Bastardized Empathy

Post Reply New Topic

I figure I'm either delusional or I'm using pressure/texture synesthesia to form the basis of a bastardized sort of empathy. Both are good choices, but I would prefer the later. I still have a lessened ability than most people to understand individuals, but it seems to really shine when dealing with groups of people. The pseudo-downside to it is that one has to be practically shameless and fearless to be able to sense it accurately though.

I will imagine a situation and then make a judgement call and plan ahead based off of the level and type of pressure I sense.

I'm going to see if I can use it to get a stranger to marry me.

Empathy is a delusion. What do you think 'putting yourself in another person's shoes' means? Nobody is going to experience things in the exact same way, but they can certainly believe it. Not all delusions are bad, it doesn't make it any less 'real'.

I would have to say that some of the best decisions that I have made have been made using this sense. I also use this sense for precision in making artwork and for learning new skills among other things.

Here is a bit of somewhat interesting information regarding the subject. Recently I tried sleeping experiments and used the sense pretty extensively until I developed tics, which seem to appear whenever the sense gets deeply used. Probably/hopefully it's a case of alot of stress and over exitement/stimulation, so I'm going to cut back for a while and let things stabilize.

im more compashionate than empathetic. that is im a romatic lover, ladies take note of this
vses knowing what someone else is going through unless ive gone through it myself and even then i can be a bit harsh. i'm really a rough person verbally but a nice guy otherwise

Also with the same argument empathy is extremely relative and selective. We may well have difficulty empathizing with others but it works both ways.

Often what we may appear to do wrong is not show the correct display of empathy. Empathic display is not empathy it self but a cultural idea or meme. This is something that is highly selective and none too rational in practice.

Empathic display is a cultural identifier as are many social conventions.

If people see a vagrant person quietly sobbing on a busy commuter train the majority reaction is for people to look away, not display empathy. Ask a psychologist/behaviorist this question and they will tell you. It can be dangerous in the wild to associate with a wounded animal. Empathy is always selective and nobody, I don't care who they are, can say there isn't a self serving aspect to it. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that

There are many phenomena that are not really empathetic in the slightest such as rubber-necking car crashes and other morbid fascinations.