the modern age is inherently
anthropocentric in outlook from
anthropos Greek for human that is it
places human beings and their experience
and concerns at the center of the
hierarchy above the claims of nature
animals gods or the universe more
broadly we are now in every way in our
own eyes the center of the show but it
was not always like this
traditionally religions declined to give
human beings a central place in the
cosmos
the ancient Greeks pictured their gods
living on the summit of Mount Olympus
and looking down upon humans with a
mixture of amusement and pity Zen
Buddhism interpreted nature with all its
diverse flora and fauna as far more
important than any one kind of upright
ape of questionable merit and Judaism
and Christianity presented the world
Theo centrically with human life as a
small and in many ways not very
impressive fragment in a much larger
scheme known only to the infinitely
superior mind of God with the decline of
religion we have come to embrace the
philosophy of anthropocentrism we have
identified ourselves as the most
important things that exist it’s a move
that can be cast as one of liberation
the stories on which God focused
societies were founded have been
displaced by more visceral tales of
human heroism in business in science or
in the arts but this liberation has
brought an unexpected kind of suffering
in its wake a vicious sense of our own
lack of importance as compared with that
of mightier other humans a feeling that
we don’t matter really when we actually
should all this is unleashed a torrent
of envy and inadequacy Theo centric or
biocentric societies cast all our eyes
upwards and reminded us that we were
everyone of us in the wider scheme
ultimately puny and for
gettable propositions but in our times
there is now no established point of
reference beyond us that can matter what
happens to us here and now is framed as
overwhelmingly important it’s all there
is and so everything that goes wrong
everything that frustrates or
disappoints us fills the horizon of our
being the idea of something bigger older
mightier wiser and nobler than us to
which we owe love and obedience has been
stripped of its power to console us but
they would consume as if there is
nothing left to all or relativize us
there is what puts us in our place and
reduces us in size needn’t be as
religions presumed gods alone it might
be the site of the stars at night spread
out in a mantle of Darkness
unaccountably many unimaginably distant
and themselves constituting only an
infinitesimal fraction of the cosmos
from their perspective all human
differences fade all our conflicts and
competitions feel less urgent or
significant we are as nothing oh we
might remember that we’re not at the
center of things on a more domestic
scale when we meet a small animal for
example a duck or a hedgehog its life
goes on utterly oblivious to ours it
feels not the slightest curiosity about
who we are from its point of view we are
absorbed into the immense blankness of
incomprehensible things a duck will take
a piece of bread as gladly from a
criminal as from a high court judge from
a billionaire as from a bankrupt felon
our individuality is suspended and that
can be an enormous relief nowadays the
sense that we are small and relatively
unimportant in the universe is
disorganized and fragmented religions
used to organize it interpret it ensure
our regular contact with it and gave it
its proper status they do continue to be
opportunities to meet with this feeling
but they are at hazard we should take
care to take them when we can
whenever we feel overwhelmed or
punishingly self-absorbed when there’s a
chance of a walk in the wilderness a
look at the Stars or a few moments with
an animal we should be keen to get back
in touch with that all-important feeling
that we are not thankfully the center of
the show our who am i journal is
designed to help us create a
psychological portrait of who we are
with the use of some far more unusual
entertaining and playful prompts along
with bespoke psychological exercises to
help develop our self understanding
follow the link on screen now to find out more
anthropocentric in outlook from
anthropos Greek for human that is it
places human beings and their experience
and concerns at the center of the
hierarchy above the claims of nature
animals gods or the universe more
broadly we are now in every way in our
own eyes the center of the show but it
was not always like this
traditionally religions declined to give
human beings a central place in the
cosmos
the ancient Greeks pictured their gods
living on the summit of Mount Olympus
and looking down upon humans with a
mixture of amusement and pity Zen
Buddhism interpreted nature with all its
diverse flora and fauna as far more
important than any one kind of upright
ape of questionable merit and Judaism
and Christianity presented the world
Theo centrically with human life as a
small and in many ways not very
impressive fragment in a much larger
scheme known only to the infinitely
superior mind of God with the decline of
religion we have come to embrace the
philosophy of anthropocentrism we have
identified ourselves as the most
important things that exist it’s a move
that can be cast as one of liberation
the stories on which God focused
societies were founded have been
displaced by more visceral tales of
human heroism in business in science or
in the arts but this liberation has
brought an unexpected kind of suffering
in its wake a vicious sense of our own
lack of importance as compared with that
of mightier other humans a feeling that
we don’t matter really when we actually
should all this is unleashed a torrent
of envy and inadequacy Theo centric or
biocentric societies cast all our eyes
upwards and reminded us that we were
everyone of us in the wider scheme
ultimately puny and for
gettable propositions but in our times
there is now no established point of
reference beyond us that can matter what
happens to us here and now is framed as
overwhelmingly important it’s all there
is and so everything that goes wrong
everything that frustrates or
disappoints us fills the horizon of our
being the idea of something bigger older
mightier wiser and nobler than us to
which we owe love and obedience has been
stripped of its power to console us but
they would consume as if there is
nothing left to all or relativize us
there is what puts us in our place and
reduces us in size needn’t be as
religions presumed gods alone it might
be the site of the stars at night spread
out in a mantle of Darkness
unaccountably many unimaginably distant
and themselves constituting only an
infinitesimal fraction of the cosmos
from their perspective all human
differences fade all our conflicts and
competitions feel less urgent or
significant we are as nothing oh we
might remember that we’re not at the
center of things on a more domestic
scale when we meet a small animal for
example a duck or a hedgehog its life
goes on utterly oblivious to ours it
feels not the slightest curiosity about
who we are from its point of view we are
absorbed into the immense blankness of
incomprehensible things a duck will take
a piece of bread as gladly from a
criminal as from a high court judge from
a billionaire as from a bankrupt felon
our individuality is suspended and that
can be an enormous relief nowadays the
sense that we are small and relatively
unimportant in the universe is
disorganized and fragmented religions
used to organize it interpret it ensure
our regular contact with it and gave it
its proper status they do continue to be
opportunities to meet with this feeling
but they are at hazard we should take
care to take them when we can
whenever we feel overwhelmed or
punishingly self-absorbed when there’s a
chance of a walk in the wilderness a
look at the Stars or a few moments with
an animal we should be keen to get back
in touch with that all-important feeling
that we are not thankfully the center of
the show our who am i journal is
designed to help us create a
psychological portrait of who we are
with the use of some far more unusual
entertaining and playful prompts along
with bespoke psychological exercises to
help develop our self understanding
follow the link on screen now to find out more
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