The Other Side Of Empathy

Here's something to think about: When you remember what you were doing a moment ago, or a year ago, and recall how you felt doing it, all you are really doing is empathizing with the memory of the experience! The experience, and your memory of it, are no longer “real” in the sense that they are no longer manifested. The person you were no longer exists, and therefore the act of empathizing is no more – and no less - “real” than any empathy you might feel for another person; even if you don't know that person on a personal level.

In other words, the sense we all have of being who wer are, as “persistent” beings, is no more than a construct of our ability to empathize with other people and with our past selves. When we empathize with our past selves, we are in fact empathizing with an “other” person that no longer exists!

Think about it, and think about what it means. A person who lacked the ability to empathize, such as the mythical “sociopath”, would be incapable of simple self-awareness, much less self-centeredness or selfishness! It also strongly implies that our empathy for others is really just another form of self-awareness, or simply “awareness” since the idea of “self” is no longer based on or in reality!

[J.D. September 14, 2016]