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
These things being thus considered, it is the province of him who strives to conduct himself properly in each of these connections to collect, in a certain respect, the circles, as it were, to one centre, and always to endeavour earnestly to transfer himself from the comprehending circles to the several particulars which they comprehend. It pertains, therefore, to the man who is a lover of kindred [to conduct himself in a becoming manner ] towards his parents and brothers; also, according to the same analogy, towards the more elderly of his relatives of both sexes, such as grandfathers, uncles and aunts; towards those of the same age with himself, as his cousins; and towards his juniors, as the children of his cousins. Hence we have summarily shown how we ought to conduct ourselves towards our kindred, having before taught how we should act towards ourselves, our parents, and brothers; and besides these, towards our wife and children. To which it must be added, that those who belong to the third circle must be honoured similarly to these; and again, kindred similarly to those that belong to the third circle. For something of benevolence must be taken away from those who are more distant from us by blood; though at the same time we should endeavour that an assimilation may take place between us and them. For this distance will become moderate, if, through the diligent attention which we pay to them, we cut off the length of the habitude towards each individual of these. We have unfolded, therefore, that which is most comprehensive and important in the duties pertaining to kindred.
— Hierocles, Ethical Fragments 5.2
Reflection
Hierocles now gives you the practical instruction that follows from the image of the rings: pull the outer rings inward. Do not leave the people in your distant circles as abstractions. Make deliberate efforts to treat those who are further from you with some of the warmth and attentiveness you give to those who are close. He is not asking you to feel the same intensity of love for a stranger as for your child; he is asking you to keep shrinking the distance. This is oikeiosis as a daily practice, not just a philosophical idea. The Brotherhood of Humanity requires active, repeated effort to keep the outer rings from going cold.
Go deeper
Who in your life has drifted into an outer ring not because of distance or genuine estrangement, but simply because you have stopped paying attention, and what one small act could pull them a little closer this week?
Practice
Close One Gap
Identify one person who belongs in a closer ring than the one you have been treating them as occupying. Send a message, make a call, or plan a concrete way to acknowledge them today. Keep it simple and genuine: the point is the deliberate movement toward them, not the gesture itself.