The philosopher hierocles created a series of concentric circles…

The philosopher hierocles created a series of concentric circles that identifies the relationships that we have. The inside circle is called the self, the next circle is called family, the next is extended family, then friends, then employer, then community or city, then state, the nation, then humanity, and then nature. The circles can be modified for your own best definitions.

— from Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting) · GB writing

In the book

And the whole task of a life, Rav Shimon taught, is to keep expanding the definition of "I" to include as many other people as you can — first your spouse, then your children, then your community, until at the highest reaches the self includes the whole world. Family is where that expansion begins. The old philosophers drew it as a set of concentric circles — self at the center, then family, then extended family, then friends, community, nation, all of humanity, and finally nature itself — and family is the first ring out from the lonely dot of the self. It is the place you first learn that the word "I" can grow to mean "us." — Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)

The next ring out is your family. Then extended family, then friends, then the people you work with, then your community or city, then your nation, then all of humanity, and finally nature itself. We have spent the last chapters on the inner rings. — Friends, Community & Society (Relationships/Community/Society)

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