EMPATHY+by+Alex

Back to HOME > IB TOK > EMOTION > 2011-12 EMOTIONAL COLLAGES =EMOTIONAL COLLAGE ON EMPATHY by Alex Strickland=

To show empathy is to identify with another's feelings. It is to emotionally put yourself in the place of another person.
 * What is empathy?**

Your co-worker has been stabbed in the back by another co-worker and his job is on the line. He could be fired any minute and he’s terrified – the bills aren’t going to pay themselves, you know! Your co-worker turns to you for support.
 * Example:**

> __What you could do__: Stay out of the situation. Offer no comfort or support and keep to yourself. > > __What you should do__: Say something like, “You must be feeling so overwhelmed and taken advantage of right now. I can completely understand where you’re coming from.” In this situation, avoid voicing your own opinion about what the other co-worker did – if your friend gets canned, you don’t want it coming back to bite you in the ass.

**Einstein Quote On Empathy:** "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."