DEEP EMPATHY

IN NEED OF UNSELFISH FEELING

I do too much thinking, too little feeling. This leaves me lacking in the most meaningful part of life — relationships that transcend the ordinary, mundanity, that reveal our oneness, our eternal bonds.

Standing alone, we are not fully alive. “No man is an island”, it is truthfully said. Opening to our oneness opens us to both the joy and the pain of others. Pain accentuates life. Pain teaches us what is means to be human. Life without touching the pain of others has no roots. It is shallow, blown away by the winds of life, which come to us all.

We stand against those winds by embracing each other, for the sake of the other. We stand together, or not at all.

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When we see characteristics in others that reveal no redeeming element, we aren’t looking hard enough. There is selfishness in us all. There is also a capacity for caring for others. It is rare to find an individual with no redeeming quality. At this moment I can think of only one person.

You know him. He long ago sold his soul to the Devil. I doubt there is redemption for him in this life. He is a pitiful, self-destructive creature.

Can I find empathy in my heart for such a man? I hate to admit my inability to do so. That is my lack of sufficient, understanding empathy.

I am not here to criticize or judge a person other than myself. The man of whom I just spoke reveals a negative in me. I judge him without personally…