Sara Crolick discusses empathy and offers a surprisingly-simple method to test for its presence.
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Empathy is a human superpower.
It is required for human communication; but beyond that, empathy functions to provide us with a sense of unity. We relate to one another on a deeper, more primitive level. It is the root of other feelings of togetherness and giving, like mercy, charity and sympathy. It drives us to help, assist, aid. It moves us to be involved, to be connected.
These urges are foundational characteristics of grounded individuals—individuals who strive to create a society that is in harmony with itself.
Empathy is not so much taught, but a near-psychic impression one human stirs in another. Some of us are indeed more empathic than others; but how do we know?
The answer lies in a natural everyday occurrence:
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[photo: via Greta PPP on flickr]
empathy does show fear. it shows Whatever the other person is showing. it’s caused by mirror neurons so yea, when someone is scared. Your body is going to react to that with fear. That’s also empathy. empathy is about feeling others feelings; not just the good ones. Empathy isn’t an emotion, it is a reaction to another’s emotion.
Empathy is a lot like the feeling of sexual desire, meaning it makes us feel good when we engage the emotion. Empathy could have been an emotion that repels us, like fear, but it is not – it draws us in. It fosters social and cooperative behavior because like sexual desire, it feels good to us. The rare cases where it is totally lacking or greatly diminished are those found in criminal psychopaths. I also feel it behaves a lot like language, as it has a window of opportunity to develop, and once the structure is in place, it can… Read more »