#Empathy- & #Sympathy-: not just -#ForTheDevil, but #ForTheEnergyVampire #ForTheConvict #ForTheCriminal #ForTheWitch #ForTheWerewolf #ForTheLunatic #ForTheSufferer #ForTheSurvivor #ForTheIll #ForTheAngel #ForThePolitician #ForThePrisoner #ForTheGod #Sympathize #Empathetic #Sympathetic #Empathize #Empath

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Sympathy is what saves me ... or more accurately, Empathy. I was 'descending into a funk of self-hating thoughts in passive-aggressive reaction to "not getting the level of acceptance I expect"' (maybe not "that dramatic;" but I do it so often, it's like the 'bad posture' some of us sometimes slip into), and one of my friends explained how she knew how I felt.

I won't go into the specifics, but she generally told me about 'things that happen to her that could make her feel the same way'—made me feel ... it's hard to describe—maybe 'like I'd been accepted back into a club that had kicked me out.'

Another kind of '-pathy' kicked me out; but Empathy/Sympathy invites me back in! 'Those words' (below-hyperlinked to some posts about 'the funk I descend-into') are built on an even-deeper source ... something crucial that firms the foundation upon which the our lexicon stands ...
The word “Sympathy” is built on “Together (Syn-) + to Suffer (Feeling).” 
The word “Empathy” is built on “In (En-) + to Suffer (Feeling)” (Theory of Art-Appreciation that says one's Level of appreciation depends on one's Ability to Project their Personality into the viewed object; Passion, State of Emotion ... like Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi, the half-Betazoid (thus retaining part of the alien-race's telepathic-ability—that part? the ability to sense living beings' Emotions)).
This came up when I was thinking about when I told my friend about 'my need to set my focus on "how I want things to be" rather than "how they always go,"' and she told me 'my ministry is well on its way' ('those' may not be the exact words, but that's how I remember it right now).

I "went along" at that moment (and thanked her, and continue to be thankful); but in the back of my mind was the question, "Ministry? What 'Ministry?'"


Thinking about it, I think of a lot of good ministers I went to church with 'recently' (5-or-10 years ago)—not the Catholic priests I grew up with–who spent years & seminary and basically 'graduated' (and/or got hired-out) to the Catholic parishes where they preach–but a group of ex-convicts who finished their sentences with the help of a prison-ministry (by the grace of God, in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ) and became Deacons in that ministry.

Sympathy was their most-powerful emotion (or maybe it's "Empathy," which I always thought was 'sharing the other's feelings because you been in the exact-same situation as they,' vs. the just imagining how bad you feel of 'sympathy')—they've been in 'a hopeless situation' with no way out but 'by the grace of God' (you might call it 'the seemingly-unrelated kindnesses-of-strangers).

So whose pain do I feel? Since I'm "recovering from a TBI," you might think I should focus on fellow 'survivors.' (You might call us "TBI-victims or -sufferers"; and–though we usually using the word 'survivors'–'survivor' indicates "a level of independence that I don't often see in fellow 'patients'" ... I guess 'patient' is the neutral word for "our condition"—not necessarily "suffering in worsening conditions," but not yet "as good as we're going to get.")

But I recently discovered that I'm part of a 'community' that I haven't really thought-of: Energy Vampires. I discovered them while I was researching Dracula & Vampires in history—History.com mentioned 'a group of people who merely grow agitated & depressed if they don't spend enough time draining others' energy.'

(That's not to say we "feed off their Spirit or -LifeForce or -'psionic energy,'" but more that we 'observe others working for the same goal as we are or -for favor in our eyes or ...')

What Do Energy-Vampires Want?

The only thing I can think of (before I try to find 'What The Internet says they want') is "Dopamine"—a chemical our own bodies manufacture when our subconscious minds tell them they've done something good. I guess I (for instance) "get a rush" when I witness others-or-myself accomplishing 'maneuvers' (from 'a complicated melody on the violin' to 'a complicated set of dance moves' to 'a complicated set-of-thoughts-in-writing ☺' to 'a new level of labor in the gym' etc.)

(I imagine it's the same reason people 'go to concerts or -to sporting events or -to magic shows or -to comedy shows'—rather than 'just-reading/hearing that the job had been done, and -noting the ticket-profits or the end-score or the increase in the hat-rabbit population or the loudness of the laughs'; people get a boost from 'seeing the music being made' or 'seeing the points being scored' or 'seeing the hat-rabbits being prestidigitated' or 'hearing the jokes come together.')

The Problem comes up when we are left out (since 'spending time with us' too often leaves people feeling "drained with nothing to show for it") ... I don't really know 'how to solve that' except by "focusing on Giving God the Glory (which should naturally lead one to do-&-say things where you can best be used, as 'God has placed all the parts in the body every one of them just as he wanted it to be')."
((You could say that 'the Glory of God' is just "theatrical
 misdirection used to dupe the masses into 'sacrificing'
 their time & effort & money to the churches'- or gov-
ernments'- or televangelists' abundances"; but ...))

What Did You 'Get to Show For It' Before?'

... Maybe that's 'a question for you to discover the answer-to'; an answer that I would ruin if I came up with it here, but which you will know as absolutely true (even if it's 'exactly the same as the answer I "ruined"') if you discover it on your own—so I'm not going to write it here (except as I probably already have and/or -as I outline some of the reasoning and let you draw your own conclusions).

I start/end in The Bible's book of Ecclesiastes, in which King Solomon–reminding us of all the great things he's done & the great temple he built and the great kingdom he won and the great battles he fought–concludes that it was all 'Nothing but Vanity!'

But think; though Solomon-himself may never 'feel' your gratitude in appreciation for the wisdom he bestowed on the future-world, would you appreciate that wisdom as much if he hadn't enriched his kingdom & built his temple etc.?

So I guess we do everything-we-do (and bring the criminal, prisoners, politicians, devils & energy-vampires along) to validate our wisdom.











Or maybe I'm looking at it wrong—that's one reason
 Our Father God said "It is not good for the man to be
 alone":  "Because the man'll think he's right until someone else shows
 him why he's not"—Won't you show me
 if I'm right-or-wrong in the comments below?

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