"It is the duty of a man to treat his parents as if they were his own body...and to treat his uncles as if they were his parents...drawing the circles inward toward the center."

In 1859, a Swiss businessman named Henri Dunant was traveling through Italy for work. He happened to arrive at the town of Solferino just after a massive battle between the French, Sardinian, and Austrian armies. Dunant was horrified by what he saw. Forty thousand soldiers lay dead or wounded on the field. The medical services were overwhelmed. Men were dying of thirst and untreated wounds in the mud.

Technically, this was not Dunant's problem. He was a neutral Swiss tourist. These men were not his family. They weren't even his countrymen. They were foreigners killing each other. But Dunant could not see the lines that separated "stranger" from "family". He dropped his business plans and began to organize the local village women to help. He set up makeshift hospitals in churches. He bought supplies with his own money.

When the women hesitated to help the Austrian soldiers (the enemies), Dunant famously shouted, "Tutti fratelli!" (We are all brothers). He forced the circle of "Brother" to expand until it included the enemy soldiers. He treated the bleeding stranger as if he were his own kin. This experience led Dunant to found the International Red Cross, an organization dedicated to the idea that a wounded human is a brother first and a soldier second.

Hierocles, a Stoic philosopher from the 2nd century, visualized our social relationships as a series of concentric circles.

1. The Center: The Mind/Self.
2. Second Circle: Parents, Siblings, Spouse, Children.
3. Third Circle: Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents.
4. Fourth Circle: Distant Relatives.
5. Fifth Circle: Neighbors/Fellow Citizens.
6. The Outer Circle: The Human Race.

Most people try to push people away to the outer circles. "That's a distant cousin, I don't need to help him." "That's a foreigner, he doesn't matter."

Hierocles gives us a mental exercise: constantly "draw the circles inward." He suggests we should call our cousins "brothers" and our uncles "fathers". By changing the name, we change the feeling. We trick our mind into treating the outer circle with the warmth of the inner circle. Dunant succeeded because he pulled the "Outer Circle" (foreign soldiers) all the way into the "Second Circle" (Brothers).

Errors & Corrections

Don't wait for the feeling of love to arrive before you act. You act as if* they were family, and the feeling often follows the action.

• Don't think of the circles as walls to keep people out. Think of them as lassos to pull people in.
• Don't ignore the inner circles to save the world. You cannot treat the "Human Race" well if you treat your actual parents poorly. The shrinking must be consistent.

Applications to Modern Life

Interpersonal Relationships

Hierocles literally advises changing your language. Try this: addressing an older mentor as "Uncle" or a close friend as "Brother". It sounds small, but language shapes reality. When you verbally place someone in a closer circle, your behavior toward them naturally becomes more protective and generous.

Politics

Nationalism is the act of solidifying the circle of "Citizen" and building a wall against the circle of "Human". A Stoic citizen loves their country, but they "draw the circle inward" to include other nations. They realize that a policy that hurts a human in another country ultimately degrades the moral standing of their own country.

Work

In a large company, we often view other departments as rivals. "Sales" is the enemy of "Operations". Draw the circle in. Treat the Operations manager as if she were your partner in a small family business. When you break down the tribal silo, the whole company moves faster.

Social Media

The internet allows us to dehumanize people instantly. We treat strangers like NPCs. Practice the Hierocles drill. Look at the profile picture of the person you are arguing with. Imagine they are your cousin. How would you phrase your disagreement? You would probably be firm but kind, rather than cruel.

Maxims

• Call the stranger "Brother".
• There is no "Them," only "Us".
• Pull the outer circle in.

In-depth Concepts

Oikeiosis (Appropriation/Familiarization)

This is the root concept of the circles. Oikeiosis is the process by which a living thing recognizes something as belonging to it. A baby first recognizes its own body as "mine". Then it recognizes its mother as "mine". The goal of Stoic wisdom is to fully expand this sense of "mine" until the welfare of the entire human race is felt to be as important as the welfare of your own leg.

The Cosmopolis (World City)

The result of fully drawing the circles inward is the Cosmopolis. If everyone draws the circles in until the outer ring touches the center, then there are no foreigners. We are all citizens of the same city. The Red Cross is a practical example of a Cosmopolitan institution—it recognizes no borders, only human need.