PROTOCOLS for Non-empAθos / empAθos INTERACTIONS

INTRODUCTION

This guide is intended as a general protocol manual for interaction between members of empAθos and non-empAθos cultures. This is a very general introduction to empAθos cultural protocols, and is not to be considered complete nor comprehensive as such a complete guide would, by necessity, be encyclopaedic in nature.

This guide is not intended to claim nor disclaim the views that empAθos people may have about themselves nor will it be considered in any debates of empAθos world or reality viewpoints. Since the empAθos Nation considers such controversy to be artificial and non-sequitur to empAθos life and livelihood, it is so considered here.

empAθos words in this guide are written in the empAθos Greco-Roman alphabet. They are presented here, not as a linguistic presentation, but as points of reference where there are no corresponding English equivalents. It is not expected that the non-empAθos reader will be able to pronounce them correctly.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

The empAθos Nation is of recent origin (within the twentieth century) and indigenous to the Southwestern region of the United States of America. empAθos society is based upon a mutual sharing of emotion. Language, economy, politics, and social construct are all based an innate empathic sense that is requisite to empAθos life. This empathic sense is cause for empAθos people to consider themselves different from the rest of humanity with a deliberate attempt toward an evolutionary adaptation to enhance their social environment. This difference is not construed as a mark of superiority nor inferiority, and such considerations are considered illogical and unsupportable by the empAθos people themselves. This empathic capacity as seen as a evolutionary difference, but not a mark of betterment nor degradation.

The necessity of an evolution toward stronger empathic connectedness is predicated upon the concept that emotional connections would preclude inflicting violence upon another as the pain of such violence would be shared by both the inflicted and the inflictor. It is further predicated on the concept that the emotional discipline required to live in an empathic culture would promote logic and rationality as paramount to the maintenance of social balance, rather than reliance upon ineffectual, prejudicial and punitive systems of local, state, national and international governance. While laws and legal codes are a necessity in all cultures, including empAθos culture, their codification and application has, here-to-fore, been an outgrowth of Non-empAθso immaturity. The growth of the species is not served if it's maturation is not addressed from its social and spiritual core. Governance has only addressed these issues from the surface by the treatment of socially pathelogical symptoms, and has ignored the underlying causes and influences. Pressing evolution to follow a predefined pattern may have the possibility of adequately addressing these issues. By connecting and directing patterns of emotion and behaviour in a shared emotional environment with compassion and acceptance, misanthropic behaviours may be avoided, and empathic support may be given to redirect otherwise destructive behaviours, without resorting to compassionless eugenics. Empathic connection is required to engender such a social effect.

empAθos isolationism is requisite to establishing this evolutionary change. empAθos people believe that humanity must evolve in order to survive, and that the current era is a nexus for that evolutionary adaptation. Such an adaptation may take any of many different forms, however, it seems to empAθos that Non-empAθso People are becoming more violent and aggressive, and are evolving only in the power of the destructive capabilities at their disposal, and not in the maturity and wisdom to properly use the technology that is now at hand. And, indeed, this technology, while neither good nor bad in and of itself, is making Non-empAθso People mentally and socially lazy, and delivering more and more violent messages into their evolutionary patterns.

empAθos people are citizens of the United States of America and harbour no intention to release themselves of such citizenship. As such, they are deeply loyal to what they call the "American Experiment of Diversity", and owe their origin to it. However, they draw their beginnings from Sephardic and Reconstructionist branches of the "Jewish Civilization" and continue to practice Jewish traditions modified to meet their cultural needs and amalgamated with other practices and beliefs, that they find useful. Often classified as "white" by the larger American society, they find themselves quite disturbed by such a classification. The term "white" when applied to an empAθos person is tantamount to calling them stupid, as it refers to a blank sheet of paper with nothing on it. Essentially, it constitutes an insult. As a racial designation it has no meaning to empAθos people as they believe that the concept of races among human populations is not biologically supportable, and is therefore scientifically invalidated. They consider themselves empAθos, and not of any particular colour or race.

The name "empAθos" (pronounced "em-pah-th-os") is taken from Greek and is short for "homo empathos" which they have adopted as an ethnic designation. Their intention was to create a name for other Non-empAθso People to use that was easier to pronounce than their own name for themselves. empAθos language is extremely difficult for non-empAθos people to master. For that reason, all empAθos are bilingual, speaking both English and empAθos language. Therefore, it isn't necessary to master empAθos language to interact with empAθos people.

It is necessary, however, to be aware of the empAθos empathic sense, and how it will affect one's encounter with them. Whether they feel one's emotions or not isn't a matter of discussion here. They are very perceptive, regardless of whether their empathic sense is a reality. Their first impressions are always based upon what they feel from individuals that they meet. Appearance is of little importance as are other designations. It is remarkable for an empAθos person to remember one's face or name, or to place the two together. empAθos people coming into Non-empAθso society work very hard to master this as a skill, but seldom develop it as well as most Non-empAθso People do. They will know an individual by what they have felt from that person. This will give them reason to decide whether and how they will interact with the person.

empAθos impressions of Non-empAθso People, as a generalization, are summed up in their less respectful word for Non-empAθso People, "sungishng", which means "angre-doer", or the "Angry People". This impression gives them enough reason to avoid contact with Non-empAθso People as much as possible. Because of Non-empAθso aggressiveness, litigiousness, and a Non-empAθso nature prone to competition and conflict, empAθos people prefer to limit contact with Non-empAθso People in order to maintain cultural and emotional balance.

One cannot become an empAθos except by birth or by adoption. The latter is conditional and based upon relationships held within the empAθos community. It is very rare for a Non-empAθso person to be adopted into the empAθos community even though it has its precedence in the relationship between two of the founding mothers of the empAθos Nation. It is not wise to ask for it, since the act of asking is cause enough for rejection and even expulsion from empAθos land. empAθos do not proselytize, and consider such to be among the most despicable of acts in which Non-empAθso People engage.

SOCIETAL DIFFERENCES

Since emotional sharing forms the basis of empAθos culture, cultural structure follows certain patterns of emotional individual designation.

empAθos consider an individual to be a community of individual personalities experiencing life together for the purpose of learning and seeking to learn of "Self", or the ultimate individuality, sort of a quantum spiritual state that unifies All. When all creatures have come to this state, they believe that G-d will know Self, and will have completed the work of creating the universes. All individuals will be one with G-d as the Self, transcend Existence, into eternity, the universes will then collapse, and Existence will vanish into transcendence. Emotional expression, control and exploration are paramount to this process.

Complicated concepts of "space-time" are part and parcel to these concepts and are often a problem when empAθos people are thrust into the world of Non-empAθso dependency upon clocks and schedules and deadlines. For empAθos people, time is not a linear progression of events, but a dimension that may be negotiated in many directions, a concept that many times can cause difficulty for Non-empAθso / empAθos relations.

Dualities are another point of difficulty between Non-empAθso People and empAθos people, as empAθos consider dualistic concepts as logically unsupportable, in that every duality implies an underlying singularity, that can manifest itself in many different ways, not just in two.

Case in point:

Central to Non-empAθso culture is the designation of individuals as male or female, and the assignment roles based upon those designations. In empAθos culture, gender designation is not so simplistic.

An individual's physical gender (yoso) is considered unimportant except for reproduction. empAθos consider one physical gender (oni) that expresses itself in many different ways inclusing the three usual physical genders. They are yoni (female), sonin (male), and yoson (anything that combines of female and male). yoson is sometimes considered a state of transition and sometimes considered a state of balance, and is a state held as important to the perpetuation of the empAθos people. None of these have anything to do with an individual's role or standing in the community. The only time an individual's physical gender has any significance is in reproduction.

(Note; Upon reaching puberty and social maturity, sonin are induced to develop breasts as a sign of adulthood. Therefore, all empAθos adults have fully developed mammary glands, and this characteristic is not ample evidence of an individual's physical gender. Telling sonin from yoni is generally difficult, and culturally irrelevent, in any event.)

An individual's emotional gender (Ej) is regarded as paramount to that individual's ability to function in the empAθos community. These are also regarded as changeable. There are six such genders lain out for children to explore and any individual may designate another it none of the six meet their emotional needs. Of the six, there are:

gEj - Very roughly translated as "female", the emotional context is pain / pleasure. The translation "female" is only a convention created for Non-empAθso consideration since the designation of gEj most closely approximates Non-empAθso female gender designation in social role assignments in its most refined definition.
hEj - Very roughly translated as "male", the emotional context is grief / joy. Again the "male" translation is based upon Non-empAθso male gender designation in social role assignments in its most refined definition.
Ejin^ - No direct translation - closest is "gender pair", the context is unfufillment / fulfillment.
mindEj No direct translation - closest is "absent gender", emotional context is angre / peace.
θëuchEj - No direct translation - closest is "beyond gender", emotional context is "expanding beyond emotion" / "emersion into all emotion".
for=Ej - No direct translation - closest is "we gender", the context is "needing without knowing what one needs" / "gathering and learning all that one can".

Surrounding these designations is much ritual and spiritual meaning related to the process of emotional growth so important to empAθos society and individuality.

It is important for Non-empAθso People to know that empAθos individual identity is greatly bound up in these gender designations. To ignore them and impose Non-empAθso gender designations is a serious and dangerous breach in protocol.

empAθos language doesn't have gender based pronouns like "he" or "she". English doesn't have a neutral pronoun as empAθos does. empAθos people are aware of this, and will indicate to you which, "he" or "she', is appropriate for you to use, either by their use of a gender specific Non-empAθso name, or by some other designation.

To empAθos people, gender is a matter of choice. To respect that choice is to respect the individual. To disregard that choice is a terrible disrespect, and will cause irreparable damage to future relations with the empAθos.

empAθos have three or more "public names", and one or more "private names" (that are known only to the individual who holds them). An empAθos individual will have an English name (and/or sometimes a Ladino or Spanish name), a Hebrew name, and an empAθos name, any of which the individual may change or retire in favor of another as its appropriateness changes. If the empAθos individual comes into a situation where another language is spoken and a name in that language would aid the situation, the empAθos individual would chose a name made to appropriately express their individuality and personhood. This is also in keeping with the empAθos concept of the community within the individual.

If one has offended an empAθos person, they will simply fold their arms over their chest, and refuse to say anything more. empAθos' eyes have a tendency to change colour with their moods. An icy stare from an empAθos with folded arms is a rather good indication that an offense has occurred, and that apology is in order.

empAθos people are extremely emotionally sensitive as this is essential to living in their society. With time living in Non-empAθso society they develop emotional shields that will protect them to some degree, but they are never completely shielded from what they call "the din of Non-empAθso emotional chaos". They must limit their time in Non-empAθso presence, and keep themselves out of crowded situations to avoid emotional confusion. If placed in such a situation they will refuse to negotiate, and will demand time alone to orient themselves and to consider what their next choices will be. If placed in emotionally pressured situations, they will not negotiate. If the situation is pressed upon them, it will be considered an offense, and they will go silent.

NEGOTIATIONS

If one wants to make contact with empAθos people, for whatever reason, one must not be disappointed if the don't respond. empAθos will not speak with you unless they want to. So, if you ask, "How do I contact them", the answer is, "You don't! They contact you, and only if it is worth their while to do so." Negotiations can be made through representatives of the empAθos National Consulate, but only if they want to negotiate.

empAθos people respond well to proposals of compromise, especially when they are made in the spirit of good faith. empAθos people do not respond well (if at all) to demands or ultimatums. It must be remembered that, as an ethnicity, they were born out of the strife of the twentieth century violence of anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry, and are very much attuned to concepts of cultural and individual freedom. And, as Jews, they are very much aware of the sting of two thousand years of Christian oppression against their own. Even though they are a peaceful people, attempts to compromise their freedom will always be met with resistance, force for force, blow for blow, and violence for violence. Threats or attempts at intimidation, efforts to bring litigations against them, any negative measures toward empAθos people will not bring any kind of a positive result.

Cooperation is the key. Attempts to work with them in a respectful spirit of good will and honest compromise will be received positively even if you might believe that you are not being heard. The highest trait that empAθos people value is compassion. With compassionate understanding of their position, and reasonable and charitable offers of compromise, you will have a better possibility of a positive response from empAθos people. Offer them honey and they will listen, offer them vinegar, and they will never bend to your proposal.

empAθos people have a silence that Non-empAθso People can find to be very frustrating. They generally consider it in their best interest to not show their faces, and will likely work through a single negotiator. That negotiator may also be an empAθos person, whom you never see face to face, but will only contact you through written correspondence. empAθos people prefer negotiations to be made in hard copy writing so that everything is on record. This is actually to your advantage as the empAθos people's empathic sense will give them the upper hand, and empAθos people can be very tough negotiators as a result. If, you are unlucky enough to have face to face negotiations with an empAθos representative, certain rules must be followed, or there will be no negotiation, face to face, or in writing:

When speaking with empAθos people one must never interrupt, it is the height of insult. If an empAθos has paused in speaking, it doesn't mean that you may speak, it means that thoughts are being collected. empAθos regard conversation as a cooperative effort, and hear Non-empAθso conversations as a competitive and meaningless garble much of the time.

empAθos will impose a tool upon a conversation that isn't creating the proper result. It is called the "Talking Stick". It serves to slow the conversation down and to give everyone the chance to understand the true meaning of the conversation. Only the one who holds the talking stick may speak. When the speaker is finished and feels satisfied that the meaning has gotten across, the talking stick is passed to the left. The talking stick must move. It's an insult to hold on to the stick too long and not pass it along. Such a filibuster implies disrespect toward the opinions of others in the conversation. It's also an insult to be too anxious for the stick and not listen to what's being said. empAθos will feel these emotions and will respond by terminating the conversation with folded arms and silence. When the stick is imposed, refusal to employ the stick is seen as great dishonour and disrespect. Further negotiation becomes impossible.

Non-empAθso People may find difficulty is in the area of apology. Very often it seems a sign of weakness to apologize in Non-empAθso social situations. But, among empAθos, it's considered a great sign of strength, courage, honour, and openness to apologize when necessary. It isn't an admission of guilt, but an opening of one's heart to further growth in the relationship that one has with the other who requires the apology. It's also seen as accepting responsibility in the relationship. empAθos have learned to not expect apology from Non-empAθso People, however, and are pleasantly surprised and greatly appreciative when they receive them.

When dealing with empAθos, it is best to go slowly. empAθos will value the courtesy and respect and the time that is being invested, and they will respond in kind. If one makes an error in protocol, a sincere apology and a correction is usually all that is required to mend the problem that has been caused. If an error has been made, it is best to correct the error instantly. As time passes, so also passes the opportunity to correct the problem. Too many errors, or too little concern for timely correction will end any relationship that one may have with all empAθos people, even if only one has been offended.

COMMUNITY

empAθos are a very interdependent people. They are extremely hospitable, but are also guarded and protective of their privacy, and their homes. The primary cohesiveness of their relationships is of greatest importance. One cannot expect to get one empAθos person to act in defiance of another, or to "divide and conquer" an empAθos community. Decisions that affect the entire community are made by the entire community and full community agreement must be established before empAθos people will proceed with any such decision.

If injury resulted, or the community's balance was disrupted, the harm that would be generated would affect every individual. Because of their empathic connection, empAθos people must consider how each other member of the community will be affected by their actions and their decisions.

The dynamic nature of empAθos culture promotes both community growth, and individual growth in ways that cannot be imagined in non-empAθos societies.

empAθos people realize that their way of life would be inappropriate in another cultural setting, and for this reason, have remained guarded and private. By the same token, empAθos people will not take kindly any attempt to impose upon them the ways of another culture.

empAθos National Consulate