I am a student from India who has been oscillating betwixt Germany and France for over two years now, as part of my higher education. I am proud of my roots, the culture which I have inherited, the many customs and traditions that I’ve been exposed to as part of my growing years and the better sense of judgement that has come along with it, unknowingly.
Until one day, when I consciously made a decision to throw myself into a civilization that is far different from ours, both in terms of customs and social interaction. The first few months had been taxing; I noticed I was very observant and somehow critical of almost everything around me. I found people rude when I constantly heard them abhorring me for not speaking their ‘national’ language, the announcements on trains made no sense to me, grocery shopping felt like a dreadful task and so on. But one fine day, when my classes resumed I realized that almost all of us, including the students from the aforementioned countries were concerned for each other’s welfare and shared the same deep visceral feelings. In a class of 30 students, we were people from 20 nationalities. That’s a lot more than what most people would ever come across in terms of incongruity that are juxtaposed together. We all have our distinct set of backgrounds, opinions, beliefs, faiths, prejudice, likes, dislikes that have shaped us as who we are and suddenly we were expected to subdue them and adapt ourselves into an unfamiliar environment that was operating with a different set of beliefs and norms.
What was this feeling that drove us to feel concerned (and notably to the suffering) of others? Empathy, is the answer, if you’re wondering. The imperative of empathy has emerged not simply as a burgeoning topic in recent years rather it has perplexed historians over the course of mankind. But before we dwelled into empathy, we transpired through compassion, pity and sympathy as described by Dominick LaCapra, a notable historian who is best known for his work in European intellectual history and trauma studies.
One might confuse sympathy for empathy, for they are quite similar. Somebody got sick, you feel sorry for them. A colleague turned up late for a meeting and was chided by the boss, you felt bad for the person. A friend of yours feels homesick, you console them. If these are the responses to the situations mentioned, chances are you are just sympathizing with them, which is not a bad thing but it isn’t the same when it comes to determining whether it was an ethical response or not?
The distinction between sympathy and empathy can easily be distinguished by the emotion it generates. It is that small difference when you say “I am feeling sorry for you/your loss” vs “I feel your cause of distress and sorrow.” Recently, having started to learn German, I noticed how these two words that seem erringly similar in English have no etymological relation. The terms are derived from two simple yet basic words that can help distinguish them. Mit and Ein, which when used with the complete words describe the proximity of self with other and to oneself/itself. The words are: Mitleid and Einfühlung for sympathy and empathy respectively. And in today’s age of rising conflict and dissent, the role of empathizing with fellow sentient beings becomes all the more crucial. A small step such as learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it can be one of the most beneficial things that can help broaden the empathy and outlook of people.
Being thousands of kilometers away, separated by land, water and time zones, don’t we all feel concerned for our families and friends alike? It is this very feeling of compassion and pity that is driven by our psychological, social and spiritual perspectives which makes us respond and express to care about others along with ourselves. Moments like Fridays for Future that started off with just a meek kid protesting outside Swedish parliament turned into a mammoth of a movement because people all over the globe could feel connected by the stern resolve and resilience of that kid. Greta’s demand for holding governments across the world accountable, to bring about a change in policies and urging them to look into global warming not as some impending gloom but to treat it as an emergency had millions of supporters striking in their respective countries. The mere thought of not being able to provide a habitable planet for future generations, is shared unanimously amongst people who are driven to support movements like these.
Similarly, thousands of people collectively feel anxious, perturbed and wretched by the forest fires of Amazon, the rising water levels of Venice, the garbage piles left by mountaineers at Mount Everest, the plight of people of Kashmir, the war torn nations of Syria and Turkey, the displacement of refugees, the disappearance of white rhinos, the hunting of lions and whales, and many more.
It comes as no surprise then, that for us to live and flourish, we need people who feel and share the same joy and pain, alike as others and are driven to work towards eliminating the cause that brings distress and disrupts harmony. In the words of Richard Eyre, “Change begins with understanding and understanding begins by identifying oneself with another person: in a word, empathy. The arts enable us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of other human beings.”
Until one day, when I consciously made a decision to throw myself into a civilization that is far different from ours, both in terms of customs and social interaction. The first few months had been taxing; I noticed I was very observant and somehow critical of almost everything around me. I found people rude when I constantly heard them abhorring me for not speaking their ‘national’ language, the announcements on trains made no sense to me, grocery shopping felt like a dreadful task and so on. But one fine day, when my classes resumed I realized that almost all of us, including the students from the aforementioned countries were concerned for each other’s welfare and shared the same deep visceral feelings. In a class of 30 students, we were people from 20 nationalities. That’s a lot more than what most people would ever come across in terms of incongruity that are juxtaposed together. We all have our distinct set of backgrounds, opinions, beliefs, faiths, prejudice, likes, dislikes that have shaped us as who we are and suddenly we were expected to subdue them and adapt ourselves into an unfamiliar environment that was operating with a different set of beliefs and norms.
What was this feeling that drove us to feel concerned (and notably to the suffering) of others? Empathy, is the answer, if you’re wondering. The imperative of empathy has emerged not simply as a burgeoning topic in recent years rather it has perplexed historians over the course of mankind. But before we dwelled into empathy, we transpired through compassion, pity and sympathy as described by Dominick LaCapra, a notable historian who is best known for his work in European intellectual history and trauma studies.
One might confuse sympathy for empathy, for they are quite similar. Somebody got sick, you feel sorry for them. A colleague turned up late for a meeting and was chided by the boss, you felt bad for the person. A friend of yours feels homesick, you console them. If these are the responses to the situations mentioned, chances are you are just sympathizing with them, which is not a bad thing but it isn’t the same when it comes to determining whether it was an ethical response or not?
The distinction between sympathy and empathy can easily be distinguished by the emotion it generates. It is that small difference when you say “I am feeling sorry for you/your loss” vs “I feel your cause of distress and sorrow.” Recently, having started to learn German, I noticed how these two words that seem erringly similar in English have no etymological relation. The terms are derived from two simple yet basic words that can help distinguish them. Mit and Ein, which when used with the complete words describe the proximity of self with other and to oneself/itself. The words are: Mitleid and Einfühlung for sympathy and empathy respectively. And in today’s age of rising conflict and dissent, the role of empathizing with fellow sentient beings becomes all the more crucial. A small step such as learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it can be one of the most beneficial things that can help broaden the empathy and outlook of people.
Being thousands of kilometers away, separated by land, water and time zones, don’t we all feel concerned for our families and friends alike? It is this very feeling of compassion and pity that is driven by our psychological, social and spiritual perspectives which makes us respond and express to care about others along with ourselves. Moments like Fridays for Future that started off with just a meek kid protesting outside Swedish parliament turned into a mammoth of a movement because people all over the globe could feel connected by the stern resolve and resilience of that kid. Greta’s demand for holding governments across the world accountable, to bring about a change in policies and urging them to look into global warming not as some impending gloom but to treat it as an emergency had millions of supporters striking in their respective countries. The mere thought of not being able to provide a habitable planet for future generations, is shared unanimously amongst people who are driven to support movements like these.
Similarly, thousands of people collectively feel anxious, perturbed and wretched by the forest fires of Amazon, the rising water levels of Venice, the garbage piles left by mountaineers at Mount Everest, the plight of people of Kashmir, the war torn nations of Syria and Turkey, the displacement of refugees, the disappearance of white rhinos, the hunting of lions and whales, and many more.
It comes as no surprise then, that for us to live and flourish, we need people who feel and share the same joy and pain, alike as others and are driven to work towards eliminating the cause that brings distress and disrupts harmony. In the words of Richard Eyre, “Change begins with understanding and understanding begins by identifying oneself with another person: in a word, empathy. The arts enable us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of other human beings.”
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