Sacha Chua via http://ryersonian.ca/a-post-election-guide-to-self-care/
Homo sapiens. The scientific word that refers to human. This word connects us all to one central state of mind but are there more? Perhaps, we should think of words like mammal or vertebrae. These words do accurately describe what it means to be classified as a human but do they show us what it means to be human? Do these words sum up the human condition that we all subscribe to? In simple, no. The human condition reflects on all of our experience, good or bad. The human condition is what brings us together in times of crisis and times of celebration. Being human is more than just a scientific classification but a state of being. One way to better understand the human condition is through the use of Phillip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. This futuristic book begins to analyze what makes us human by reflecting human life against that of a cyborg.
The human condition, when analyzed closely, is really about how people use empathy to go about their daily lives. The use of empathy allows people to better understand another person’s situation because they can put themselves in the other person’s position. An article from Inside Higher Ed, noted that people learn to be empathetic as children. Since the state of the human condition begins for each person as a child, it is important that we learn empathy as a child. Using empathy as a tool allows us to better know how to react in social setting. Empathy is the driving factor for our behavior at social gatherings like funerals because we can understand how loss effects people, even if we have not experienced it ourselves. Empathy also brings traits like love, compassion, and responsiveness into our everyday lives as well. These traits help us within society to help alleviate some of the issues we as a community or on an individual level may be affected by.
There currently is an issue with empathy as it relates to the human condition. A test given by the University of Michigan found that college students are 40% less empathetic than in the past 30 years. So what does that say about society? Many things have changed in the past 30 years like the increased usage of the internet and the prevalence of social media. There also was an attack on US soil, an event that changed the overall culture of western society. These changes also show a shift in our focus from community to self but they do not mean we are lacking empathy altogether. Today’s shift in empathy is due to an increase in focus on specific topics that the individual wishes to focus on. An example would be in the school environment where there is an increase in service learning projects. These projects allow the student to find something they are passionate about and work towards increasing their knowledge on the subject through service. These projects show a focus and commitment to bettering a community through civic service. A more popular example of this shift is that of the #self-care movement. This movement involves a variety of things from self-medicating and owning pets, all the way to the more common spa days and self-indulgencing tendencies of the millennial. It is important, however, to remember that this is not a new concept as taking care of one’s self was originally thought to be a way to make people more honest citizens who were more likely to care for others.
In Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, there is a theme of empathy. This empathy is shown through the two characters the book focuses on, Rick and John. The characters are still living on earth after radioactive dust has forced everyone to leave and begin living on Mars with the assistance of androids. Rick is living on Earth as an escaped android hunter, while John has been deemed unfit to emigrate due to health impacts of the dust. Rick shows empathy through his concern for his wife, while John shows empathy through his compassion for others. In an article written for International Business Times, it was argued that the use of fiction can help people to become more empathetic in real life. The article also suggested that being in fictional situation can help to prepare the reader for similar life situations, even if the setting is unrealistic. When using the characters from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep to reflect on the human condition, we can see that empathy today is still intact but is being heavily influenced by a focus on one’s individual focuses.
In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, technology has grown to a point were individuals can control their mood through the use of the Penfield mood organ. The mood organ gives users the ability to preprogram their emotions. Rick uses his mood organ to help him wake up content in the morning and perform in a professional manner at work. Rick’s wife, Iran, also has a mood organ but to allow her to feel despair and sadness. Iran believes that feeling hopeless, even if it’s only twice a month, is reasonable since she still witnesses the things that would have made her sad but the emotion is blocked by the mood organ (Dick 5). Rick on the other hand, disagrees and tells her to change her setting for the day. Rick shows concern for Iran because he believes that feeling helpless for too long will prevent her from feeling other emotions like happiness. This concern for one’s family and their happiness shows empathy because Rick cares about how his wife feels. The relationship between Rick and his wife is something that everyone can relate to because of the human condition to want to connect to others and be happy.
An interesting connection can also be made between the mood organ and to the use of mood altering drugs. The mood organ changes a person’s mood to whatever they believe will be appropriate for their day. The use of mood altering drugs like antidepressants or antianxiety medications can help prevent the over stimulation of certain emotions. There is a lot of conversation about the use of such medications as there is a question about how much we allow ourselves to feel. Rick is clearly on the side of not feeling emotions that society has deemed unpleasant, while Iran believes we should feel everything. Neither character is wrong because the want to feel happy and the want to understand sadness help us to become more empathetic people. This relationship between mood organ and drugs relates back to the self-care movement. A 2014 study showed that there was an increase in of understanding of mental illness and a decrease of the stigma surrounding mental health. Many of those who utilize the ideas of self-care are doing so to preserve their own mental health when things stressful, whether they have a mental illness or not. These ideas can come in the form of prescription medications for diagnosed illnesses or aroma therapy teas.
Another way that Rick shows his empathy is through his love of animals. In the novel, a large majority of the animals have become extinct due to the radioactive dust. It then become a civic duty to care for an animal. Rick has a robotic sheep that he takes care for. He use to have a real sheep but it died of tetanus (Dick 11). Rick cares for his robotic sheep by bringing it hay and snack but also by petting it as well. Later in the book, Rick purchases a real goat to begin caring for as well. He has plans to care for the goat just as much as he cares for his robotic sheep. The love and commitment Rick puts into his animals shows his empathy for other because animals in this radioactive environment would not be able to care for themselves.
In the book, readers also see John’s compassion through his love of animals. John works as an assistant in a robotic animal hospital. The first animal John picks up on his morning commute is a cat with what was believed to be a short circuit (Dick 67). We later find out that the cat was not robotic but suffering from disease. John is extremely upset about this mistake but through his compassion for others he is able to come up with a solution of giving the owner a robotic animal at no charge. Later on, John shows this same compassion for a spider in his kitchen. The spider has had four of its legs removed by an android named Pris (Dick 193). When John gets the chance, he takes the spider outside to be released, knowing that away from Pris that spider will no longer be harmed.
This can be directly related to self-care and how we as human take care of our animals. As humans, we understand that people and pets live happier, longer lives when in an environment of love. The human condition as a whole requires love because without it we would do actions for one another without truly caring about the outcome. This is related to self-care because many people have turned to animals for support. It was estimated that 4,000 service dogs were placed in the United States between 2013-2014. These dogs have been trained to assist with a variety of conditions from anxiety and depression to PTSD. This focus of self-care through the animals allows individuals who require assistance to have access without feeling the need to ask others. In addition, the use of the animal allows individuals who are having a hard time connecting with others to gradually gain empathy for the animal. As the empathy for the animal builds, the person may find it easier to connect with others around them.
The society within the book relies on empathy boxes to allow people to connect to one another but it is what the main characters do within their daily lives that show their empathy for other people. In the novel, John shows compasions for others when he helps a group of androids, who have been outlawed on Earth. John lives alone in an abandoned building but then become the unexpected host to three androids who are hiding from Rick. The androids are afraid of being deactivated, alone, and have nowhere to go. John relates to them because since he has been deemed intellectually altered by the dust, people treat him as if he is less than a person. John decides to help the androids because he wants them to feel safe, even if it means confronting Rick. The compassion John shows for the androids can be related to the compassion people show in their everyday lives for themselves and those around them.
The self-care movement loosely revolves around compassion for self and those around you. One way people show their compassion is through the use of group spa dates, self-help books, and anything else that can be #TREATYOSELF. The self-care industry has been estimated to be worth over $10 billion dollars . These items have been key to opening new doors for people to reinvent themselves and feel rejuvenated. The reinvention, can also come from the ability to help others as seen with John and his android guest. As John hides the androids, he gains a better understanding about his world and the inequalities within it. John shows strength when the female androids are fearful of being found and determination to stand up for them when Rick arrives, even when his feelings are hurt by the mutilation of the spider.
Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s feeling but as times have changed there has been a shift in the direction in which empathy has been focused. Empathy has become more self-focused and its focus been nurtured through the self-care movement. This movement has allowed people to focus more on their own feelings to better understand the world around them. As seen in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, these concepts of self-care reflect an ability to begin gaining empathy. Within the book, there are underlining self-care themes of self-medicating, therapy animals, and #TREATYOSELF. By relating the book to self-care, we see that empathy is on the rise by shifting focuses to more individualized thoughts that then mature into compassion and empathy for others.