Epictetus, Discourses 1.9.1

Chapter 9: How one may draw conclusions from the fact that we are God’s kinsmen.

 

If these statements of the philosophers are true, that God and men are akin, there is but one course open to men, to do as Socrates did: never to reply to one who asks his country, “I am an Athenian”, or “I am a Corinthian”, but “I am a citizen of the Universe.” 

 

For why do you say that you are an Athenian, instead of merely a native of the little spot on which your bit of a body was cast forth at birth? 

 

Plainly you call yourself Athenian or Corinthian after that more sovereign region which includes not only the very spot where you were born, and all your household, but also generally that region from which the race of your forebears has come down to you. 

 

I very much understand the appeal of being a part of a certain tribe, of finding an identity in the shared values of the group, and yet I also know quite well how clinging too tightly to such loyalties can tear us all apart. 

 

I might say that I am a patriot of this country, or a believer in that creed, but it will end up putting me in a world of hurt if it makes me forget how I am, first and foremost, a human being, and that each and every one of us is bound together by what is Divine. 

 

Calling upon God is intellectually out of fashion at the moment, though I would suggest that God, the unity and perfection of all being, is not the problem at all. When we dwell on discontent and division, that is about the failings of man, not the fullness of the Divine. 

 

If God were truly important us, and not just as some jingoistic mascot, our love for the source and measure would overflow into a love for each and every one of our neighbors, because we would be aware that we are made for one another. Yes, it would allow us to love even the most annoying and frustrating of people, with absolutely no conditions of convenience or gratification attached. 

 

This only sounds like a pipe dream to those burdened with cynicism and resentment, and it only comes across as hippie claptrap when it is showy and insincere. It is within the power of any individual to choose a common path, where all things are as one, even if some others don’t seem so terribly keen on choosing it right now. 

 

I can certainly begin with the associations that are most immediate to me, but I shouldn’t stop there. As I look further beyond myself, I also begin to recognize more of myself in others, and so I approach what is ultimate. What separates us ends up looking so petty when we uncover the essential. 

 

It isn’t simply about a place, or a language and a culture, or bonds of blood going back for generations. It is rather about a much broader and more powerful sovereignty. There is really no “us” as opposed to “them”, just an “us”. 

 

My neighbor down the street may be full of rage and hatred—and he is still my neighbor. The fracturing of humanity is an illusion brought on by our vanity. 

Written in 11/2000