From sympathy... to empathy...

Imagine a world where everyone feels loved and cared for.
Imagine a world where there is no misunderstanding.
Imagine a world not only without war but also a need for war.
A world where the heart and the brain do not have a conflict... and where it is easy to address some one's pain, and need for being cared for.

The pain will be there...the sadness will remain... the needs will also stay...
These are attributes of life and living as much as is joy, elation and love in abundance. Even those who have everything in life feel a lack of something they cannot define. Each sliver of happiness is heightened by each shred of pain that we feel. One enhances the experience of the other. Each life that begins must end, each drop of water that is seen will go through the cycle of becoming imperceptible vapour and then may find its way back into becoming a drop again- only to merge with the mass of the river, sea or ocean.

When we feel pain, we also feel lonely. We feel as if no one understands this anguish. And we are not very wrong. Very few people in the world are blessed with the attribute of Empathy. Many may sympathise. Empathy comes with a great deal of difficulty. It is easy to feel sorry that some one else- no matter how close we feel to him/ her, is in pain. It is not so easy to feel that pain. And THAT is empathy.

My heart in your pain is sympathy. However, empathy is your pain in my heart.

Empathy makes life very difficult. Each experience of any one's pain becomes an experience of our own pain. Each moment we are in pain- our own or someone else's- we feel the drive to banish and diminish this pain, too.

It will only be through empathy that we may be able to build a better world. It will only be through empathy that we will be able to eradicate someone else's pain AND rejoice in someone else's joy in equal measure.

As a race, we are poised to a quantum leap into another level of existence... of greater awareness, of greater empathy and greater joy. It will have to come at a price... Are we ready to pay that price? Are we willing to feel some pain so we may feel greater joy? Are we willing to work hard to alleviate any pain we encounter- no matter who it is that is suffering?

A friend once told me that my greatest strength AND my biggest weakness is this attribute. That I cannot avoid feeling the pain of anyone I encounter. That I rejoice in seeing each success I behold from anyone I see. I try to do more than I can to make things better... That is a strength- always stretching and trying to do more. This inevitably results in a level of personal growth that cannot be duplicated any other way.

However, this also means that I am so busy with every one else that I end up tired and sometimes feeling that I, too need an ear that will listen to me... a heart that will feel with me... a brain that will share with me... and a shoulder that will occasionally just let me rest my head and let me cry... Because I shall be perceived as strong these needs will usually be unmet. That will be my weakness. Not doing and not being able to do for myself what I unquestioningly do for everyone who touches my life.

It will happen to anyone who begins to practice mindfulness and empathy in their day-to-day interactions. The moments of loneliness will be excruciatingly alone. Yet, it is a life worth living that defines our success as a person who has walked this world.

So... From sympathy... to empathy...