Who are empAθos People?
empAθos People are a very small ethnic group with a unique society and culture. Our use of the word "nation" to describe ourselves is as a part of a greater Jewish Civilization, and to
identify ourselves in a capacity apart from other ethnic groups. We are, in effect, a "non-state" nation. As individuals, we are citizens of the United States of America, and loyally
committed to the American "Experiment in Diversity" as it has developed over eons of human history with the immigration and naturalization of people from virtually every culture in the
world starting with those referred to (rather Eurocentrically) as "Native Americans" and continuing into the present. As our own unique empAθos people, indigenous to the American
Southwestern deserts, notable in Arizona and New Mexico, we carry our own cultural voice to add to the American chorus.
The primary trait that sets empAθos people apart from everyone else is an inborn and socially acultured empathic sense. Thus the name: empAθos(pronounced em-pah-th [soft "th" as in
the word "anthem"] -os), from the Greek homo empathos:
ηoμo εμπαθoσ
"same in feeling".* Our name for ourselves , in our own language is "sE=ng", which is generally impossible for non-empAθos people to pronounce properly. As all empAθos are fluent
in English, and since we will not speak our language in the company of non-empAθos people, as a matter of courtesy, it would be surprising to us if you attempted to speak our language.
The empathic sense that sets us apart is more than the sympathetic "Oh, I know how you feel" kind of cliché. It embodies a real experience of the emotion of an individual or individuals
in the presence of an empAθos person. This has specific and profound implications both for the empAθos person and for individuals encountering empAθos people.
Empathy vs. an Empathic Sense
To experience the feelings of people around you doesn't always mean that you understand the meaning or focus or purpose of those feelings. The result is that the individual who has an
empathic sense may feel your feelings as you are experiencing them, but will likely find them confusing without some clarification either through the shared circumstance or through some
form of explanation from you.
In other words, you may enter the room after experiencing a situation that has angred you. The empAθos individual in the room will immediately feel your angre, but being unaware of the
circumstance that made you angry, will sense that angre as beingdirected at them.
Implications for the empAθos People
Therefore, empAθos people value certain emotional skills very highly, among them, specific and precise communication, and emotional discipline. empAθos also value privacy very
highly, and are often in need of extended periods of solitude.
When we empAθos people communicate with each other, we have the advantage of the empathic sense, and having grown-up with this sense, learn at an early age that communication is
the key to maintaining positive and healthy relationships. Rules for this include listening intensely to understand the meaning under the words, never assuming that the words are
adequately explaining the intent of the speaker, never interrupting the speaker, and taking time to digest and understand fully what the speaker has said, before even beginning to
question the speaker's statement. Questioning also carries certain rules the primary of which is to always be respectful of the feelings of the person being questioned.
In fact, being respectful of peoples' feelings is of major importance when you are empathic. Causing pain or insult or hurt to another invariably causes the same pain, insult or hurt to come
right back upon an empAθos person. Simply by being in the presence of someone in emotional distress, is itself distressing to an empAθos person. Therefore, a great deal of emotional
discipline is required of empAθospeople. Learning to discern one's own emotional states as separate from those of another is a major part of empAθos development. Then, one must learn
the skills related to controlling one's own emotions so as to bring no harm to another empathic individual, and to use one's own emotions effectively in the course of daily life.
empAθos people respect logic and discipline tempered with kindness and compassion. Logic must be balanced with feelings and emotion in order to create a life of peace and harmony.
For one to take precedence over another will offset the balance and disrupt the harmony that all empAθos seek.
The empAθos way of life is, at best, a complicated one. But, to we empAθos individuals, it is the only that that we know.
Implications for You
empAθos people can be very easily insulted by unknowing and insensitive people. Very basic concepts of reality are established in the empAθos consciousness that are quite different
from that of other cultures, and certain protocols are required in understand and interacting with empAθos people. Reviewing Protocols for interacting with empAθos people may be of
some value, and should be read before you visit empAθos people.
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