Empathy - A Path of Remembrance

By Isaac George
April 17th, 2015

Today is the day that Pluto is stationing to go retrograde (looks like its reversing) until September 25th. There's also a very intense New Moon, at 28 degrees of Aries/Libra around 8pm BST on April 18th. This will be like another bell being rung that resonates back to all the other Aries/Libra lunations and eclipses over the past couple of years. It could get you feeling jittery and anxious to "do stuff", but you could end up in overwhelm instead. Yep, situation anything BUT normal these days.

So, to help tone things down a tad, I'm feeling moved to share about one of Love's aspects. One of these qualities is curiosity. The other is empathy. This may be a very important quality to have or cultivate more of as we move through the months ahead, and I am seeing everywhere more signs of people willing to be more vulnerable and authentic with one another, and most importantly with oneself. Most of the review that Pluto, and also Saturn, may initiate in the coming months will ask us to apply large doses of self-awareness, honesty, curiosity and forgiveness towards ourselves and those we’ve been traveling with. This is so we can move onwards with our integrity and our hearts intact, no matter what.

Part of the spiritual awakening that appears to have been happening on this planet for many years has been through emergence of numerous paths and therapeutic techniques for dealing with personal trauma and painful memories. Beginning in the late 1960’s there were the first stirrings that modern psychology didn’t have all the answers to the deep and often incomprehensible experiences that many experience in our ‘modern’ lifestyle. Past life regression has yielded some answers as to the origins of troubling emotions and feeling states. Things like chronic anxiety, depression or physical illnesses or conditions that are apparently the result of memories stored in our own souls during past incarnations in which we suffered some tragedy or life or limb. Other techniques such as transpersonal psychotherapy and psychosynthesis have focused on a more holistic view, incorporating the soul, but within the framework of dealing with the difficult emotional states as being the result of beliefs or behaviors developed through adaptation to outside circumstances or authorities, i.e., parents, peers and/or religious or secular authorities. These processes utilize a number of integrative methods to cut through the debilitating beliefs and restore some semblance of balance and self-acceptance. 

"The human mind is one source of raw emotions, and this seems to be a psychological and scientific fact. When we experience an inner conflict in our minds or within the Soul mind (subconscious-Superconscious) it becomes a felt experience in the body."

Through the decades since then perhaps 100’s of spiritual and psychological paths have emerged to deal with the underlying strata of the human mind – the subconscious, and how it interrelates to the soul and the psychic health of the individual, larger groups and the human family. One of the wonders of the human animal is its range of emotions and feelings, and it is only recently that scientists have discovered that all sentient creatures, including plants, are emotional beings. What is also amazing is given this palette of feelings, no one seems to understand why we feel anything at all! Some spiritual disciplines view emotions and feelings as the antithesis of enlightenment, a distraction if you will. Using the mind to try and understand and overcome itself (non-dualism) has had limited success, even though it has been around for centuries. Mainstream humanity hardly has the time or inclination to embark on a path such as this, and it remains the province of a few who have mastered the technique. The sages Papaji and Eckhart Tolle are two examples…and both of their ‘awakenings’ were spontaneous products of deep emotional pain and spiritual crisis. The ‘pain body’ (Eckhart Tolle) is the source of all the ruckus, and needs to be dissolved in order to be really peaceful and aligned…or so it goes, until the next challenge arises in our path.

Empathy is defined as: 
“…the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling. Empathy is known to increase prosocial (helping) behaviors.”

The human mind is one source of the raw emotions, and this seems to be a psychological and scientific fact. When we experience an inner conflict in our minds or within the Soul mind (subconscious-Superconscious) it becomes a felt experience in the body. In fear, we clench. In depression, the shoulders slump forward to shield the heart. In order to survive we put on weight or a happy face. The body/mind connection, or as Dr. Bruce Lipton refers to it, “the biology of belief”, is an ever present condition in our lives. As we get nearer and nearer to the actual, not theoretical, realization of the inherent One-ness of all Life, we begin to understand that empathy is happening all of the time with all of us. We are plugged into everyone and everything else!

Empathy is defined as:

“…the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling. Empathy is known to increase prosocial (helping) behaviors.”

Sympathy is a bit different: “from the Greek words syn "together" and pathos "feeling" which means "fellow-feeling") is the perception, understanding, and reaction to the distress or need of another human being.[1] “

Pitying another is sympathetic. Identifying and understanding the experience of another, and the associated feelings and emotions of the person is empathetic.

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Faery Realm

Empathy is a way for awakening to the world of the Soul and its deepest connection to the planetary intelligence, or Gaia. It is how we can come to deeply understand and love others too! I feel that this may be an impulse or quality that is directly stimulated by Nature towards us, to assist in the realization that our deepest spiritual roots lie within this very orb we stand upon, and to which our bodies are returned at the transition known as physical death. Deep ecologists have argued that the Earth may be auto-poetic, which means self-aware and intelligent in a way we do not yet understand. Ancient mystery schools also refer to becoming aware of the ‘organic Light’ within us and all around us in Nature, and it is through our senses that we may possibly rediscover that our true origins are not just among the stars, but also source from the planet Herself. From there, we can expand our scope to include multiple and parallel realities, and dimensions beyond count. The ancient Gnostic view tells us it is through direct interaction with Nature and remembering that our humanity is already divine and that we can realign to an organic life that not only confers health, but restores our minds and souls to the Continuum that we birthed from originally. 

"For those who are healers and counselors, or anyone who is empathic, I recommend that you celebrate your sensitivity, and allow for your own vulnerability and that of others to touch you." 

So, feeling your feelings, or using empathy to feel into and recognize the emotions and feelings that others are experiencing are very important to understanding ourselves, the human condition, and the various planetary crises we face (ecocide, mass extinctions, etc.). Whenever we see a beautiful part of Nature, or when we are feeling close to it in some way, we are making contact with Universal Mother/Principle. Whenever we eat, make love, cry, laugh, we are reconnected. Whenever we meditate we are awaiting a dialogue with our own souls to begin in the center of our hearts. We do not need “salvation” or to chase after “redemption”. The human race never ‘fell” from Grace. Perhaps it was pushed, but we are not fallen from some higher, more exalted realm. At our core we are what we were created to be…creative, luminous, playful, loving, cooperative and supportive. The realm of Faery and all the Nature Divas also are part of our shared lineage with our Planet, and in most tales they are mostly benevolent and helpful (though sometimes full of mischief). Look at the legend of Findhorn in Scotland for validation about that.

"We are all in this together, and connected soul-to-soul, heart-to-heart, with all that we perceive and interact with."

For those who are healers and counselors, or anyone who is empathic, I recommend that you celebrate your sensitivity, and allow for your own vulnerability and that of others to touch you. When you find yourself in overwhelm, there are loads of things you can do to rebalance. Obviously, spending time in Nature is the first choice, as grounding is essential for balance. There are loads of other things to do to maintain an emotional equilibrium. I do advocate counseling, especially the holistic type like psychosynthesis. Combining some mainstream therapies with bodywork and energy work is can be a good mix. Eating healthy food and exercising is also important. But perhaps for some it’s just enough to have a good network of friends with whom you can share and talk things over with. Cultivating healthy relationships for sensitive folks is a delicate and necessary process. (See Resources at bottom of this article)

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We are all in this together, and connected soul-to-soul, heart-to-heart, with all that we perceive and interact with. Gaia is Dreaming, and we are a part of that Dreamtime. In the most literal and poetic sense, our creative impulses, our emotions and feelings, all are a gifts from our Mother. Vulnerability is the new strength, the wisdom of the heart demonstrated. And when we listen to our heart, we are in tune with the heart of our Earth, our Mother, and the Cosmos. Listen to your heartbeat, and direct your empathy towards your Self and all that lives. Then, reach for the stars.

Blessings on your journey,
Isaac

For information about Isaac’s Services, please click here.

Contact: Email: [email protected]
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Resources:

The free movie Origins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf4vJKZXxn8#t=106
Heart Math Institute: http://www.heartmath.org/
The Earthing Institute: http://www.earthing.com/

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