“True empathy transcends the duality between speaker and listener. Instead of engaging in an exchange, we enter a field of empathic presence—one of awareness, warmth, and care—in which all experience, regardless of its local identity as mine or yours, is known and felt. We enter that space by using whatever tools support our ability to open our heart to another's experience.
I believe our society and world today have a vast need for this kind of true, deep empathy. From our individual hunger for connection and healing to the urgent need to bridge political, class, and racial divides; from the growing global refugee crisis to the dangerous effects of climate change—empathy can extend our sense of identity beyond traditional borders, even beyond the human family to include other species and the biosphere as a whole.”
Oren Jay Sofer
"Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu stated that true empathy requires listening with the whole being: "The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind."
Marshall Rosenberg
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