The View From Above

Many people live their lives as if they were the protagonist of their own movie. Tightly clinging to their status and personal narratives. The view from above helps us see that we are not always the main character.

The Stoic practice of the view from above centers on picturing our place in the universe. We occupy a small corner in a small time in this world. Paraphrasing Marcus Aurelius, this whole earth is merely an ephemeral tiny region. A point in space.

You are but one of billions of humans on this planet. One of the trillions of animals. Viewed from this third-person perspective, one can see that one plays a small role in a complex fabric. The view from above is about internalizing this and using this third-person perspective to grasp what is important.

The American philosopher, John Hick noticed how all of the world’s major religions focus on changing one’s perspective from being ego-centered to becoming reality-centered.

The ego-centered person is selfish and takes their parochial concerns to be far more important than they are.

A reality centered person is able to accurately view their role in the world. They see themselves as a part of a whole, rather than the protagonist of their own personal movie. They are compassionate and mindful of others.

Stoic philosophy encourages this reality-centered viewpoint. The Stoic philosophers argued that one must see oneself as a part of nature and act with justice while one can.

In the words of Marcus Aurelius:

Think of the universal substance, of which you have a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to you; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it you are.