sympathy, and pity
Nov. 18th, 2005 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonI've found myself at times slipping from sympathy into pity, and am thinking this isn't a good thing. Sympathy is feeling with, but pity is feeling sorry for, or at someone. It strikes me that genuine sympathy is an act of openness, of increasing connection with the universe by identification with another person or situation. Pity, on the other hand, is an act of detachment and separation, objectifying a person or situation, perhaps because something about them is inherently disturbing or frightening.
With pity, I seek to put mental separation between who they are, and who I am. "How pitiful..." which leads to, "Gosh, I'm glad I could never be like that." Yeah, right. Nothing is beyond us, nothing. We are all capable of anything, good, bad, noble or tawdry, glorious or shameful, and to turn away from any of it is to give power to that which we do not look straight in the eye and examine directly -- to feed the shadows, give them power, and make them stronger.
Sympathy encourages seeing another person as more human, while I think pity encourages seeing them as less human. And we all, one and all, are nothing more, nothing less than completely human.
I am going to try to sympathize more, and pity less. Opening, opening, opening...
We are all diverse facets of the multiverse experiencing itself, tasting itself, arguing with itself, seeking truth, exploring mystery, living paradox and learning, ever learning, in each and every moment, becoming more fully who we are, and who we can be.
With pity, I seek to put mental separation between who they are, and who I am. "How pitiful..." which leads to, "Gosh, I'm glad I could never be like that." Yeah, right. Nothing is beyond us, nothing. We are all capable of anything, good, bad, noble or tawdry, glorious or shameful, and to turn away from any of it is to give power to that which we do not look straight in the eye and examine directly -- to feed the shadows, give them power, and make them stronger.
Sympathy encourages seeing another person as more human, while I think pity encourages seeing them as less human. And we all, one and all, are nothing more, nothing less than completely human.
I am going to try to sympathize more, and pity less. Opening, opening, opening...
We are all diverse facets of the multiverse experiencing itself, tasting itself, arguing with itself, seeking truth, exploring mystery, living paradox and learning, ever learning, in each and every moment, becoming more fully who we are, and who we can be.
