POV: Contemplating our own irrelevance.
While “cosmic insignificance therapy” may sound like an early-aughts emo band name (we mean this in the best way), it’s actually an idea rooted in Stoic philosophy and other ancient traditional wisdom.
“It promotes big-picture thinking, remembering our mortality and our place in space and time, and detaching from our immediate thoughts and feelings,” Anna Katharina Schaffner, Ph.D., explains. The term was coined by Oliver Burkeman, author of 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.
Basically, it’s about embracing the fact that, in the grand scheme of things, we don’t matter. But it’s not depressing, we promise! This way of thinking can actually have significant (pun intended) benefits.
What is cosmic insignificance therapy?
“Cosmic insignificance therapy doesn’t really exist yet as an evidence-based therapeutic school,” explains Dr. Schaffner. “But many therapists, coaches, and philosophers use powerful tools and strategies based on the idea that zooming out from our experience and remembering that we are but a small part of a much larger whole is beneficial and puts our problems into perspective.”
“The basic idea is that an awareness of our own insignificance in the greater scheme of things can help us live our lives with more equanimity, calmness, and lightheartedness. Cosmic insignificance therapy is also related to the ancient virtue of humility and to psychological concepts such as learning to observe our feelings and thoughts with a healthy distance, instead of being completely caught up in them,” Dr. Schaffner says. “It can also be an invitation to see ourselves, our struggles, and our challenges with more humor and levity.”
In other words, stop taking yourself so seriously.
“Gaining a cosmic perspective—if only for a moment—creates the possibility of more lightheartedness in our lives because radical perspective shifts of this kind require a temporarily diminished sense of self-importance,” she says. “It is therefore a fantastic antidote to a narrow, self-centered perspective that leads to taking ourselves too seriously. It may foster the ability to laugh about ourselves, even in stressful situations.”
How can we use cosmic insignificance therapy as a tool in daily life?
Below, Dr. Schaffner shares tips for utilizing this way of thinking in the real world:
- “When we feel entangled with our thoughts and emotions, or when we find ourselves in a state of stress or anxiety, we can quite literally try to zoom out from our experience.”
- “We can try looking at ourselves from above and simply observe without judgment.”
- “We can remember that we are not alone with our suffering and that we are but a small part in a much bigger ecosystem.”
- “We can remind ourselves that everything is in flux, that what we are thinking and feeling now is not permanent, and that this, too, shall pass.”
“We can recall that our planet is but a pale blue dot in deep space and that we are just the tiniest of specks upon this dot.”
- “By changing our spatial and our temporal perspective, we may find unexpected solutions or simply feel calmer and less alone,” she says.
Damn, who knew it could feel so good to recognize our cosmic insignificance?
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