Elizaveta Friesem
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From Awareness to Collaboration through Empathy (ACE Model)

Picture
As human beings, we already constantly practice awareness, empathy, and collaboration. We know stuff, we understand what (some) other people are feeling, and we work together on achieving common goals. So what's the big deal about the ACE model?

I argue that, to overcome the growing polarization, we need to not just "do" awareness and empathy, but to ace them. Only in this case we may be able to practice collaboration of the highest order, which would mean balancing between multiple perspectives and truths. Even though some people say that they have figured out the solution for the world's problems, I think that this solution is still a puzzle. If we want to make things better, we need to realize that all of us are its pieces.

Awareness: It is good to know stuff. But knowledge is inevitably colored by our biases and reflects the cultural milieu we live in. On top of that, instead of propelling us to do something, knowledge can be confusing, scary, depressing, and paralyzing. Awareness can make us want to curl up in a corner or fill us with crushing certainty that will cause more damage than good. The solution would be to find a balance between the crushing certainty and paralyzing doubt. We can achieve this goal by practicing intellectual humility: acknowledging that we are always learning and that our individual perspective will never be complete unless we take other perspectives into consideration.

Empathy: It is easy to practice empathy towards people who appear to be like us. Acing empathy would mean honestly trying to understand even those who view the world differently. This would involve seeing our opponents as potential allies, and not just “bad” or “stupid” people. We don't have to force ourselves into loving our enemies, as long as enemies they remain. Yet, we can aspire to learn from them, or at least about them. In this case, our goal should be not to triumph over our adversaries but to enrich our understanding of the problem we are trying to solve by infusing it with viewpoints different from our own. Ideally, this understanding can help us find common values and indicate ways to work across all sorts of divides. 

Collaboration: "Collaboration does not have to be based on the unification of opinions. It’s about finding a new approach that none of the sides has envisioned. Prioritizing one truth over all others is an easy thing to do in the short run. Because it involves diminishing beliefs and values of our opponents, a conflict that is forced into hiding will eventually burst to the surface. In contrast, finding answers that lie beyond binaries may seem like an insurmountable task. By embarking on this quest we commit to putting considerable effort now in order to fashion a more sustainable balance for the future. This prospect is daunting and the path in front of us is far from clear. Still, I believe that there is hope. Once we stop searching for easy solutions, we may find ourselves in front of endless possibilities." [quote from the book, p. 133]

  • About
  • Books
    • Media is us >
      • Principles of communication
      • Micro- and macropower
      • ACE model
      • Description of chapters
      • When conflicts get out of control
    • Hypertexts >
      • Me, looking for meaning >
        • A >
          • Anxiety
          • Am I strong or am I weak?
        • B >
          • Binaries
          • Both sides
        • C >
          • Can I give myself credit for being empathetic?
          • Choice
          • Circumstances
          • Cognitive biases
          • Common sense
          • Communication
          • Content and form of this book
          • Coronavirus and me
          • Culture
          • Cycle of violence
        • D >
          • Depression
          • Do children ask themselves about the purpose of life?
          • Doing the right thing
        • E >
          • Emotional pain
          • Empathy
          • Empathy as a matter of self-preservation
          • Everybody has their struggles
          • Everybody is connected
          • Explain/excuse conflation
        • F >
          • Feelings and emotions
          • Forgetting about your purpose
          • Free will
        • G >
          • Good vs. Bad
        • H >
          • How much do we understand each other?
          • Human brain
          • Human nature
          • Human needs
          • Human thinking
          • Human thinking is nonlinear
          • Hypertext books
        • I >
          • I am an optimist
          • Ideas
          • "I'll never understand!"
          • Individual meanings vs. shared meanings
          • Inner compass
          • Interpretation
          • "It is what it is"
        • J
        • K >
          • Knowing your true purpose
          • Knowledge
        • L >
          • Language
          • List of completed pages
          • Literal vs. nonliteral communication
        • M >
          • Make Sense
          • May I meet this, too, with kindness
          • Meaning as importance
          • Mean and stupid
          • Meaning
          • Meaningless
          • Meaning wars
          • Meaning of life
          • Meaning communities
          • Meanings perceived by animals
          • Meaning-seeking vs. meaning-making
          • Media
          • (Mis)understanding each other's needs
          • My quest for meaning
        • N >
          • Norms
        • O >
          • Objectification
          • On being a scholar
          • On being a writer
          • On being right
        • P >
          • Paradox
          • Parenting
          • Privilege
          • Polarization
          • Postmodern worldview
          • Postmodern philosophy
          • Power
          • Power to see things in a certain way
          • Problem/solution binary
        • Q
        • R >
          • Reality
          • Rhizome in philosophy
        • S >
          • Science, religion and art
          • Self-awareness and empathy of higher order
          • Self-awareness
          • Self-empathy
          • Subjectivity and objectivity
          • Suggested citation format
          • Synesthesia
        • T >
          • "The Death of the Author"
          • The importance of having a purpose
          • Truth
        • U >
          • Understanding ourselves
          • Us and them
        • V >
          • Verbal vs. nonverbal communication
          • Violence in the human nature
        • W >
          • What does it mean to "understand"?
          • What is a text?
          • What we can learn about ourselves from media
          • What is "natural"?
          • What's the point?
          • What will this project become?
          • We hurt others when we are in pain
          • Where do meanings come from?
          • Why am I trying to stay sane?
          • Why do people hurt each other?
          • Why is language so unhelpful?
          • Why do everyday objects make sense?
          • Why do misunderstandings happen?
        • X
        • Y
        • Z
      • Power of meanings // Meanings of power
      • It's not about "them"
  • Editing
    • Me as your editor
    • How I will help you
    • Pricing
    • Privacy policy
  • Blog
  • Workshops
    • Five (easy) steps to become media literate
    • Surviving the polarization vortex
    • Understanding yourself
    • Not enough
  • Learn more
    • Bio
    • Talks and interviews
    • Essays
    • Poems >
      • Stranger
      • Lonely heart
      • Fairy tales
      • Dreams and nightmares
      • Puzzles
      • Moon
      • Seasons
      • Muse
      • Art
      • Sketches
      • Nonsense
    • Educational materials
  • Contact me