EMPATH....what does it mean to you?..

[Anders]

When I first saw the name Earth Empaths I thought about the ability to feel together with Earth and all people. As it is today, we (I mean us ordinary humans) have isolated feelings related to our own inner thought-world, without any real empathy or any real intersubjectivity.

We relate to our own thoughts about other people. So we have an inner isolated emotional masturbation together with our own thoughts instead of any real feeling-connection with other people.

My own emphatic ability to join actual feelings with others sucks, like most other people, and it will be great if those of us that are emotionally isolated can learn how to feel together for real.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwq9dw2W8Rs[/youtube]

[Old Wolf]

My own emphatic ability to join actual feelings with others sucks, like most other people, and it will be great if those of us that are emotionally isolated can learn how to feel together for real.

Find an old tree in a quiet place with a comfortable space at it's base, sit on the ground with your back to the tree. It would be good if there was a view to look at but don't look at anything in particular. Breath deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth. With each inhale, imagine that your breathing in good stuff and with each exhale imagine that your expelling bad stuff. Just sit.

Now .. stop thinking. Close your eyes if you need to. Focus on your thoughts and try to recognise them as they come up and just stop thinking them.

When you stop thinking you'll start to notice your feelings more. Deep breathing will relax you and feed your brain with plenty of oxygen making it healthier and giving you better opportunity to utilise it constructively. Sitting against the tree will ground you, allow pent up energy to be released and raise your awareness of the connection the tree has with the other trees (similar to empathy but more subtle). When you can feel the energy of the tree, you'll easily be able to feel the energy of other people.

One warning.. Be careful what you wish for.

[Pris]

To me, being empathic is an inner emotional knowing.. aligning oneself emotionally to other living beings. The trick is being able to turn it off. I have a very hard time with that, especially around human beings, so, I tend to retreat from the world from time to time.

Emphasis on the 'turning off',... but be careful. Ppl might call you a sociopath if you do,.... Xp

Hi Shezbeth! That was a good one Oh you know.. turning off by leaving the vicinity.. extricating myself from all those crazy emotions out there.

Howdy! Are you meaning being anti-social by 'leaving the scene', Edythe? Shezbeth is literally talking about being a sociopath which is... somewhat different.
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[Shezbeth]

The thing about empathy - the ability to feel, intuit, understand, etc. what the 'other' person is feeling - does not mean that one inherently A. agrees with the person or B. neglects to ALSO perceive the errs in the other person's position, the inherent bias, and the potentially destructive nature of their mentality.

To me, an empath is one who appreciates another's position BUT also has the critical capacity to identify the subjective choices/ideas that lead a person to the point from which they experience.

For example, I can empathize with individuals who feel right in bringing children into the world, but I reject the 'feasibility' of doing so while on all manner of government assistance. I can empathize with individuals who feel they're getting the short end of the stick from corporations, but I reject the idea that they deserve more without putting in anything more.

Being able to feel for people doesn't mean that they're right, and an empath - IMO - should be the first and foremost in calling out foolishness, hypocrisy, and non-conducive thoughts and behaviors BECAUSE they can empathize with the individual.

Look at Counselor Troy from Star Trek TNG,... she was often the FIRST to play the bullshit card!

[Hermit]

Being able to feel for people doesn't mean that they're right, and an empath - IMO - should be the first and foremost in calling out foolishness, hypocrisy, and non-conducive thoughts and behaviors BECAUSE they can empathize with the individual.

I couldn't agree more.

Now. Where did I put my kettle?

[norman]

I think empathy isn't even a cerebral matter.

When the schooled thinking is adopted and wrapped around empathy, and put front and center, it's not empathy any more. It's an interpersonal political stance, and the basis of parenting or tribal council etc.

[Anders]

I suspect real empathy is something that hasn't evolved yet in us humans on Earth. Because when we (ordinary people) relate to another person we do that through our own mental patterns, so what we have now is a relationship with our own thoughts and emotions, which are detached and isolated from the thoughts and emotions of the other person.

[norman]

I suspect real empathy is something that hasn't evolved yet in us humans on Earth. Because when we (ordinary people) relate to another person we do that through our own mental patterns, so what we have now is a relationship with our own thoughts and emotions, which are detached and isolated from the thoughts and emotions of the other person.

I couldn't have dreamed of saying it better than that.

I too, suspect that true empathy will only show up in the human race when true telepathy is standard talk. Not that telepathy is "bigger" than empathy, just that when you see telepathy is common, then you can be sure empathy is getting basic and real.

[Anders]

I suspect real empathy is something that hasn't evolved yet in us humans on Earth. Because when we (ordinary people) relate to another person we do that through our own mental patterns, so what we have now is a relationship with our own thoughts and emotions, which are detached and isolated from the thoughts and emotions of the other person.

I couldn't have dreamed of saying it better than that.

I too, suspect that true empathy will only show up in the human race when true telepathy is standard talk. Not that telepathy is "bigger" than empathy, just that when you see telepathy is common, then you can be sure empathy is getting basic and real.

In that case I believe it will be "telepathy" on an emotional level more than thoughts. We kind of already have synthetic telepathy in the form of cell phones. And our thinking will still be mostly our own thoughts. And we will still use our ordinary voice and body language, because that's a more full communication than mere thoughts sent from mind to mind. Just a guess. Bruce Lipton talked about how humanity will become one super organism called Gaia and that we humans today in a fractal way are like tiny cells compared to the whole human body. And Peter Russell described it as a global brain emerging on our planet.

[Pris]

For example, I can empathize with individuals who feel right in bringing children into the world, but I reject the 'feasibility' of doing so while on all manner of government assistance. I can empathize with individuals who feel they're getting the short end of the stick from corporations, but I reject the idea that they deserve more without putting in anything more.

I'd think that the empath would not judge these people. Everyone has a story that almost certainly will be wrongly measured by other people's yard sticks...
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