Bardzo ciekawy tekst o okazywaniu sympatii i źródłach tego vs empatii , trcohę głupio wklejać po angielsku na polskim forum, ale czuję, że mimo to warto rozprzestrzeniać takie rzeczy, ku ogólnej świadomości
Man has forgotten about empathy completely, but he knows about sympathy.Sympathy is not
something great.
When somebody is in misery you Sympathize;
But if you look inside you will find you are feeling great because you are not in misery, somebody else is. At least in this situation you are superior. You can sympathize – you can afford it.
Apathy is your everyday experience. You pass people as if they don’t exist. The servant comes in your room – you don’t wave at him, you don’t smile at him. You don’t even take any note that somebody has come in the room. You remain exactly the same as you were before – no recognition of the other’s existence.
This is your everyday experience
Sympathy once in a while – when somebody goes bankrupt, when somebody’s house is burned, the whole neighborhood is sympathetic.
And these are the same people who were jealous of his beautiful house. How can it be? The same people who were jealous of his beautiful house suddenly have become so sympathetic because his house is burned. It is a mask; underneath they are feeling great joy, this was the day they were waiting for.
His beautiful house was continuously a torture for their heart. Now, sympathizing with the man, they are in a higher position. They are really feeling good.
So remember perfectly well, whenever you sympathize with somebody – watch the inner workings of your mind; it is not friendly. It is not out of your goodness, out of your Compassion, but just the opposite.
It is your Hate, your Jealousy, your violence – but now there is no need to show it, the man is finished on his own. Now you can have this beautiful experience and a good night’s sleep by sympathising with him, by being a real Catholic.
Sympathy is not a great quality. It is phony.
Apathy is inhuman. And remember, when you are apathetic towards anybody, your heart is becoming harder. You are not doing any harm to the person, you are simply being self-destructive.
The more apathetic you are, the more your heart will lose its great qualities. It will become just a
pumping mechanism for breathing, but not a bridge for feeling.
Empathy has almost disappeared from human beings. It is certainly the only quality that joins you with the life current within other human
beings, animals, trees – with the whole existence.
It is pure religiousness.
But no religion teaches empathy.
All religions teach is sympathy, and sympathy is not the real thing.
OshO