Look around your life today and seriously look at the many examples of darkness: an ongoing pandemic, political strife, abuses against people all over the world, name-calling, bitterness, chaos, and death.
To a man or woman who is highly sensitive, these dark energies can feel like they are being pulled under by a riptide while out in the sea. Empathy has a dark side to it. You might be walking through it right now, muttering to yourself “WTF?” a lot.
It’s also easy to point fingers at people like President of the United States Donald Trump and say, “He’s the one causing all of this.” You may not agree with that sentiment; instead, another group of people look at former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden and say, “He’s the one causing all of this.”
If you live in a foreign country and look at the American political and healthcare landscape in late 2020, then you probably either are shaking your head or feeling sad. Maybe you are feeling happy because “the truth” about the American political scene is being revealed.
Empathy has a dark shadow to it and, right now, you cannot avoid it.
Yet is there an antidote to this dark shadow? I feel like there is one.
Let me stop for a minute and talk about the power of love. You and I both know this power is prevalent within a human heart…and it never truly goes away.
Empaths, who are individuals that can feel other people’s emotions and energies very strongly, have to go inward a lot more than others at these times. Spending hour after hour reading news headlines isn’t a healthy way of approaching everyday life.
I’m reminded of the quote attributed to legendary guitarist and musician Jimi Hendrix, who once said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
As this column is getting finished up, people all over the world are remembering John Lennon on what would have been his 80th birthday (Oct. 9). Lennon famously sang, along with The Plastic Ono Band, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
Empathy does involve peace, a feeling of peace, and sanity that thwarts its dark side.
There are people alive today thanks to the empathy of others.
But the dark shadow casts its spell heavily right now. It’s affected institutions and organizations that people placed their trust into for years. It’s turned human being against another human being, with them not even thinking or feeling about what your fellow man or woman is going through right now.
This is a disgusting display, from a soulful perspective, of the lack of empathy in the world today.
What are people thinking about when covered in the shadow of empathy? They can’t think and even feel their own emotions. Other emotions from other people take over their bodies like a scene from “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.”
Hey, that might be a pretty good analogy for how the United States’ government has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak. It finally caught up with Trump, putting him into Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital for three days before going back to The White House.
Trump climbed a stairwell to the Truman Portico, looking outward toward Washington, D.C., in a scene reminiscent of dictators like Benito Mussolini or Evita Peron. His shadow side of empathy — narcissism, fear, anxiety, anger, lust, and others — is so apparent.
To his disciples, he’s “The Great Emancipator” when Trump is a lifelong carny show that’s run its course. You can disagree yet look and read all of the information released about this man’s private and public life. Many of you won’t, though, because of your love and devotion to him.
It appears, too, that a large number of Americans have failed the emotional sobriety test. This is not just a man’s issue, either. Oh no, there are plenty of women who cast the darkness out from themselves.
Need an example? Look at all of the men and women Christian televangelists and evangelicals who lick up to Trump like he is their “lord and savior.” This type of worship would probably make Jesus of Nazareth want to come back and slap the spit out of all of them while they’d just flash their $100 bills, jets, and mansions in Jesus’ face.
Why is this happening? Why is this taking place? What happened to that “love thy neighbor” thing?
Ah, it doesn’t win points. Walking around in a fit of rage all the time never helps at all. I know all too well that when rage and anger are fueling my inner fire, then I’m out of sorts. My empathic nature, which is pretty dominant, goes bye-bye until I can sit down, breathe, and clear my heart and soul.
This is a horrible time for empathy’s dark shadow to be prevalent.
Yet, there is a sliver of light at this time. Love does have the final word. Not controlling love, not dominating love, not codependent love. But the love that resonates from a place of caring and grace toward others.
Those dark shadows of the night want you to believe love can’t win. That’s bullshit. Love wins again and again. It will break on through the darkness and shine its light all the time.
You get to choose which one you wish to share with others. Choose wisely.
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Photo Credit: @danielppolo on Unsplash