Is Being an Empath Good?

Empathy Verses Sympathy

What follows is an exploration of the deeper energetic and emotional issues at play underlying Empathy and a comparison with a deeper look at Sympathy. Despite being mostly lost in the noise of social consciousness; we will unpack some of the subtle nuances that reveal a greater truth.

With empathy we see a loss of integrity and self-control, through identification with another, but with sympathy we see alignment and objective observation. The first is a type of merging and the second is an aligned connection. These differences are the basis of all that follows.

For the tenets of this article to make sense, we must understand the difference between our emotions and Love. We must know that the emotions emanate from the non-sacred centres beneath the diaphragm, whereas Love emanates from the Heart Centre above the diaphragm. Emotions and Love are, vibrationally, worlds apart.

We must also realise that despite the current paradigm where many people all but worship their feelings, we must…

1. Realise there are seven different and distinct states or levels of vibrational reality we register as feelings and that emotions are but one, and are at the lower end of that vibrational spectrum.

2. If we do not wish to be controlled by our feelings, and especially our lower feelings, if we do not wish to be a reactionary automaton, we must control our emotions, with wisdom. This does not mean suppression nor over-expression, but balanced expression at all times.

Empathy is a Weakness

I wish to dive straight into this bold heading and statement…
Being an Empath or Empathic, is not a goal or badge one should wear with honour, in fact, it is a state that reveals great weakness.

Empathy is a byproduct from the collective development of mind within humanity. It is a reaction to the separation and separativeness that has naturally arisen from the masses experiencing themselves as being cut off from the interconnectedness of all life on earth and all life within the inner realms – at the same time as our ability to see, identify, and label all the parts of creation has fully blossomed. It is a reaction to awakening mind or the mental principle within us. Like with all reactions, it is exaggerated and not in control nor in right measure. Empathy is the result of an uncontrolled overactive connective merging from an unbalanced individual, and is often the result of either emotional or psychic damage – frequently both!

Even though empathy is now seen as preferable to sympathy, being empathetic is a state of far less value than being sympathetic, as the former is an involuntary experience within the emotionally and energetically compromised person whose ability to help others is deeply affected by their empathy, whereas the latter is the conscious choice of one who maintains emotional and energetic integrity and objectivity, and is therefore better able to assist. Afterall, empathy is a byproduct of and driven by grasping for connection because we feel separated, despite many holding up empathy as the benchmark of love and compassion.

The truth is, we do not need to feel everything another is feeling in order to care or help, in fact, when our feelings are actively amplified in this manner, we lose the ability to stay seated within the wisdom of our Heart and Head fusion. We lose access to the Clear Cold Reason of the Awakened Heart. The truth is, we can, while maintaining detachment, put ourselves in the other person’s shoes or life, without having to feel all they feel – namely their feeling reactions to all they are experiencing. If we do feel all they are experiencing, it means we now have two people emotionally compromised and lacking in objectivity!

Words and their Meanings Matter!

Let’s look at the actual meaning of the word “empathy” and compare it to the meaning of “sympathy,” and all shall be revealed in startling clarity.

Empathy
noun
• the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the emotions, thoughts, or attitudes of another.*

Sympathy
noun
• the act or state of feeling sorrow or compassion for another.*

“SYNONYM STUDY FOR SYMPATHY
Sympathy, compassion, pity, empathy all denote the tendency, practice, or capacity to share in the feelings of others, especially their distress, sorrow, or unfulfilled desires. Sympathy is the broadest of these terms, signifying a general kinship with another’s feelings, no matter of what kind: in sympathy with her yearning for peace and freedom; to extend sympathy to the bereaved. Compassion implies a deep sympathy for the sorrows or troubles of another coupled to a powerful urge to alleviate the pain or distress or to remove its source: to show compassion for homeless refugees. Pity usually suggests a kindly, but sometimes condescending, sorrow aroused by the suffering or ill fortune of others, often leading to a show of mercy: tears of pity for war casualties; to have pity on a thief driven by hunger. Empathy most often refers to a vicarious participation in the emotions, ideas, or opinions of others, the ability to imagine oneself in the condition or predicament of another: empathy with those striving to improve their lives; to feel empathy with Hamlet as one watches the play.”*

The heart of the problem with empathy is the vicarious experiencing of another person’s psychological state or feelings, and the impact this has upon us!

The Energetic Truth of an “Empath”

Discovering you are Empathic is not a sign of Virtue, but a sign you have much work to do on yourself!
What are the underlying causes that create or make a person an Empath or involuntarily experience the feelings or condition of another or others?

Empathy is due to a person suffering from energetic porosity, or a lack of auric integrity, therefore, the energies of others leak through, into their field, giving them the “vicarious experience,” and directly affecting or impacting them.

Empathy is due to a lack of emotional control, and therefore, one’s emotional attraction – the astral level of their like attracting like principle – is amplified beyond safe levels, such that they directly feel all that others are feeling, and thus, their own emotions become amplified, and they lose even more self-control. Therefore, the Empathic person is emotionally compromised and lacking in self-control.

Empathy is a sign of an extreme and unbalanced degree of psychological openness. It is an openness not kept in check by wisdom and is usually the result of trauma-related rejection and isolation manifesting as a perpetual reaching out to all and sundry for connection, acknowledgement, affirmation, and belonging.

Empathy is a sign one has an unbalanced identification with others, such that they Merge rather than Align with them. To see and remain objective is a state of the Heart, but, with an Empath, they lose objectivity and identify With or even As the other person.

Be a Sympath, not an Empath

We do not need to debate, compare, or flip horizontally between empathy and sympathy as we currently know them. We can instead realise that sympathy inherently embodies greater detachment and is therefore more aligned to the Heart. We can start with sympathy, but develop this skill vertically, opening into its higher form or manifestation. Changing Sympathy into the state of the Sympath – a concept I have had to coin, as at present the idea of lived or embodied Heart-Based Sympathy has not yet been formed.

To use a fairly well-known analogy…
When fully awakened, vertically developed, and at its highest levels, Sympathy – being in sympathetic vibration – is the state and experience of simultaneously being the Ocean and the Drop. Instead of losing oneself in the ocean, or believing oneself to be a separated drop alone – and thereby losing effectiveness – it is the state of being completely connected and aligned within the Ocean of Oneness, without becoming compromised or overtaken by that vastness – thereby maintaining the right measure of connection, integrity, autonomy, and functionality.

As a Heart-Based Sympath, we are open enough to truly see and understand the suffering of others and to have heartfelt feelings for their situation, but not so open that we lose our own energetic integrity and objectivity.

If we care for or have compassion for others, if we have a true and genuine desire to help relieve their suffering, then a heart-awakened mentally polarised Sympath will always have access to and wield more power than an emotional Empath. As the light of clear mind vibrates higher than the emotions – mind and thought being causative and the emotions being the effects of them – those who are mentally anchored and with open hearts will always be more able and potent creators.

A Sympath is truly connected and fully functional, whereas an Empath is fully connected but has truly compromised functionality.

The Sympath and Dispassion

When we begin to gain emotional control and lift our emotions into our Hearts where they are transmuted into their higher correspondences, and when we follow this with gaining control of our lower minds and their automatic narration and ascribing of judgment or meaning to everything, we then have the chance to awaken the Heart and its inherent wisdom more completely. We can cultivate detachment, dispassionate compassion, and open to higher reason, all of which enable us to clearly see what others are experiencing without the need to experience and be compromised by it ourselves. Such is the power available when Heart and Head are at-oned.

Both an Empathetic and a Sympathetic connection can fuel Compassion, but in the case of the Empath their desires to help will be reduced by the strength of their energetic attachment, merging, and compromised objectivity, leading to a type of passionate or emotional engagement lacking in wisdom, whereas with the Sympath, their desires to help will be even more effective due to their alignment, detachment, and clear objectivity opening the way for Dispassion.

Dispassionate Compassion is one of the foundational expressions of an Awakened and fully active Heart Centre, and the Heart is the greatest tool we have for relieving suffering.

The true Sympath can access and well utilise all the qualities of an Awakened Heart, whereas the emotionally polarised Empath will be working with the ever-changing reactive energies of the Solar Plexus and Sacral Centres.

The true Sympath is the way of the future – when the vast array of feelings we can register, energetic integrity, and genuine detachment are better understood and highly valued by humanity. Until then, the Empath will likely continue to be praised, despite the lesser value of Empathy verses true Sympathy.

To Clear Sight and Wisdom
Azure Seer

* The Definitions and Synonym Study are from dictionary dot com, accessed on 07-03-24.

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If you wish to learn about our Seven Feeling States, see my detailed Article: On Feeling Literacy and Resonance