Empathy is the central theme inspiring all my work.

I write a blog on empathy called OUTROSPECTION, where you can discover the lives of empathic adventurers, read empathy news from around the world, and find inspiration for the empathic revolution.

I also advise governments, community organisations and charities on how to develop empathy to bring about social change. My work on empathy is frequently featured in the press.

This page contains a selection of my writings on empathy - a mixture of interdisciplinary essays, commissioned reports and fictional explorations. They all aim to offer practical ways of integrating an empathic outlook into everyday life.

• Why Empathy? An Introduction to a Radical Idea
• Empathy and the Art of Living
• You Are Therefore I Am: How Empathy Education Can Create Social Change
• Empathy and Climate Change: Proposals for a Revolution of Human Relationships
• Empathy and Contemporary Art
• Message to the Gardeners of England

WHY EMPATHY? AN INTRODUCTION TO A RADICAL IDEA

‘We seem to be suffering from an empathy deficit – our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, to see the world through those who are different from us – the child who's hungry, the laid-off steel worker, the immigrant woman cleaning your dorm room.’ – Barack Obama

I believe that empathy - the imaginative act of stepping into another person's shoes and viewing the world from their perspective - is a radical tool for social change and should be the guiding light for how we lead our lives.

Empathy is different from pity, sympathy, compassion or everyday kindness. If you see a homeless beggar under a bridge you may feel sorry for him and give him some money as you pass by. That is pity, not empathy. If, on the other hand, you make an effort to step into his shoes, to consider what life is really like for him, and perhaps have a conversation that transforms him in your eyes from a faceless stranger into a unique individual, then you are empathising. We are often advised to follow the so-called Golden Rule, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. But that also is not empathy, for it involves considering how you - with your own views - would wish to be treated. Empathy requires more: imagining their views rather than your own, and acting accordingly. George Bernard Shaw understood the difference when he quipped, 'Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you - they may have different tastes.'

But why focus on empathy? What does it offer that other values, ideals or morals do not? Understanding other people's worldviews - their beliefs, emotions, experiences and ways of looking at life - is an essential means of escaping the narrow confines of our own egos and preoccupations, in three different ways.

First, empathising both with people we know and with distant strangers can help to expand our moral universes, so that we consider the plight of those who we might otherwise ignore or whose difficulties we might overlook, such as the laid-off steel worker mentioned by Barack Obama.

But empathy can do more than this. It can also provide unexpected insights and inspiration for our own lives, offering the basis for a philosophy of living. During the past four decades the self-help genre has unashamedly emphasised what can be done to help me and my own life. But the introspection and excessive individualism associated with self-help and twentieth-century psychoanalysis have failed to bring personal joy and fulfilment. Our pursuit of the art of living needs to be more outrospective: that is, we should discover and fulfil ourselves through caring about other people, and that means understanding how they live, think and look at the world. Empathy is the ultimate art form for the age of outrospection.

Third, psychologists tend to view empathy as an individual experience, but history shows that empathy is also a collective phenomenon. Empathy has the potential to be a powerful means for changing the society we live in, helping to confront acute problems such as wealth inequality, climate change and intercultural conflict. We must aspire to creating empathetic mass movements, just as those who struggled against slavery in Britain in the late eighteenth century managed to do. To cultivate collective empathy is to take part in the revolution in human relationships that the twenty-first century so desperately requires. That's why many social reformers, from St Francis of Assisi and Mahatma Gandhi, to Desmond Tutu and Barack Obama, have put empathy at the centre of their personal and political visions. Empathy is no soft concept - it is a tool of radicals.

My ambition is to establish the world's first Empathy Museum: a gallery space in which to explore and learn about seeing the world from the perspective of others. It would be the opposite of traditional museums, with objects hidden inside glass cases. Rather it would revive the original meaning of the word 'muse' - the Muses of mythology injected a divine spark into everyday life. The Empathy Museum would be an experiential and conversational adventure in which we would encounter a new credo for humanity: 'You are, therefore I am'. I hope you would like to visit

EMPATHY AND THE art of living

Empathy and the Art of Living (Blackbird, 2007) - free download

This essay shows how developing empathy is the ultimate art form for the twenty-first century and the age of outrospection. Mahatma Gandhi and other great empathetic adventurers will be your guides.

'Empathy is imaginatively and practically explored in Empathy and the Art of Living, an essay by the ever thoughtful and surprising Roman Krznaric.' - Mark Vernon, author of The Philosophy of Friendship

'Roman Krznaric has written a fabulous downloadable booklet called “Empathy and the Art of Living”. Go get it and read it. I highly recommend it. Now I don’t know if Roman has invented the word “outrospection”. But if he has then it’s hats off to him! This SO hits the spot!' - Bob Leckridge, Heroes Not Zombies

From the back cover:

'In this essay Roman Krznaric shows how empathy can become both a guide to the art of living and a source of wider social change. His meditation on the lives of others suggests that too much self-help is narrow and individualistic, and that if we want to live joyful and fulfilled lives, each of us needs to look beyond our own concerns and tackle our personal empathy deficit. The essay not only provides ideas for how to do so, but draws on historical examples to show that empathy can be generated in society on a mass scale to form the basis of a revolution in human relationships. Empathy and the Art of Living reveals why introspection is not enough, and how we can all benefit from a new adventure in outrospection.'

YOU ARE THEREFORE I AM: HOW EMPATHY EDUCATION CAN CREATE SOCIAL CHANGE

You Are Therefore I Am: How Empathy Education Can Create Social Change (Oxfam, 2008) - free download

This research report published by Oxfam argues why empathy needs to be taught and encouraged in schools and how it should be done. It explores surprising options such as using babies as teachers in the classroom and explains why the art of conversation should be put at the heart of the curriculum for young people in primary and secondary education.

'Beautifully written, thoughtful, scientific and humanistic. I really appreciated the big picture approach of this report.' - Mary Gordon, founder of The Roots of Empathy education programme, Canada

'An impressive paper, with - best of all - a rare call for expanding an interpersonal skill to the realm of social change.' - Alfie Kohn, US education expert and author of The Schools Our Children Deserve

'A first rate paper.' - Sir Jim Rose, head of the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum in England

An overview of the report :

'Empathy Education is at the forefront of contemporary education reform. Since the mid 1990s
there has been an exponential growth in the teaching of empathy skills in primary and
secondary schools in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, as
well as in international schools in many other nations. Today, Empathy Education is more
extensive than at any time in the past. This paper is an attempt to map the landscape of
Empathy Education around the world. Through a series of case studies, it highlights some of
the most innovative empathy programmes currently being offered to young people,
particularly at the primary level. After clarifying the meaning of empathy, the paper explains
why Empathy Education has gained a place on the education policy agenda, and argues that
policymakers have failed to recognise the impact that it can have in bringing about social
change. The paper concludes by suggesting that Empathy Education programmes could
enhance their social impact by expanding to incorporate more global themes, in addition to
integrating a greater focus on developing empathy through conversational and experiential
learning.'

EMPATHY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: PROPOSALS FOR A REVOLUTION OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

Empathy and Climate Change: Proposals for a Revolution of Human Relationships (2008) - free download

This essay, written for the Future Ethics project at the University of Manchester, argues that the huge gap between knowledge and action on climate change can be explained by our failure to empathise both with future generations and those being affected by global warming today in developing countries. It offers a range of empathy projects to close the gap, including the creation of a European Climate Corp and grassroots Climate Diary groups.

An article introducting the essay appears on George Marshall's Climate Denial blog.

Watch a six-minute video presentation of the essay.

EMPATHY AND CONTEMPORARY ART

Empathy and Contemporary Art (Blackbird 2004) - free download

An essay on why we need to redefine beauty in terms of empathy, and what we can learn from the shift in contemporary art towards a participatory 'relational aesthetic' that encourages dialogue between the artist and the public. The essay has informed the work of artists such as the Kyoto-based Swiss artist Markuz Wernli Saito, pictured here performing his Mobile Tea Ceremony.

An extract from the essay:

'I define beauty in terms of what the world needs but does not have. And although you may not agree, I feel we need greater empathy. Our lives are filled with superficial interactions and quick judgements that seldom take into account how other people think, feel and experience...When I encounter a piece of art, I ask myself: how does this help me understand the lives of others? And does it move me to help other people in new and unexpected ways?'

MESSAGE TO THE GARDENERS OF ENGLAND

I have developed the idea of 'empathy gardening' in my forthcoming novel, Message to the Gardeners of England, which has been described by cultural critic and gardening guru Sir Roy Strong as 'hugely enjoyable'.

What is empathy gardening? It grows out of the long history of symbolic garden design dating back to ancient China and Persia. Empathy gardeners tend to use plants whose meanings are associated with ideas of empathetic understanding, rather than choosing plants in the traditional way based on their visual appearance, smell or texture. They may be intended to express empathy for loved ones, friends or strangers in distant lands. The main point of an empathy garden is to encourage people to see the world from the perspective of others and to promote mutual understanding between individuals and across cultures. So, for example, you might create an Iraq War Garden, with plants symbolising the horrors and human suffering of war, or a Prison Incarceration Garden, where each seed planted represents a person who has been imprisoned.

For other examples of radical empathy garden designs, and to find out more about the growing movement of empathy gardeners around the world, see the website dedicated to my novel:

www.empathygardens.org

Empathy gardening is not just about symbolism. It is also about creating gardens in cooperation with others, rather than allowing gardening to be a primarily individualistic pursuit taking place behind our fences. To this end, I have been involved in helping to write the Manifesto of the Swedish Empathy Gardening Association.

© 2010 Roman Krznaric
Creative thinking about the art of living and social change