution isn’t to know perfectly what is going on in another person’s internal state, the goal is simply what the attempt does — it forces you to see the world outside of yourself.
A better world starts with ourselves and it might just come through empathy where your interests become the interest of everyone. Where we navigate the world through a shared, collaborative perspective as opposed to our own, separate, defensive ones.
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