The Dumbbell Analogy Understanding the Companion Flag Project (Cont.) Part 2: The Dumbbell Analogy. The image of a dumbbell allows us to visualize the paradox of humanity in three-dimensional space. It gives us insights into what we see when we encounter other, and how we can (if we choose to) expand our awareness of other to include all that human beings have in common. Imagine that all human differences are found on the silver sphere of the dumbbell. A human difference for our purposes is any experience, characteristic, concern, desire or susceptibility that is not shared by people everywhere. One s ethnicity is a human difference; so are one s gender, nationality, physical appearance, IQ, talents, sense of humor, sexual orientation, profession, religious beliefs, cultural, historical, and family background, personal traits, 9
habits, personal preferences, language, name, and thoughts. These are only a few examples of human differences. To determine whether any activity, experience or characteristic is a human difference, one need only ask, Is this activity, experience, etc. shared by people everywhere? If the answer is No, it is a human difference properly located (for our purposes) on the silver sphere of the dumbbell. The silver sphere: human differences On the other hand, if the activity, experience, etc. is one that is shared by people everywhere, it is a human sameness. Human samenesses differ from human differences only in one respect: they are shared by people the world over. We have touched on examples of human samenesses in Part 1: the love of children, the desire for health and knowledge, concern for the safety and happiness of loved ones, the desire to be treated fairly by others, etc. In the Dumbbell Analogy, we will imagine that all human samenesses are found on the golden sphere of the dumbbell. 10
The golden sphere: human samenesses The dumbbell is a simple but fair representation of each one of us. We are all informed, in part, by our particular differences, our diversity, and our special affiliations (the silver sphere), and in part by experiences, characteristics, concerns, desires, etc., that we share with people everywhere notwithstanding our differences (the golden sphere). The dumbbell is a representation of the paradox of humanity of who and what we are. Humanity: different and the same 11
But questions arise at once. If the dumbbell is a fair representation of who and what we are, is it also how we see each other? When we encounter another person or group of people, particularly for the first time, do we see both spheres of other s dumbbell? Will the content of our awareness of other include both difference awareness and sameness awareness? Or, will it be limited to one sphere or the other? It is the latter, I argue. In our encounters with other, we are drawn inexorably to other s silver sphere of differences. We enter moral space at a point where only that sphere is visible. Illusion plays a hand, for when the dumbbell is turned end-on as shown below, nothing is present in the field of vision to suggest that the silver sphere hides a second sphere, or is part of a larger, more complex geometrical structure. And this I will argue is precisely the view we have of each other most of the time. Our view of other in moral space The content of our awareness of other is limited in the terminology of the Dumbbell Analogy to difference awareness. What s more, with other s silver sphere fully in view, we are 12
without reason to doubt the accuracy or completeness of what we see. The Companion Flag flying below the other flags of the world is meant to remind us that we are informed by, and rely upon, not one, but two distinct, inter-connected spheres of experience: a sphere of human differences and a sphere of human samenesses. This is not how we think of self and other today. We don t think of human beings as embodying two separate, interconnected spheres of experience; rather, we see ourselves and other as distinct individuals or groups whose identity is made up (and governed) by our differences. What will we gain from lighting up a new global awareness of all that we have in common in spite of our differences? How will adding this new, universal symbol of human interconnectedness make the world a better, safer place for our children and grandchildren? Will we be creating a condition under which they will choose to do good? Recall our thesis: what we see when we encounter other determines the type of impulses that arise to inform our moral judgments, opinions and intentions respecting other. When the content of our awareness of other includes sameness awareness, compassionate impulses arise naturally that may, depending on their strength and the strength of opposing impulses, leave their mark on our moral choices to a degree never before seen. 13
That we humans are, at once, both different and the same is beyond question: some of our most profound experiences are universal experiences (aging and death, family relationships, the need for shelter, food and water, the desire for friendship and affiliation, etc.), while others are not (scaling Mt. Everest, being female, speaking Arabic, growing up in Japan, etc.). It is easy to embrace this dualism intellectually, but we are seemingly at a loss to apply it in a meaningful way in our lives. This is especially true in our moral lives. What we tend to see when we enter moral space that is, when we are about to set a course affecting the moral treatment of other is not another person or group of people embodying the paradox of humanity, but another whose identity, for us, is a composite of human differences. We are often blind to features that tie us and other into the greater fabric of humanity. This blindness comes at a great cost to us all. It deprives us of the source of our own innate compassionate impulses, impulses that can inspire the moral imagination to privilege over unchecked self-interest or pragmatic gain, actions and forbearances that inure to the benefit of other, that signal our constant recognition of other s dignity, and promote compassionate understanding and nonviolence in the world. This species of blindness is precisely the problem addressed by the Companion Flag. The Companion Flag is a reminder to us all that we exist in a moral space larger and more complex than that which is suggested to us by our awareness of differences alone. Next: Part 3: Definitions 14