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whats the difference between empathy and sympathy? if i lack one, do i lack the other? can one still be present even if the other one isnt?
i think the moments are due to suppressing emotions, as it depends on the situation. is that why i lack empathy inconsistently?
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Crypt of Drugula
The fact that you're asking this question means you're already ahead of most people, who lack both empathy and self-awareness, yet stroll around convinced their feelings are gospel truth.
Empathy is internal. You feel what the other person feels, sometimes involuntarily, like an emotional mirror turned outward. Sympathy is external. You recognize someone’s suffering, you might even feel bad for them, but there's still a distance. One can easily exist without the other. Lacking empathy doesn't necessarily mean you're cold or cruel. It might just mean you’re burned out. Well, suppression plays into it, when you compartmentalize emotion long enough, it doesn’t disappear, it calcifies. You start treating emotional input like static. Not because you don’t care, but because letting it in all the time would break something in you. Inconsistent empathy is just the human condition under strain.
I wouldn't call it a lack, tho!! More like a temporary shutdown of systems that were never meant to run under the constant surveillance of performative empathy culture.