Brotherhood of Humanity
This week you are learning about the Stoic idea called the Brotherhood of Humanity, known in ancient Greek as oikeiosis (pronounced oy-KAY-oh-sis), which means something like "belonging" or "affiliation." It is the recognition that every human being is, by nature, a member of one single community, and that your care for others should radiate outward from yourself to your family, your neighbors, your city, and ultimately to all of humanity. The Stoics believed this was not a sentiment or a feeling you had to manufacture; it was a fact about what we are. Learning to live by it is one of the most practical and demanding things Stoic practice asks of you.
Passage
The consideration of the duties pertaining to [our other] kindred is consequent to the discussion of those that pertain to parents, brothers, wives, and children; for the same things may, in a certain respect, be said of the former as of the latter; and on this account may be concisely explained. For, in short, each of us is, as it were, circumscribed by many circles; some of which are less, but others larger, and some comprehend, but others are comprehended, according to the different and unequal habitudes with respect to each other. For the first, indeed, and most proximate circle is that which every one describes about his own mind as a centre, in which circle the body, and whatever is assumed for the sake of the body, are comprehended. For this is nearly the smallest circle, and almost touches the centre itself. The second from this, and which is at a greater distance from the centre, but comprehends the first circle, is that in which parents, brothers, wife, and children are arranged. The third circle from the centre is that which contains uncles and aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers, and the children of brothers and sisters. After this is the circle which comprehends the remaining relatives. Next to this is that which contains the common people, then that which comprehends those of the same tribe, afterwards that which contains the citizens; and then two other circles follow, one being the circle of those that dwell in the vicinity of the city, and the other, of those of the same province. But the outermost and greatest circle, and which comprehends all the other circles, is that of the whole human race .
— Hierocles, Ethical Fragments 5.1
Reflection
Hierocles, a Stoic philosopher writing in the second century, gives you one of the most useful images in all of Stoic thought: picture yourself standing at the centre of a series of rings, like ripples spreading out from a stone dropped in water. The innermost ring is you and your body. The next holds your closest family. Beyond that come relatives, neighbors, fellow citizens, and finally, in the outermost ring, all of humanity. This image is the foundation of what the Stoics called oikeiosis, the idea that we naturally belong to one another, and that belonging extends all the way to the edge of the human race. Today is simply about seeing the rings clearly, recognising who is already in your life and where they sit.
Go deeper
When you picture your own rings, which one feels crowded with real care and attention, and which one feels almost empty, as if the people there are barely real to you?
Practice
Draw Your Rings
Take a piece of paper or open a notes app. Draw five or six rough concentric circles. Label each ring with the actual people or groups who belong there in your own life, starting with yourself at the centre and ending with the broadest community you can name. Do not rush. Sit with the image for a moment when you are done and notice where your attention naturally lives.