Breathtaking Views Through Your Eyes

How can you see something, if I am the one looking at it? How can you feel something, if I am the one experiencing it?

I have been in Maryland most of this month. I am really enjoying the weather and the people have been great. Everyone is so friendly, and of course, I have been getting involved in some deep conversations.

Fells Point, Baltimore



I recently met a young guy with a wealth of knowledge and understanding. We got into a conversation about belief systems and religions and what not. I always enjoy these types of debates. I consider myself a pretty optimistic and positive person, but I learned something from him that made me question that.

I had never heard the term "Homo Empathicus". Apparently, it is the species that we may be evolving into, or have been evolving into more deeply. As much as I love the world and the people in it, I had a sense of sadness in my heart from all of the pain and suffering in the world, especially the pain inflicted onto humans by other human beings. Terrorism, war, greed. I was starting to think that with all the potential we have as humans to change this world around, that we are headed in the wrong direction. I see now, that we are not.

Human beings have evolved from only associating with their own families and tribes, to being a part of something bigger, like communities and nations. When you think about it, that really is HUGE! Although many of us are still separated by religion, we can hope that one day we will unite as humanity, and make the world a better place.

The idea of Homo Empathicus is just that. We feel what others feel. It's our nature. It's why we have become bigger than just our tribes. We don't only feel each others' pain, we feel each others' joy as well. When we empathize with another, we are celebrating the life of that person. I read that "the shared bond intensifies one's own sense of aliveness because in the empathic act we 'transcend' our physical confines and, for a brief period, live in a shared non-corporeal plane that is timeless and that connects us to the life that surrounds us."

If we can connect, at a higher level, at an empathetic consciousness, we would be living life more fully. We would really feel alive! People who live a life of solitude, are living life less deeply, their life itself is less lived. Living doesn't just mean breathing and having a pulse, it means having a life and being alive in it.



The only way to feel alive and to connect with someone on this "non-corporeal plane" is to be totally present in the here and the now; to totally inhabit your body, and not just your mind. Your mind will separate you from the rest of humanity, and if you are not careful, will create an ego that not even you can control.

We all share this beautiful planet Earth. We are all human beings. Why don't we connect with each other and show compassion for one another? It's a very simple thing to do, but it can do wonders if we all participate just a little more deeply.

Open your heart. Feel my pain and my joy. I will feel yours too.

 

[W]hen a person realizes he has been deeply heard, his eyes moisten. I think in some real sense, he is weeping for joy. It is as though he were saying, "Thank God, somebody heard me. Someone knows what it's like to be me."

-Carl Rogers